There is a very good chance that you are seeing the effects of a hijackware
infection!
NB: If you had no anti-virus application installed or the subscription had
expired *when the machine first got infected* and/or your subscription has
since expired and/or the machine's not been kept fully-patched at Windows
Update, don't waste your time with any of the below: Format & reinstall
Windows. A Repair Install will NOT help!
Microsoft PCSafety provides home users (only) with no-charge support in
dealing with malware infections such as viruses, spyware (including unwanted
software), and adware.
https://support.microsoft.com/oas/default.aspx?&prid=7552&st=1
Also available via the Consumer Security Support home page:
https://consumersecuritysupport.microsoft.com/
Otherwise...
1. See if you can download/run the MSRT manually:
http://www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove/default.mspx
NB: Run the FULL scan, not the QUICK scan! You may need to download the
MSRT on a non-infected machine, then transfer MRT.EXE to the infected
machine and rename it to SCAN.EXE before running it.
2a. WinXP => Run the Windows Live Safety Center's 'Protection' scan (only!)
in Safe Mode with Networking, if need be:
http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/center/howsafe.htm
2b. Vista or Win7=> Run this scan instead:
http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/center/whatsnew.htm
3. Now run a thorough check for hijackware, including posting requested logs
in an appropriate forum, not here. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP!!
Checking for/Help with Hijackware:
•
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm
•
http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/tshoot.html
•
http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k/Malware_Defence.htm
•
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware
**Chances are you will need to seek expert assistance in
http://spywarehammer.com/simplemachinesforum/index.php?board=10.0,
http://www.spywarewarrior.com/viewforum.php?f=5,
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/cleanup,
http://www.bluetack.co.uk/forums/index.php,
http://aumha.net/viewforum.php?f=30 or other appropriate forums.**
If these procedures look too complex - and there is no shame in admitting
this isn't your cup of tea - take the machine to a local, reputable and
independent (i.e., not BigBoxStoreUSA or Geek Squad) computer repair shop.
--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Client - since 2002
betty wrote:
> Thanks Dan, I did that but AskTB5.6 is still there. I don't ever
> recall installing the Ask Toolbar and the only place I can find
> anything after searching is AskSearch.js in a folder- Mozilla
> Firefox in the Components folder. I did install Firefox a few
> months ago and uninstalled with Revo because I didn't like it.
> So I have no idea whatsoever where it came from.
>
> I have a different result now and see what happ[ens in the
> future.
>
> Thanks for help
> Kathy
>
>
>
>
> Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1; .NET CLR
> 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.0.4506.2152; .NET CLR 3.5.30729; AskTB5.6)
>
> "Dan" <news@worldofspack.com> wrote in message
> news:uVGvxyy%23KHA.5848@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> That says you have IE6 - notice the MSIE 6.0 in the string inside
> the
> parentheses.
>
> Did you install the Ask Toolbar before IE7? It's possible that
> the Ask
> Toolbar has overridden your user agent string and so it wouldn't
> be reset
> when you upgraded to IE7. Or maybe the MS User Agent String
> Utility was used
> to switch to IE6 identification for a particular site but was not
> switched
> back.
>
> Go to http://www.fiddlertool.com/ua.aspx and click on the "Undo
> User-Agent
> registry overrides" link at the bottom of the list of links. This
> should
> clear the registry settings that are overriding the default user
> agent
> handling in IE.
>
> Dan
>
>
> "betty" <address@unknown.net> wrote in message
> news
cFp8gy#KHA.3972@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>> Thanks for reply Dan,
>>
>> Here's my result - what do I do now?
>>
>>
>> Your User Agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT
>> 5.1; SV1; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.0.4506.2152; .NET CLR
>> 3.5.30729; AskTB5.6)
>>
>>
>>
>> "Dan" <news@worldofspack.com> wrote in message
>> news:97762B32-8746-4486-AB91-B8398589190C@microsoft.com...
>>
>> "betty" <address@unknown.net> wrote in message
>> newsSSFiEx#KHA.5476@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>>> I am using Window XP Home Edition Sp3 with Internet Explorer
>>> Version: 7.0.5730.13.
>>> I upgraded from IE6 a little while ago.
>>>
>>> When I go to some web pages they won't let me in saying I have
>>> IE6 and must upgrade.
>>> At the moment I don't want to upgrade to IE8 and am still
>>> using
>>> IE7. Will I have to upgrade to IE8?
>>>
>>>
>>> Thanks in advance.
>>>
>>
>> Go to http://whatsmyuseragent.com/ and paste the results in the
>> blue box
>> where it says "Your user agent:". It sounds as though something
>> on your PC
>> has changed your user agent string so it's corrupt, or to fool
>> sites into
>> thinking it's IE6.
>>
>> --
>> Dan