Places Where Viruses and Trojan Hide

sparksspace | Sunday, February 03, 2008 | 4 comments

Nurse Taking Care of a Sick Computer

1. START-UP FOLDER.

WINDOWS opens every item in the Start Menu's Start Up folder. This folder is prominent in the Programs folder of the Start Menu.
Notice that I did not say that WINDOWS "runs" every program that is represented in the Start Up folder. It means "opens every item." There's an important difference.
Programs represented in the Start Up folder will run, of course. But you can have shortcuts in the Start Up folder that represent documents, not programs.
For example, if you put a MICROSOFT Word document in the Start Up folder, Word will run and automatically open that document at bootup; if you put a WAV file there, your audio software will play the music at bootup, and if you put a Web-page Favourites there, Internet Explorer (or your own choice of a browser) will run and open that Web page for you when the computer starts up. (The examples cited here could just as easily be shortcuts to a WAV file or a Word document, and so on.)
2. REGISTRY.

WINDOWS executes all instructions in the "Run" section of the WINDOWS Registry. Items in the "Run" section (and in other parts of the Registry listed below) can be programs or files that programs open (documents), as explained in No. 1 above.

3. REGISTRY.

WINDOWS executes all instructions in the "RunServices" section of the Registry.
4. REGISTRY.

WINDOWS executes all instructions in the "RunOnce" part of the Registry.
5. REGISTRY.

WINDOWS executes instructions in the "RunServicesOnce" section of the Registry. (WINDOWS uses the two "RunOnce" sections to run programs a single time only, usually on the next bootup after a program installation.)
[/b][/color]
6. REGISTRY.

WINDOWS executes instructions in the HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTexefileshellopencommand "%1" %* section of the Registry. Any command imbedded here will open when any exe file is executed.
Other possibles:
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTexefileshellopencommand] =""%1" %*"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTcomfileshellopencommand] =""%1" %*"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTbatfileshellopencommand] =""%1" %*"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOThtafileShellOpenCommand] =""%1" %*"
[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOTpiffileshellopencommand] =""%1" %*"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareCLASSESbatfileshellopenc ommand] =""%1"%*"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareCLASSEScomfileshellopenc ommand] =""%1"%*"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareCLASSESexefileshellopenc ommand] =""%1" %*"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareCLASSEShtafileShellOpenC ommand] =""%1"%*"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareCLASSESpiffileshellopenc ommand] =""%1" %*"

If keys don't have the ""%1" %*" value as shown, and are changed to something like ""somefilename.exe %1" %*" than they are automatically invoking the specified file.

7. BATCH FILE.

WINDOWS executes all instructions in the Winstart batch file, located in the WINDOWS folder. (This file is unknown to nearly all WINDOWS users and most W*NDOW$ experts, and might not exist on your system. You can easily create it, however. Note that some versions of W*NDOW$ call the WINDOWS folder the "WinNT" folder.) The full filename is WINSTART.BAT.
8. INITIALIZATION FILE.

WINDOWS executes instructions in the "RUN=" line in the WIN.INI file, located in the WINDOWS (or WinNT) folder.
9. INITIALIZATION FILE.

WINDOWS executes instructions in the "LOAD=" line in the WIN.INI file, located in the WINDOWS (or WinNT) folder.
It also runs things in shell= in System.ini or c:WINDOWS system.ini:
[boot] shell=explorer.exe C:W*NDOW$filename
The file name following explorer.exe will start whenever WINDOWS starts.
As with Win.ini, file names might be preceeded by considerable space on such a line, to reduce the chance that they will be seen. Normally, the full path of the file will be included in this entry. If not, check the WINDOWS directory
10. RELAUNCHING.

WINDOWS reruns programs that were running when WINDOWS shut down. WINDOWS cannot do this with most non-MICROSOFT programs, but it will do it easily with Internet Explorer and with WINDOWS Explorer, the file-and-folder manager built into WINDOWS. If you have Internet Explorer open when you shut WINDOWS down, WINDOWS will reopen IE with the same page open when you boot up again. (If this does not happen on your WINDOWS PC, someone has turned that feature off. Use Tweak UI, the free MICROSOFT WINDOWS user interface manager, to reactivate "Remember Explorer settings," or whatever it is called in your version of WINDOWS.)
11. TASK SCHEDULER.

WINDOWS executes autorun instructions in the WINDOWS Task Scheduler (or any other scheduler that supplements or replaces the Task Scheduler). The Task Scheduler is an official part of all WINDOWS versions except the first version of WINDOWS 95, but is included in WINDOWS 95 if the MICROSOFT Plus Pack was installed.
12. SECONDARY INSTRUCTIONS.

Programs that WINDOWS launches at startup are free to launch separate programs on their own. Technically, these are not programs that WINDOWS launches, but they are often indistinguishable from ordinary auto-running programs if they are launched right after their "parent" programs run.
13.C:EXPLORER.EXE METHOD.
C:Explorer.exe
WINDOWS loads explorer.exe (typically located in the WINDOWS directory)during the boot process. However, if c:explorer.exe exists, it will be executed instead of the WINDOWS explorer.exe. If c:explorer.exe is corrupt, the user will effectively be locked out of their system after they reboot.
If c:explorer.exe is a trojan, it will be executed. Unlike all other autostart methods, there is no need for any file or registry changes - the file just simply has to be named c:explorer.exe
14. ADDITIONAL METHODS.
Additional autostart methods. The first two are used by Trojan SubSeven 2.2.
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareMICROSOFTActive SetupInstalled Components
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareMICROSOFTWINDOWSCurrentv ersionexplorerUsershell folders
Icq Inet
[HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMirabilisICQAgentAppstest]
"Path"="test.exe"
"Startup"="c:test"
"Parameters"=""
"Enable"="Yes"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareMirabilisICQAgentApps]
This key specifies that all applications will be executed if ICQNET Detects an Internet Connection.
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftwareCLASSESShellScrap] ="Scrap object"
"NeverShowExt"=""
This key changes your file's specified extension.

Category: , , , , ,

Welcome to SparksSpace . This blog launched on Dec 2007 with a focus on Technology.You can find latest Computer Software, Tutorials, Tricks,Tips & Software promotions here!

4 comments:

  1. Spark u've mentioned very useful notes here but why no one is leaving a comment abt ur paras

    ReplyDelete
  2. yeah, none of our friends leaving a comment...:-( .dont know why...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dear Spark,

    Sorry for not leaving any comments on your blog, eventhou i am a regular visitor to this site...

    I took what i need from your site and lazy to leave a comment... I think most of the visitors are like that cos your counter shows you have a total of 11269 hits.

    Dear Visitors, kindly leave some comments as it is an encouragement for spark to post more and more useful things...

    Mujeeb Rahman

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yes ofcourse, leaving a comment will surely encourage blogger to comeup with new posts, personally, I got lot of helpful posts from Spark, Keep it up,,,,
    SUBY

    ReplyDelete