Running Programs [Archive]

Mike M

June 19th 04, 04:06 AM

wtoolsa.exe is malware and appears to be a new member of the IBIS Toolbar
family (http://www.pestpatrol.com/PestInfo/i/ibis_toolbar.asp). It certainly
doesn't form a part of the Win Me operating system. One install mechanism it
uses is if you choose to install the toolbar from xxx.websearch.com.

Boot to Safe Mode, now enable the viewing of all files and folders in Explorer
(Tools | Folder Options | View and check "Show hidden files and folders" and
uncheck "Hide protected operating system files"). Next open MSConfig (Start,
Run, enter MSConfig in the box and click OK), open the Startup tab and uncheck
the entry being used to launch wstoolsa.exe, possibly labelled something like
WinTools as well as any entries referring to wtoolsb.dll, wsup.exe and
tb_setup.exe.

Browse to and delete the contents of your C:\Windows\Temp folder and also
clear you Temporary Internet Files (Internet Options | General | Delete Files
and ensure that you check the box "Delete all offline content", then click OK
and Apply.

Now check Add/Remove Programs and uninstall any entry for WinTools.

You should also delete the entire Wintools folder which is probably
located as a sub-folder in C:\Program Files\Common Files or alternatively in
C:\Windows\System. Check for and delete all copies of wtoolsa.exe,
wtoolsb.dll, wsup.exe and tb_setup.exe.

Now reboot back into Normal Mode and check your system for commercial
parasites.

This might be a good time to download yourself a copy
of the free Ad-Aware 6.0 from Lavasoft
(http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/) and also SpyBot
(http://www.safer-networking.org/) and scan your system for and remove all
unwanted parasites, adware and spyware that might be hiding on your PC.

I would also suggest you download and run merijn's CWShredder which targets
the CoolWebSearch parasite. CWShredder can be downloaded from
(http://www.zerosrealm.com/downloads/CWShredder.zip or
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/files/cwshredder.zip). Details of the many
forms of the CoolWebSearch hijacker can be found at
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/cwschronicles.html and also
http://www.pestpatrol.com/pestinfo/c/cws.asp.

If you continue to have problems download a copy of HijackThis from
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html). Create a folder called
hijackthis on C: and copy the file you downloaded to that folder. Close as
many applications as you can including all instances of Internet Explorer and
then run hijackthis.exe and post back the log, provided that it isn't too
long, to this thread, otherwise to the HijackThis Forum at
http://www.spywareinfo.com/forums/ and hopefully this will enable someone to
identify the cause of your problem.

Entries in the HiJackThis log to remove include:

R3 - URLSearchHook: (no name) - {87766247-311C-43B4-8499-3D5FEC94A183} -
C:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\WinTools\WToolsB.dll
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {87766247-311C-43B4-8499-3D5FEC94A183} -
C:\PROGRA~1\COMMON~1\WinTools\WToolsB.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [WinTools] C:\Program Files\Common
files\WinTools\WToolsA.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\RunServices: [WinTools] C:\Program Files\Common
files\WinTools\WToolsA.exe

Finally to prevent reinfection download and use SpywareBlaster
(http://www.wilderssecurity.net/spywareblaster.html) which can inocualte your
PC against infection by many parasites and using Tools | Custom Blocking add
the following:
Item Name - WinTools
CLSID - {87766247-311C-43B4-8499-3D5FEC94A183}
--?
Mike Maltby MS-MVP

Craig > wrote:

> When I use CTL,ALT,DEL I have 2 running progams ( Wtoolsa
> & Wsup ). I am unable to End Task on these 2 programs so
> went to Start/Run/MSCONFIG/STARTUP and seen WIN TOOLS in
> there 2 seperate times so unchecked the boxes and
> restarted comp. WinTools wasn't ended. How do I get rid of
> these 2 running programs at start up? Thank you.