Unable to access task manager

Greetings, i have recently picked up a nasty trojan or 3 on my win 2k machine, one has blocked access to task manager, so i cant seem to stop it, it also is blocking access to some scanning progs, i am using avast virus scanner and have gotten many virus’s in the past and never had any probs, until now,

when i scan i get several virus’:

win32 downloader-cv,
win32 small-blf,
w32 agent-dil,
trojan downloader.tibs,
trojan fakealert,
trojan proxy.w32.xorpix,

Quite a collection huh, ive tried boot time scan and in safe mode but they seem to keep coming back, most anoying,
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, i can provide more info once i get home,

Welcome to the forum Shoes3000.

What firewall do you use?

If you’re able to scan with these please give them a try and report back with the results

AVG Antispyware

http://free.grisoft.com/doc/20/lng/us/tpl/v5

F-Secure Blacklight

http://www.f-secure.com/blacklight/

Hi Shoes3000,

mauserme is right to ask about your firewall: if you don’t have one, malware can invade your computer easily, and any malware that gets onto your computer can download more malware: an infection by one Trojan can lead to multiple malware infections, and cleaning is impossible as more malware is downloaded as soon as you start cleaning. I believe Win2k doesn’t have a firewall, so you need a good thired party firewall. Even if your router has a firewall, this will prevent a Trojan downloading more malware.

I’d recommend you try downloading several anti-Trojan and anti-spyware programs. Install and update them if you can, then disconnect your internet connection (pull the plug) and run scans with avast! and the other programs. Repeat the scans until nothing new is detected (the scanners often find more the second time around). When nothing new is being detected, install you firewall. Be very careful about what you allow to connect to the internet.

http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/catalog/products/sku_list_za.jsp?dc=12bms&ctry=GB&lang=en&lid=nav_za

http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/support/zasc/gettingStarted.jsp?anchor=alerts&lid=zasupp_u

Post a HijackThis! log if you still have problems.

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/tutorial42.html

In addition to the programs mauserme recomended, I’d also recommend the following:

Spybot Search & Destroy:

http://www.safer-networking.org/

Ad-Aware:

http://www.download.com/3000-2144-10045910.html

a-Squared:

http://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/free/

DrWeb CureIT:

http://download.drweb.com/drweb+cureit/

If you can’t get these programs to download, install or run, you could try running Trend Micro Sysclean. If you can see your CD in Safe Mode, you can run the program from CD, otherwise just copy it to you HD and run it in safe mode. (You may get a warning from Windows when trying to do so but the program is perfectly safe in Safe Mode). Links and instructions here:

http://www.geocities.com/dontsurfinthenude/antivir2.htm

Good luck!

Thanks for the replly,
I was able to get AVG Antispyware to run on the pc in safemode and i think it got everything, cant post a llist right now cause im at work and i left the laptop at home, ran it a couple of times until it came up clean. I still cant access task manger and one of the trojans has changed my desktop and i cant change it bak, any suggestions on fixing this?

Shoes

You still haven’t told us if you have a firewall. You do need one.

Follow the link FreewheelinFrank posted to get the free version of Zone Alarm. Comodo is good too - take your pick

http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/

AVG Antispyware probably got most of the malware but the additional scans mentioned in our posts might reveal more. Run those when you can and post again.

What sort of change has been made to your desktop?

A desktop hijack sounds like Smitfraud: run this tool:

http://siri.geekstogo.com/SmitfraudFix.php

Also try Spybot: this may fix the registry change disabling Task Manager.