Problem?

[Ej]

Hi, I have the avast Nov. 26 Update, as soon as I got the update, I restarted the OS (win XP) & chose my username I got an error alert saying: Cannot Find 'COPY' etc......
now everytime I start up my pc I get that same pop up alert. any Ideas of what is wrong?

Thanks,
Ilya

[techie101]

Ej,

What was the rest of the error message "Cannot find Copy...??"
Of What?

Try restarting your computer again.
Do you have Administrator rights?
Are there other users on the same computer?

techie

[Walker]

Techie, EJ,

Google comes up with some references to this . ..

Might be worth checking this link ;-

http://www.computing.net/windows2000/wwwboard/forum/53645.html

Of which this is a part reference from message #18 ;. ..

This problem is created by a trojan (VBS_Winshow.A, as Trend Micro refers to it as)
http://www.trendmicro.com/vinfo/virusencyclo/default5.asp?VName=TROJ_WINSHOW.A&VSect=T

or adware as Symantec refers to it as.

http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/adware.winshow.html


Good luck,
W.

[techie101]

Walker,

Firstly, your TrendMicro link needs to be fixed.
Cut and paste worked.

I read many comments in the Computing.net forum, however, I did not see any definitive solutions.

It can't hurt to run a full av scan to see what turns up, and then a spyware scan.

EJ,

Walker has brought up a good suggestion.  Let's first determine if you are indeed infected with a virus.

Start your system in Safe Mode, and then run Avast full scan.
If you have an anti-spyware program such as Adaware or Spybot, then run that also.

See what results you get.  We can determine a proper course of action based on what turns up.

techie

[Ej]

OK, thanks
I ran a full scan (not in safe mode)
got nothing,
same with Adaware & Spybot.
theres actuallly a winshow uninstaller availiable, but it says that winshow is not on my pc.
I'll see what comes up.

Ilya

[Walker]

Walker,
Firstly, your TrendMicro link needs to be fixed.
Cut and paste worked.

Techie, my apologies, I did not actually enter the link as a url (I just cut and paste from the reference and Yabb seems to have turned them into links. However, I have put it right.

Sorry for any confusion.
W.

[techie101]

Walker,
No problem at all.  I have done the same thing myself.

It is peculiar that Ej's scans did not show any virus infection, nor does he have any detected spyware.

Maybe we should run an anti-trojan program just to rule out those possibilities.

Ej,
Do you have access to an Anti-Trojan scanner?
There are a few good free ones around.  Take a look on www.wantdbest.com or www.webattack.com

Try running an ATS to see if a trojan is hiding
somewhere.

You said that you found a winshow uninstaller?
What was the path?
If it is there, then try using it.

I am sure that Walker and I will come up with something that works.

[Ej]

Thanks guys,
this is the winshow uninstaller.
http://8ad.com/Uninstall.exe
I've found on google that it doesn't work well & I beleive it.
the winshow bug also contains a program called winlink as well as reg. keys.
it was hiding in a directory like below.
C:\Documents and Settings\user\Application Data
I used an updated version of Ad aware that found it.

I find this all a bit odd since I use the Win XP built in firewall.

so far so good.  
Ilya

[Walker]

I used an updated version of Ad aware that found it.

Is all resolved then Ej ?

I find this all a bit odd since I use the Win XP built in firewall.

I will say this in the knowledged that I'll probably get blasted to bits   and contradicted   but personally I think the XP firewall is not too bad an application. .. BIG BUT, it takes a lot of careful setting up and configuring. However, I don't use it neither I guess will most of the users on this forum. It is a personal thing and I am currently trying Outpost Pro which seems OK. A lot of guys like Zone Alarm which didn't suit me, but as I say it's personal  

Unless your XP firewall HAS been set up very carefully, it would not be too surprising for anything to get through and perhaps you might want to consider swithing to an alternative. .. along of course with a good A-V. .. guess which one is best  

Good luck,
W.

[Ej]

Is all resolved then Ej ?

I think so.

Thanks.

[Lisandro]

personally I think the XP firewall is not too bad an application. .. BIG BUT, it takes a lot of careful setting up and configuring.

Nice, Walker...
I did not know the XP internal firewall could be configurated... I though it was just ON or OFF... Could you post anything more about setting it? Thanks.  

[techie101]

Technical,

Actually, you can setup the Windows XP firewall.  You can control the services that the FW will allow access, log packets and connections, and select the ICMP requests that the computer will acknowledge.

HOWEVER...
Since MS put it there, I put little faith in it.

Ej,
Try a separate firewall.  ZoneAlarm (nothing personal Walker) is an easy to use and reliable FW.  I use Sygate myself because I write my own permission rules.  Kerio is a nice firewall if version 2.75  The newer 4.0 version has had many complaints.  Tiny Personal Firewall is excellent, but hard to learn.  I have heard mixed opinions of Outpost.

Have you been able to rid yourself of the winshow?
How's your system working now?

techie

[Lisandro]

Technical,
Actually, you can setup the Windows XP firewall.  You can control the services that the FW will allow access, log packets and connections, and select the ICMP requests that the computer will acknowledge.
HOWEVER...
Since MS put it there, I put little faith in it.

How? From where?  

[Ej]

How's your system working now?

Seems to be ok.

How? From where?  

Setting up the Win XP Firewall

From the Control Panel
Click 'Network & Internet Connections',
Click 'Internet Properties',
You will see a list of connections you use to connect,
right click on the connection you want to protect,
from the dropdown menu click 'properties'
from the diolog box click 'advanced' button at the top menu, the next screen - check the box that
says 'enable firewall', then click the settings button at the bottom of that diolog box.
you guys can take it from there.

Ilya

[Walker]

ZoneAlarm (nothing personal Walker) is an easy to use and reliable FW.

  Nothing 'personal' taken Techie. I guess it's a fact of life that software like most other things is all down to personal preferences. ZA was just one of those I didn't 'click' with  

I have heard mixed opinions of Outpost.

I can confirm that Outpost V1 could crash out (blue screen caused by one of the dll's). The Pro version (on trial) has been running with no problems (for me) for abot 3 weeks. However, I did prefer the V1 interface (an old fashioned boy am I   ) , you can't have everything I guess.

W.