Trojan.BHO.Generic

[BobH]

In my 15th day of withdrawal from my old and favorite desktop system, I'm using a Windows 10 laptop. I got a warning tab pop up saying that Microsoft had received a report of malware on my system.

I didn't respond to that popup other than to close the tab, but I did download a MalwareBytes trial and ran a scan. It reported that I have a Registry Value indicating that the Trojan.BHO.Generic was found. I checked the box and then the Quarantine tab and chose to quarantine items checked.

Nothing appeared in the Quarantine panel where items to be or having been quarantined would be shown; so I ran another MB scan and got the same result, indicating to me that the trojan remains in the Registry.

Searches revealed information that this particular bit of malware is a browser helper and might assist installation of unwanted bits in my browser and elsewhere. I want to remove it, but I'm leery of cracking the registry and removing the one line revealed by MB for fear that there might be other bits in the Registry that interact with the BHO trojan. I found no other information about removal except advice to try MB. Perhaps the trial version doesn't quarantine malware. I don't know.

Can anyone suggest other places I might learn about removing this trojan especially how to remove it and to determine what, if any, harm it has already done?

[HansV]

Did you close all your browsers before running Malwarebytes Free? If not, try that.

[BobH]

Thanks, Hans!!!

Will do!

[BobH]

I gave that a try and got the same results. The trial version of MB is simply not quarantining the trojan (or PUP, as I've seen it described).

In the past, on my desktop, MB has never been so recalcitrant.

[HansV]

Have you checked the list of add-ons/extensions in your browser to see if you can remove it there?

[HansV]

Two other utilities you can try:

AdwCleaner from Malwarebytes.
SUPERAntiSpyware - make sure you select the free version and watch out for offers of unwanted extras.

[BobH]

Again, THANK YOU, HANS!!!!

Yes, I had checked add-ins and extensions and found nothing suspicious there.

I have been looking for other cleaning tools. I shall give those you mentioned a try.

[BobH]

I think the Trojan.BHO.Generic is gone, finally.

I downloaded and ran both the adwCleaner and SuperAntiSpyware software. I ran the SuperAntiSpyware first. It did not report the BHO registry entries but did report a trojan in a file and 10 or 12 tracker files. It deleted them without incident; but I was wondering if the BHO was still there. I ran MBAM again to see if it would report it and it did.

I then ran the adwspyware and it found a number of malware items but didn't identify them specifically. If I had been more diligent, I might have found a way to display them; but I was so tired of futzing with this thing that I just let it remove them.

Finally, I started MBAM again just to see if it would report the registry BHO entry. It did not; so I make the inference that adwSpyware took care of it.

[HansV]

Good to hear that!