asd.hta: avast file, infection, or other?

Avast Free Antivirus / Premium Security
1

i just installed avast 4 (home ed.) yesterday and there’s a new file i’ve never seen before. it’s called asd.hta, it’s planted in my /program files/ directory, and it’s being called by mshta.exe … that is, it’s being called by 400+ separate mshta.exe processes.

is this asd.hta part of avast? is it an infection of some sort? is it something else? does avast call mshta? if so, what for and how can i control it?

thx in advance for your help-
dave

particulars: winxp pro w/all updates, avast 4 with updates but no VRDB, norton firewall 2003 behind a nat enabled router.

2

It’s not part of avast, that’s for sure.

Sounds like some kind of spyware to me… If I were you I’d try running something like SpywareBlaster, AdAware etc…

3

I tried Google – and voila - here’s a relevant link:

http://www.computing.net/windows95/wwwboard/forum/157064.html

4

bless your heart! thanks for the help!