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Character(s) Malware

113 min read

This thread's last reply is from August 26, 2008, 7:47 AM UTC. Software, malware, and removal-tool advice below may be out of date — treat specific steps and download links with caution.

chryssi2001
August 15, 2008, 2:52 PM UTC
Yes i've send you a pm, and the email is legimate.
You shouldn't reply to that email.... It was an email notifying you that you have a pm here, so you log in to read it.

Yes the email looks fine.
No need to follow any instructions, since this problem is resolved.

So now tell me how the strange characters do show properly now as:
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com
Version: 8.0.138 / Virus Database: 270.6.3/1612 - Release Date: 8/14/2008 6:03 PM


I really want to know. Did you change your email settings to Plain text, or did you fix something else? This thread is going for sometime now, and i am happy the problem is resolved at last, but i would like to know how it was fixed.

Don't go yet, we have some finishing work to do if everything is ok now. ;)
bottoson
August 15, 2008, 5:00 PM UTC
Yes I changed the email settings to Plain Text

In Plain Text setting I can't see the strange characters any longer.
Changed only the Plain Text setting.

The Joke: I have never seen it except as an email which I located thanks to your directions.

Here is the complete email as an attachment: full email.gif

I am not sure I understand what you mean when you say in your instructions I need to delete all of my received emails except one. Is it acceptable to move them to a created folder away from the inbox? Also, if I delete my deleted folder the Joke emails will be deleted. I don't have a problem with that but if you want to examine them later they will not be available. Eliminating my inbox emails creates a real problem for me so I hope you will let me move them to a newly created folder. Let me know your instructions on these questions.

I am going to send this series of actions now, continue your requests and send them in a following post.

Bill Ottoson






At peace with Go
An 80-year-old man went for a physical. All of his tests come back with
normal results. The doctor
said, "George, everything looks great. How
are you doing mentally and emotionally? Are you at peace with God?"
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Is it true that when he gets up during the night to go to the bathroom
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The light goes off?"
"Oh, my Lord!" Ethel exclaimed
"He's peeing in the refrigerator again!"







Itâ?Ts a talkathon â?" but itâ?Ts not just talk. Check out the iâ?Tm
Talkathon.



____________________________________________________________
Need cash? Click to get an emergency loan, bad credit ok







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No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com
Version: 8.0.138 / Virus Database: 270.5.1/1559 - Release Date: 7/17/2008 6:08 PM

There were also two attachments:

IMSTP.gif (8.86kb) and ATT00011.htm (5.12kb)

As far as I know these were not opened.

The files (there are two of them... duplicates sent at different times) are now in the deleted folder of OE

I did not make any changes in AVG

Back to the joke.

I did not send a joke like this.
I did receive this joke twice as noted above
The joke was received July 17, 2008, 2:12pm

Attachments:

chryssi2001
August 15, 2008, 5:32 PM UTC
Hello Bottoson,

All those instructions in my latest post were to remove the text showing at the bottom of the emails before i knew what was it.
So they are not needed. Do not follow them as i posted today.

I am not sure I understand what you mean when you say in your instructions I need to delete all of my received emails except one. Is it acceptable to move them to a created folder away from the inbox? Also, if I delete my deleted folder the Joke emails will be deleted. I don't have a problem with that but if you want to examine them later they will not be available. Eliminating my inbox emails creates a real problem for me so I hope you will let me move them to a newly created folder. Let me know your instructions on these questions.


Delete all your received emails but one.
Empty Deleted Items Folder.

This was a part of my instructions. I posted to Empty Deleted Items Folder and not remove it. That was to remove all emails with the text characters.
The joke is a spam, so you have to remove it, untill you get a spam filter.

So you received all the joke?
This joke looks like a spam. Did someone you know send it to you? I don't believe so.
(I get spam from a lot of people whos' pcs' unknowingly send spam due to infections.)

_________________________________________________________
Need cash? Click to get an emergency loan, bad credit ok

Get the scoop on last night's hottest shows and the live music scene in your
area - Check out TourTracker.com!


These lines shows it. Move them to your deleted emails folder and Empty it or delete just those with the joke.
You need to activate a spam filter on your OE, or add the senders email address to the junk folder.

I see no more problems now.

You are clean.

Let me know if you need something else.

This is the end of our thread.
----------------------------------------------
I can't see any firewall in your HijackThis log, so i assume you use windows firewall.

FIREWALL
Without a firewall your computer is susceptible to being hacked and taken over. If you use the Windows Firewall you might think that's sufficient but it only controls one way of the traffic (inbound). Simply using a Firewall in its default configuration can lower your risk greatly. It's preferable to install one of the suggested firewalls.
Vista users, must check compatibility with Vista before installation.

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Tutorial about Firewalls can be found here
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Let's clear out the programs we've been using to clean up your computer, they are not suitable for general malware removal and could cause damage if used inappropriately.

OTMoveIt2
  • Double-click OTMoveIt2.exe.
  • Click the CleanUp! button.
  • Select Yes when the "Begin cleanup Process?" prompt appears.
  • If you are prompted to Reboot during the cleanup, select Yes.
  • The tool will delete itself once it finishes, if not delete it by yourself.


Also if you downloaded F-Secure Blacklight (fsbl.exe) remove it.
----------------------------------------------
Congratulations you are clean! :)
Now that you are clean, please follow these simple steps in order to keep your computer clean and secure:

Disable and Enable System Restore-WINDOWS XP
This is a good time to clear your existing system restore points and establish a new clean restore point:

Turn off System Restore
  • On the Desktop, right-click My Computer.
  • Click Properties.
  • Click the System Restore tab.
  • Check Turn off System Restore.
  • Click Apply, and then click OK.
  • Reboot.

Turn ON System Restore
  • On the Desktop, right-click My Computer.
  • Click Properties.
  • Click the System Restore tab.
  • UN-Check *Turn off System Restore*.
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This will remove all restore points except the new one you just created.

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Install MVPS Hosts File from here
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Update your Antivirus programs and other security products regularly to avoid new threats that could infect your system.
You can use one of these sites to check if any updates are needed for your pc.
Secunia Software Inspector
F-secure Health Check

Visit Microsoft often to get the latest updates for your computer.
http://www.update.microsoft.com
Note 1: If you are running Windows XP SP2, you should upgrade to SP3.
Note 2: Users of Norton Internet Security 2008 should uninstall the software before they install Service Pack 3.
The security suite can then be reinstalled afterwards.

Please check out Tony Klein's article "How did I get infected in the first place?"

Read some information here how to prevent Malware.

Happy safe surfing!
bottoson
August 15, 2008, 6:14 PM UTC
I am sorry to tell you this but nothing has changed.

The reason the characters are gone in the emails is because I changed the setting in OE.

Tools
Options
Read
Read all messages in Plain Text

From the beginning I have said the characters are in html messages and not text only emails.

I will delete the two emails with the joke that are now in my deleted folder.

I hope we can continue until we get rid of this thing. I would like to proceed with removing AVG and reinstalling it to see if it makes a difference. You may also have additional suggestions and instructions.

Bill Ottoson
bottoson
August 15, 2008, 6:29 PM UTC
I need to clarify again:

I have two filters for virus'

One level is with my router service. It is McAfee

The second level is AVG on my computer.

Would you like me to send you the two files that were in the Joke email? They are:

IMSTP.gif (8.86kb) and

ATT00011.htm (5.12kb)

Bill Ottoson
chryssi2001
August 15, 2008, 6:34 PM UTC
No, the joke emails are spam, i saw the one you posted here.
You have to add the senders address in your spam filter, to enable it work. At first as usually they do not work, but then they send all emails from the sender added, in the spam folder.

OE settings have to be in Plain text and not HTML.

Since you use Plain text it's ok.
I see no harm.

Why do you want HTML settings in your email? Any special reason?

If you want to keep OE with HTML settings, except from uninstalling re-installing your AVG Anti-virus i can't see any other way to solve this.
Since this is not a malware issue, i would suggest you post at AVG Anti-virus site, and let them know your problem.
http://freeforum.avg.com/

They may have a way to change AVG AV settings to read also HTML.
You can change also change AVG8 setting for email from default to custom, so it will not show that text that it scanned the email.
Read this from this site: http://grandstreamdreams.blogspot.com/2008/04/taming-avg-free-version-8.html
Email Scanner: Here you can set up how AVG interacts with your email application. I use Thunderbird and AVG Free 8 integrated perfectly with it. I have the settings configured here to check both incoming and outgoing emails, but to not "certify" the mail. (That means it adds extra text to your emails indicating the message/contents have been pre-scanned.) Some recipients might like seeing that, but I don't trust such messages and would res-can anyway. You can go with the default message for viruses found in emails, or change to a custom one. You can set the scanning properties here to use heuristics, for PUPs and spyware, and look inside emailed archive files. (I've enabled all these.) Finally you can optionally have AVG Free 8 report to you if passworded attachments are found, files with macros are found, files with hidden extensions are found (I've enabled this) and move any reported attachments to the Virus Vault. Under the Certification window, you can modify the message attached to your emails if this option is enabled. Finally, under Mail Filtering, you can set AVG to strip out email attachments, or do so for just executable files and/or documents. Finally you can filter out files with specific extensions.
Gary R
August 16, 2008, 3:09 PM UTC
This topic is now closed.

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Gary R
ChrisRLG
August 21, 2008, 9:17 PM UTC
re opened by user request.
NonSuch
August 26, 2008, 7:47 AM UTC
lack of response,