Shorte St page popping up - How do I get rid of this?

Viruses and worms
1

To Malware Specialists: Avast direct me to this forum for help in stopping and getting rid of a Shorte St page pop-up, taking over control of my computer, giving me both verbal and written warnings. I have been trying, with the help of Avast, to get rid of this problem for a few weeks now. Ran various scans, Malware, Anti-virus and Spybot programs, reset both of my browsers (IE & Google Chrome) and followed Avast’s advice with no success. Based on their instructions I ran PUP enabled boot time scan, which detected 13 threats that I quarantined, with NO success. This Storte St. page with attachments and verbal message keeps popping up. Can anyone help me to get rid of this nuisance and threat please? I have attached copies of what is happening for your review. I am not a techie so please keep your solution very simple with specific instructions that even I can follow. LOL Thanks ahead of time everyone.

Pwrnapper

2

Hi pwrnapper, welcome to the forum :slight_smile:

From this tutorial https://forum.avast.com/index.php?topic=194892.0 follow step 2 : Farbar Recovery Scan Tool and attach both FRST.txt and Additions.txt logs in your next reply.
As soon as an expert is online and available he/she will help you.

Greetz, Red.

3

Monitoring for the log files. Will help when those are posted. Thanks.

4

Hi: In addition to the other logs/reports I attached to my first post here are the Farbar Addition/txt and FRST/txt reports. Hope this helps. If you need anything else let me know and thanks again ahead of time.

Pwrnapper

5

https://sites.google.com/site/cannedfixes/farbar-recovery-scan-tool/FRST.gif
Fix with Farbar Recovery Scan Tool

https://sites.google.com/site/cannedfixes/home/hosted-images-formatting/icon_exclaim.gif
[b] This fix was created for this user for use on that particular machine.
https://sites.google.com/site/cannedfixes/home/hosted-images-formatting/icon_exclaim.gif

https://sites.google.com/site/cannedfixes/home/hosted-images-formatting/icon_exclaim.gif
Running it on another one may cause damage and render the system unstable.
https://sites.google.com/site/cannedfixes/home/hosted-images-formatting/icon_exclaim.gif
[/b]
Download attached fixlist.txt file and save it to the Desktop:

Both files, FRST and fixlist.txt have to be in the same location or the fix will not work!

How is your system now?

6

Well, I followed the process you told me to and attached the Fixlog.txt file for your review and records. I will let you know how this fix works out, it will take some time since the Shorte.St pages do not pop up right away, takes a while. Keep you posted and “thank you” very much. Hope it works, keep you posted

pwrnapper

7

Hey Everyone. It’s been 5 days not since I used your fix strategy and NO REPEAT of the ugly Shorte St pop up. Thanks Dbrisendine for your excellent advice and I am going to make a donation to the group as my thanks. Keep up the great work everyone. FYI, I understand my wife also is experiencing this problem, hopefully the group can help her also. I understand that I cannot use the same files used on my computer so we will start over again.

Pwrnapper

8

One last thing to do on your system:

If everything else if fine for you (Avast is running / scanning with no warnings, etc.) then I will remove our tools and get you on your way …

Clean up of Malware Removal Tools
Now that we are through using these tools, let’s clean them off your system so that should you ever need to have malware removed again (we hope not) fresh, updated copies will be downloaded.

[]Download Delfix from here to your desktop and double click it to start the program
[*]Ensure Remove disinfection tools is ticked
Also tick:
[]Create registry backup
[*]Purge system restore

http://i1351.photobucket.com/albums/p785/dbreeze2/just%20stuff/DelFix%20Standard%20Selection_zpswethifs1.png

[*]Click Run
[*]The program will run for a few moments and then notepad will open with a log. Note: Please save this log first before rebooting your system (if asked to); DelFix does not save the log as it is trying to remove all traces of our work on your system. Please attach the log in your next reply.

You can delete any log files left on your desktop as these are no longer needed.

==Some Tools to consider to help keep your system safe ==

Unchecky is a small service that runs in the background to help keep those “extra toolbars” and tag along search engines from automatically installing. By automatically directing you to a custom install with all the options unchecked, only what you manually choose and confirm gets installed.

CryptoPrevent is a free program that prevents CryptoLocker / ransomware from infecting your PC by locking down the OS so the malware can not get a grip on your system. You can read the details about this program here.

Also, consider keeping MalwareBytes Antimalware in your arsenal of safe keeping programs. Use the free version (not the paid or trial version) and you won’t have a problem with your antivirus scanner program. Keep it updated and run a scan with it once a week.

Lastly, if you use Firefox as your main web browser, consider adding the NoScript and uBlock Origin add-ons to the browser to block scripting hijacks and remove unwanted ads from the pages you view.

You may also find some information and tips at this thread:
How did I get infected in the first place?
and
COMPUTER SECURITY - a short quide to staying safer online

I’ll leave this topic open for a few days so that if you have any questions you can come back here. Surf safe, my friend!!

Let us know if you still need help with your wife’s system. Thanks.