I seem to have contracted a CWS hijack and can't get rid of it with cws shredder or hijackthis. Ad-aware produced the following results, but did not remove: Vendor:Possible Browser Hijack attempt Category:Data Miner Object Type:RegData Size:- Location:Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main "Default_Page_URL" ("res://ejjot.dll/index.html#37794") Last Activity:6-29-2004 Risk LevelMedium Comment:Possible browser hijack attempt Description:Possible attempt to control\redirect the browser. This object referrs to a "blacklisted" site. Vendor:Possible Browser Hijack attempt Category:Data Miner Object Type:RegData Size:- Location:Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main "Start Page" ("res://ejjot.dll/index.html#37794") Last Activity:6-29-2004 Risk LevelMedium Comment:Possible browser hijack attempt Description:Possible attempt to control\redirect the browser. This object referrs to a "blacklisted" site. Vendor:Possible Browser Hijack attempt Category:Data Miner Object Type:RegData Size:- Location:Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main "Start Page" ("res://ejjot.dll/index.html#37794") Last Activity:6-29-2004 Risk LevelMedium Comment:Possible browser hijack attempt Description:Possible attempt to control\redirect the browser. This object referrs to a "blacklisted" site. what do i do? this is a very very annoying problem! please help!!!

No guarantees, but download McAfee's Stinger and run it. Stinger If you still have problems, post back on this thread and we'll try something else.

thanks...i downloaded mcafee's stinger, but it didn't detect or remove anything. what's the next step?

Have you turned off System Restore? If not, you could be re-infecting your PC after you've cleaned it. SR is a favorite hiding place for malware, and its files cannot be cleaned while SR is enabled; the files can only be deleted. Besides using Ad-Aware, have you also tried scanning with Spybot? Spybot After you download and install, be sure to update Spybot for the latest definitions. For right now, when it asks if you want the Tea Timer installed (during the initial install), decline. Tea Timer's got some memory leak issues. Finally, after you've turned off System Restore, reboot into Safe Mode. Then scan with Ad-Aware and Spybot. Fewer system files are locked in Safe Mode, thus they are available to be cleaned. Post back here with the results.

thank you so much! that seems to have worked!

Glad to help. And thanks for posting back to let us know what happened.

Overtherye and SmilinJack...Read with interest your saga on CWS and a way to get rid of it. Couple of 'dumb' questions: what is 'CWS', and how do I turn off system restore? I don't have this problem now, but want to keep solution for future possible use. Thanks....Jim