Q about my HT log

[MikeW]

Have you searched for Symantec on your hard drive. Those items are the headers from Downloaded files. The Symantec removal tool cleans up the registry but not any folders or sub folders, these have to be done manually.

[Brynn]

Hi MikeW,
Yes, I had previously searched for 'Symantec', 'Norton', and even 'Sym' in the filenames, but the searches did not locate these 3 files.  But, at your suggestion, I searched again, and surprisingly found a few odd files here and there.  For example, a screen shot I had made to send tech support a couple of years ago, which happened to have "Symantec" in it, a couple of old logs, and parts of the SymNRT removal tool.  Plus as expected, all the scans I've saved.

I've even searched with the exact strings of letters and numbers, but Windows Explorer just says 'No results to display.'  And I double- and triple-checked the "spelling", plus I copied and pasted the name, to make sure I got it right.  And I made sure to show hidden files before searching.  But these folders appear not to be in my system....yet clearly, we know that they are....somewhere.  I just don't get why they can't be found????

I don't get why a search doesn't reveal their location, and I don't get why HT can't permanently remove them.

Oh!  Say, I wonder if a different spyware removal tool might be more successful???  I don't routinely save scans of others, besides HT, so I'll go ahead and save a scan from CWShredder, Ad-Aware, Spybot S&D.  Maybe there is some way to use their removal tools?  Although, I'm not sure I can use them if the program doesn't recognize these files as malware.

Well, I'll see if I can learn anything about this idea, and I'll post if I have any luck.  Meanwhile, I certainly would welcome any other ideas or comments.  Thank you all very much for you help and especially for your patience :D

[Corrine]

Hi, Brynn.  I thought of you when I read Sandi's latest blog entry -- not related to Symantec, but of interest -- "IE with Outlook - When typing a new email in Outlook, or replying to an email, in html format there is a significant delay from when the letters are typed to when they appear on the screen".  Note, in particular what she writes about the Restricted Zone. 

[Brynn]

Hi again Corrine.  Thanks for thinking of me  :D
I read the blog entry, but I'm not quite connecting its relevance to this thread.  My brain's not all on, at the moment, I guess.  But a really LOT of people use the Restricted Zone, don't they?  Through IE-SpyAd, Spybot S&D, SpywareBlaster, and maybe Ad-Aware, I'm not positive about Ad-Aware.  Any maybe some other programs.

I mean, I understand the point, that the number of bad sites is probably infinite.  And eventually the space that a list of them takes up could become a problem -- case in point, the typing issue in Outlook mentioned in the blog.  (Although I do not understand why Outlook scans the list of Restricted Zones with every keystroke....what's the purpose?  I know I'm no techie, but fixing Outlook seems to be the appropriate option, to me.)(Not that I even use Outlook.)  But what's a gal to do?  I really, really appreciate seeing that little Restricted Zone icon that shows up on the bottom of IE windows when I stray onto a bad site.  While a lot of them are obvious "danger zones", some of them look like normally safe sites.

[winchester73]

Regarding those stubborn O16 items ...

My personal opinion is that while it would be nice to get rid of them, they aren't really much of a problem since we/you know what they belong to.

HijackThis attempts to delete O16 items from your hard drive, and while this is not normally difficult, there are times that it is not be able to delete the offending file.  Most times, rebooting into safe mode and deleting will work, but apparently you have found the exception ...  8)

If it were my computer, I wouldn't sweat it.

[Brynn]

Yeah, thanks winchester.  That has been my conclusion as well.  The files are empty and they're not causing any trouble.

However, something about the wording of you comments remind me of a time, before LzD ever existed, when I had some difficult-to-remove malware.  Actually it was on the old Lavasoft forums -- the tech person who was helping me said that sometimes Tea Timer (in Spybot S&D) interferes with HijackThis removing files.  He had me to disable Tea Timer, then go to Safe Mode and Fix with HT.  And it worked!

Well, it sure won't hurt to try it  ;)  Thanks for your commenets.  I'll let you know if it works.

[winchester73]

Any real time monitor can potentially interfere.  Worth a shot.   :thumbsup:

[Corrine]

it was on the old Lavasoft forums -- the tech person who was helping me

:lol:  That was more than likely Winchester or SpyDie as they provided most of the assistance there.

[Brynn]

Hhmmm, I don't remember the name of the person who helped me back then.  But I don't think it was winchester or SpyDie....unless they used a different name on that forum.  For some reason I'm thinking it started with 'n'.  And by the grammar he or she used, I had the impression they were not American.  Beyond that, I don't remember.

Hey, good news!!
Looks like disabling TeaTimer before removing the files worked.  Well, it's so far, so good, anyway.  But usually the files would have reappeared by now, in previous 'Fixing' attempts.  But no sign of them.  So

YA-A-A-A-A-A-A-AY!!

:gwave:

Thank you all SO MUCH for your patience, and for your help with this really insignificant problem.  I can say from experience that most security support forums would have ignored it.  That's what's so great about LzD -- staff and members care more about helping people, than flexing their tech muscles.  Although they surely are extremely strong, with respect to the latter!

:thanks:

[Corrine]

Begins with an 'n' could only be one person and that is our Normmork!

That's what's so great about LzD -- staff and members care more about helping people

Brynn, you are an important part of the LzD community too.  :rose:

I'm glad this problem was solved.  Next . . . :D