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Need help identifying adware.

8 character random filnames in startup

Junior Member

joined:Dec 9, 2002
posts:110
votes: 0

Howdy y'all,

I am cleaning up a mess some guys in the back did with their computer. I have never seen something so stuffed with adware and viruses before. It wasd so bad our ISP blocked all our outbound mails.

Anyways, I think i got all the viruses off the machine, but i still have some sort of zany adware that none of the normal adware bots seem to detect.

All I know is it creates alot of annoying popups, and in the startup folder it creates .exe's that are all 8 digit random chracters.

that ring a bell for anyone?

Senior Member from CA

encyclo is a WebmasterWorld Top Contributor of All Time

joined:Aug 31, 2003
posts:9074
votes: 6

There is a program called "winwhatwhere", which has been described as a "corporate trojan" - it was "designed" and is marketed as a tool for spying on your employees, with keylogging, etc. I know that it uses random filenames, and its attempt at legitimacy might mean that some anti-spyware programs won't pick up on it.

To be honest, you're probably much better off backing up essential documents, formatting the hard drive and reinstalling everything - you can clean up as much as you like, but you can never be sure you've caught everything. If you've got winwhatwhere installed, this might be your only option.