DSO Exploit removal

[zephyrs]

I have just finished running Avast antivirus system and also spybot and adaware too.  I ran them all with my system restore turned back, before turning it back on.  The Spybot one wrote in red that I have DSO Exploit in my system.     I clicked "fix these problems" and it claimed to have fixed them, but it still shows up on there whenever I re-run that scan.     So what do you suggest doing about it?   Thanks.
                                   Debby

[DavidR]

Search the forums on 'DSO Exploit' (without the quotes and check for the ones referring to S&D) this has been discussed previously as a common false positive on DSO Exploit with S&D. I would suggest that you restore the fixed item, get the latest update from S&D and run the check again.

Are by any chance using the beta updates for S&D?

[zephyrs]

Hi, David!
            I am not using Beta Updates or whatever they are - I haven't heard of them.
             I looked in forums online on the subject of DSO Exploit, and as you imply, it is evidently a fase indication of something being wrong.    If I deleted something I shouldn't have deleted, I will try to undelete it if it is possible.    
         Although it is believed to be harmless, maybe it isn't fully known what it is and if it was, maybe it would be found that it more harmful than thought.    For example, I just downloaded Xoftspy and ran that, and it found 5 viruses that my other antivirus programs didn't reveal.  I can't remove what it found, as I can't afford to register with them.
          Thanks for your help.
                                    Debby

[DavidR]

There is a restore/recovery function in S&D, you just need to find it (click the Recovery Button).

Here you can select the items to recover. Having done that you can also Purge the remainder, this should reduce the number of files that can't be scanned.

Strange that xoftspy finding 5 trojans, I have seen another post stating that xoftspy also found 5 trojans. I don't like coincidences, so it would be interesting to see what it found, because these trojans in order to work must be active which means registry entries, which should also be picked up by hijackthis.

[zephyrs]

Hi, David!
         I will search in search and destroy, as you said and try to recover what I lost that I shouldn't have.
          Xsoft Spy  had found one Trojan, and 4 other kinds of viruses - none of which had shown up when running my other antivirus programs.    What it found is listed here:
BonziBuddy
Troj/Ana FTR01
Alexa
Marketscore (netsetter)
lop.com
             Thanks for your suggestions.
                                       Debby

[DavidR]

Well Debby,

The first thing I would do is ditch xoftspy.

I went to the trouble of downloding this piece of j**k and ran it, it returned 4 - registry entries, 2 - folders and 27 - files.

Almost identical to yours
BonziBuddy
Winpup32 (twice)
Troj/Ana FTP-01
Marketscore (newsetter)
lop.com (24 times)

The lop.com one are simply links that I have placed in my favourites folders and to class them as 'Malware' 'High Threat' is an absolute joke.

The others I have checked out thouroughly and they are all without exception False Positives. So 100% junk.

My system is buttoned down prety tight so I'm reasonably confident that it is clean. Save yourself the stress and get rid of this software as I have just done.

[zephyrs]

Hi, David!
           Thanks for showing me that Xsoft spy is no good.   I'll do as you say and uninstall it.
             I couldn't restore the things from S&D as I had ealier removed all traces of them from the anitivirus program in which I had seen it.
                                              Debby

[Eddy]

XoftSpy:

aggressive, deceptive advertising (1, 2, 3); questionable license terms; false positives work as goad to purchase (1, 2, 3, 4); same app as SpyBurn; Ad-aware knockoff - (Note: other domains associated with XoftSpy -- most of which were formerly associated with SpyHunter -- include: adware-destroyer.com, adware-elimination.com, adwarekillers.com, adwares.net, anti-adware.net, antispywares.com, deletespyware.net, online-spybot-scan.com, online-spyware-scan.com, removespyware.net, softspy.net, softwho.com, spyware-detection.net, spywarerem.com, spywareremoval.net) [A: 6-26-04 / U: 10-28-04]

SOURCE

[zephyrs]

Hi, Eddy!
         Interesting - thanks for explaining!
                              Debby

[DavidR]

Thanks Eddy, worthwhile bookmarking for the future.

It will save some serious time downloading, installing, investigating and uninstalling.