Browser closing and popups appearing

[Celli]

Been having a problem lately of my browser (Google Chrome) closing itself and a tab of Firefox (which I don't have installed) appearing. I've run AdwCleaner and Malware Bytes but they don't detect anything.

The problem only happens when first turning on the laptop and doesn't always happen. The firefox tab can simply be closed.

malwarescan.txt

Addition.txt

FRST.txt

[Android8888]

Hello Celli and

My screen name is Android8888 but if you wish you can call me Rui which is my real name. I will be helping you with your malware issues.

I will ask you to wait while I can get some time to examine your logs and then will get back to you.

Please ask questions if anything is unclear.

Thank you.

Rui

[Android8888]

Hi Celli,

Please read the instructions below and perform the steps in the order listed.

Open Google Chrome;
Type chrome://extensions in the address bar and press Enter;
Click the trash can icon by the extension Ghostery.
A confirmation dialog appears, click Remove.

Follow the instructions below to execute a fix on your system using FRST, and provide the log in your next reply.

• Download the attached fixlist.txt file, and save it on your Desktop (or wherever your FRST64.exe executable is located); DO NOT open or modify that file!
• Right-click on the FRST executable and select Run as Administrator;
• Click on the Fix button;
  
  Credits: Aura
• On completion, a message will come up saying that the fix has been completed and it'll open a log in Notepad;
• Please attach the Fixlog.txt in your next reply;
  

Please download Zemana.Antimalware.Portable and save it to your computer Desktop.

• Right-click on the icon and select Run as administrator to install the program.
• Click Yes to accept the User Account Control security warning that may appear.
• Wait a few seconds until the update of database signature is complete.
• Without changing any options, click the Scan button to begin.
• After the short scan is finished, if threats are detected click Next to remove them.
  Note: If restart is required to finish the cleaning process, you should click Reboot. If reboot isn't required, please re-boot your computer manually.
• Click on the Back button.
• On the top right corner click on Reports icon (the one with three bars) and double click on the latest report.
• Now click File > Save As, then choose your computer's Desktop and click the Save button.
  

Please attach the saved report in your next reply.

Please scan your computer with ESET Online Scanner.

• Click on this link to open ESET Online Scanner in a new window.
  
  1. Click on the Scan Now button to download the esetonlinescanner_enu.exe file and save it to your computer Desktop.
  2. Close all your programs and browsers and disconnect any USB flash drives from the computer.
  3. Please disable your antivirus program to avoid potential conflicts, improve the performance and speed up the scan.
  4. Right-click on esetonlinescanner_enu.exe and select Run as administrator.
  5. Click Yes to accept the User Account Control security warning that may appear. It will open a window with the Terms of Use.

• Click the Accept button.
• Under Computer scan settings, check mark Enable detection of potentially unwanted applications.
• Then click Advanced settings and check mark the following options:
  
  • Enable detection of potentially unsafe applications
  • Clean threats automatically
    
• Click the Scan button.
• ESET will then download updates for itself, install itself, and begin scanning your computer. Please be patient as this can take some time.
• When the scan completes, click List Threats.
• Click Export, and save the file to your Desktop using a unique name, such as ESETScan. Include the contents of this report in your next reply.
• Click the Back button.
• Click the Finish button.
  

Note: If nothing is found, it will not produce a log.

Please re-enable your antivirus program.

To summarize, please attach the following logs:
Fixlog.txt
Zemana AntiMalware log.

Also copy/paste the content of the ESET log (if it produced one) in your reply.

How is the system running now? Are you still having issues with Chrome and Firefox?

Thank you.

Rui

fixlist.txt

[Celli]

ESET found nothing

2018.02.15-20.07.05-i0-t92-d0.txt

Fixlog.txt

[Android8888]

Hello Celli.

How is the computer running? Are there any issues or concerns?

[Celli]

Seems to be running ok. The popup hasn't reappeared.

[Android8888]

Hi Celli, sorry for the delay in responding.

These are good news!

 

Please check for some programs updates.

Run a program like Personal Software Inspector (PSI) or FileHippo Update Checker or UCheck to see what programs need to be updated.

 

After doing that you can now remove the tools we used in this clean-up by running DelFix.

Follow the instructions below to download and execute DelFix.

• Download DelFix and move the executable to your Desktop;
• Right-click on DelFix.exe and select Run as Administrator;
• Check the following options :
  
  • Activate UAC (this option will activate the User Account Control feature).
  • Remove disinfection tools (this option will remove the tools used in the cleaning process).
  • Create registry backup (this option will create a backup from the Windows Registry).
  • Purge system restore (this option will remove all previous and possibly infected restore points, and will create a new and clean restore point of your system).
  • Reset system settings (this option will reset any system settings back to default that were changed either by us during cleansing or by malware infection).
    
• Once the options mentioned above are checked, click on Run;
• After DelFix is done running, a log will open. I don't need to see it, just close and delete it.
  

 

If all is still well below I have included a number of recommendations for how to protect your computer in order to prevent future malware infections. Please consider using these ideas to help secure your computer.

Keep your Windows Operating System up-to-date.

Keep your AntiVirus program up-to-date.

Please note: Many installer offer third-party downloads that are installed automatically when you do not uncheck certain checkboxes. While most of the time not being malicious you usually do not want these on your computer. Be careful during the installation process and you will avoid seeing tons of new unwanted toolbars in your favorite web browser.

Keep Malwarebytes Anti-Malware (MBAM) update and perform a regular scan to your system as it will make it harder for malware to reside on your computer.
A tutorial on using MBAM can be found here and a complete guide here

Please Note:[/color] Only the paid for version has real time capabilities. Please go here and scroll down to find a comparison list of the two versions.

A free non-resident utility to prevent the installation of ActiveX-based malware is JavaCool's SpywareBlaster, available here

Please keep these programs up-to-date and run them whenever you suspect a problem to prevent malware problems. A number of programs have resident protection and it is a good idea to run the resident protection of one of each type of program to maintain protection. However, it is important to run only one resident program of each type since they can conflict and become less effective. That means only one antivirus, firewall and scanning anti-spyware program at a time. Passive protectors, like SpywareBlaster can be run with any of them.

Note that there are a lot of rogue programs out there that want to scare you into giving them your money and some malware actually claims to be security programs. If you get a popup for a security program that you did not install yourself, do NOT click on it and ask for help immediately. It is very important to run an antivirus and firewall, but you can't always rely on reviews and ads for information. Ask in a security forum that you trust if you are not sure.

A similar category of programs is now called "scareware." Scareware programs are active infections that will pop-up on your computer and tell you that you are infected. If you look closely, it will usually have a name that looks like it might be legitimate, but it is NOT one of the programs you installed. It tells you to click and install it right away. If you click on any part of it, including the 'X' to close it, you may actually help it infect your computer further. Keeping protection updated and running resident protection can help prevent these infections. If it happens anyway, get offline as quickly as you can. Pull the internet connection cable or shut down the computer if you have to. Contact someone to help by using another computer if possible. These programs are also sometimes called 'rogues', but they are different than the older version of rogues mentioned above.

Another most feared threat at the moment is an infection by a Ransomware. A Ransomware infection is a program that ransoms the data or functionality of your computer until you perform an action. This action is typically to pay a ransom in the form of Bitcoins or another payment method. I advise you to read more info on this terrible threat here and here.

Please keep your programs up to date. This applies to most of the programs and all your Internet Browsers in particular. Vulnerabilities in the programs are often exploited in order to install malware on your PC.

Be careful with flash drives, as they can spread infections. See this post on USB/flash drive safety.

Stay away from P2P software; even with a clean P2P program, their networks are often riddled with malware.

Don't click on attachments or links in e-mail, and read your e-mail in text-only mode for the highest safety.

Don't click on links received in instant message programs.

A HOSTS file will prevent Internet Explorer from communicating with sites known to be associated with adware or spyware. A good regularly updated HOST file is MVPS HOSTS File, available here

For much more useful and complete information, please read the following links to fully understand PC Security and Best Practices:
So how did I get infected in the first place
Answers to common security questions - Best Practices

Hopefully these steps will help to keep you error and malware free. If you run into more difficulty, we will certainly do what we can to help.

Happy surfing and stay safe.

Android8888

 

 

[AdvancedSetup]

Glad we could help.

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Thanks