Difficult Virus/Spyware Problem

I appreciate any help I can get. The problem is…I cannot access any antivirus websites, my regedit closes on me after about 2 seconds, Norton liveupdate says there are host files that cannot be removed, I tried to download Hijack This and my browser closed, I tried to do system restore…and there were no available system restore points before today. Symantec, after charging me $70, said they couldn't help me..said I was missing files…they couldn't find HOST file. IBM said they couldn't help me. Again, thanks for any help.

Do you have your windows cd?

I'll check

I just have my IBM product recovery cds…windows in there somewhere

Lets try a few things first. I'm going to attach a zip file. Download and unzip it if you can. It's called spyware.zip but is really HijackThis.zip. Lets see if that works.

It downloaded and I was able to unzip it!

It downloaded and I was able to unzip it!

What happened?
Try renaming hijackthis.exe to spyware.exe before unzipping.

The rename option was not available before unzipping…when I double click and press run…there is a long message about Hijack this that disappears too fast for me to read .

Lets see if this will help.

1>> Download UnHookExec.inf

2>> Right-click the UnHookExec.inf file and click install. (This is a small file. It does not display any notice or boxes when you run it.)

I cannot access symantec site at all.

Please download hoster from the link below.

http://www.funkytoad.com/download/hoster.zip

Unzip Hoster.zip
Open Hoster.exe.

Then click on "Restore Original Hosts"

Close program when complete.

Empty Recycle Bin

Reboot

this is a really nasty one. I've dealt with a few before…but nothing like this

There is a message that pops up over the and says that my HOSTS file is marked as a system file and cannot be manipulated. Press Ok to remove hidden system and file attributes or cancel to quit. Is this a phoney meassage or real?

Click OK and see if it will work


Double-click My Computer.
Click the Tools menu, and then click Folder Options.
Click the View tab.
Clear "Hide file extensions for known file types."
Under the "Hidden files" folder, select "Show hidden files and folders."
Clear "Hide protected operating system files."
Click Apply, and then click OK.