I remember the days of long ago when looking at a computer showing symptoms of a blank desktop it was just a case that explorer was missing / corrupt or the shell had been changed in the registry. This one turned out to be more sinister indeed. I guess it also makes you realise the days of an annoying < you are infected click here to remove > message are over and more is at stake today. On powering this particular laptop I found no desktop icons, start menu etc all that was visible was the desktop background picture.
The problem was that explorer.exe ( the windows shell ) was missing. Either this was a failed attempt by a virus at replacing the shell or it had replaced the shell and then been stopped by antivirus software which then deleted the shell… resulting in the problem next time you loaded into windows all you saw was a blank desktop with no icons.
I have restored the shell to the correct version ( sp3 ) [ from the recovery console expand e:\i386\EXPLORER.EX_ c:\WINDOWS which extracts the explorer.exe file from the installation cd ]
AVG9 would not update so it was uninstalled and installed avg2011 free edition and updated.
Updated Malware Antibytes and Super Anti-Spyware.
Rebooted, ran av, malware and antispyware scans. 220 tracking cookies and 3 virus files found. Removed, reboot and rescan.
Attempted windows update to see network error connectivity message. However windows update was accessible from another pc – classic signs of a virus still present.
Open internet explorer and bbc.co.uk opens ok, again proof a virus is trapping any attempt to update windows. After a short while the web page redirected on its own to that of a site picturing a lady and a gentleman smiling and ‘shaking hands’ – they must have known each other very well indeed.
Tried windows update using another method to be met with a network connectivity error code. Classic symptoms of Alureon infection. Ran a scan for the Alureon ( using the aptly named and no nonsense sounding hitman 3.5 pro ) and confirmed infected hidden keyboard driver. Scanned and removed all infected components present which after a reboot and scan to show all clear. This also restored windows update functionality .
Somtimes the cause for these infections is not apparent. If notice odd behaviour ( random pages opening ) then perhaps this may link you to an email attachment recently opened, rogue website visit, music/download etc? If this matches then this is almost the cause so whatever it was – in the future avoid it! If not then beware of email attachments as there are a lot of scammers sending false bank alerts etc, ensure you’re up to date with your security patches etc.
If you have been infected with Alureon then I would strongly advise you read the Microsoft Malware Information on this infection so you are aware of what it is capable of doing in the background and you may wish to think about taking follow up action regarding passwords etc. The details are on Microsoft’s website here:
> http://www.microsoft.com/security/portal/Threat/Encyclopedia/Entry.aspx?name=Win32%2FAlureon
Related Links:
Here are some other related sites that we found for you to browse providing further information. Ultimate One is not responsible for the content of external Internet sites.
↑ Back to Top