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Dear Sir/Madam,

I have AVG (7.1) Free installed on my computer. I did my weekly scan and was shocked to see that it had found a virus. Under the File column, it said "hosts", under the Result/Infection column it said "virus hosts" and under the Path column it said C:\WINDOWS\System32\drivers\etc\. It could not heal the file, because it "did not have enough information". I therefore moved it to the virus vault and did another scan. This time "hosts" has a "reading error".

I did not receive any help at the AVG forum, so could someone please give me an idea what to do to rectify this?

Regards,
Mike

Hello Michael

Welcome to PC Help Forums

Please look at the "PCHF Prework" link in my signature below, follow the instructions and post a Hijack This log back here.
Doing so will enable our Security Team to assist you with this problem.

Thank you for replying Wolfeymole.

I have done what you told me. Please find the two reports (ANG Anti-Spyware & HijackThis) attached and I await further instructions.

Regards,
Mike

Thanks Michael. One of the security team will be along soon to have a look at your logs for you

Sit tight!

Okay GaRHaR,

Thanks. And in my last post I meant to say AVG Anti-Spyware, not ANG.

Mike

Hello.

1. Click Start, and then click Search.
2. Click All files and folders.
3. In the "All or part of the file name" box, type:
   
   hosts
4. Verify that "Look in" is set to "Local Hard Drives" or to (C.
5. Click "More advanced options."
6. Check "Search system folders."
7. Check "Search subfolders."
8. Click Search.
9. Click Find Now or Search Now.
10. For each one that you find, right-click it, and then click "Open With."
11. Deselect the "Always use this program to open this program" check box.
12. Scroll through the list of programs and double-click Notepad.
13. Copy and paste the contents in your next reply.

Hello Chiawaikian,

Thank you for coming on board to try and help me.

I did what you asked and have attached a zipped folder of the Notepad files. Before you go to look at them, please have a look at the zipped GIF image called "Search for Hosts". This is a print out of my search screen. You will see that there are 5 files that contain the word "hosts" in them. I am clearly no expert, but I think files 1 & 3 and 2 & 4 are the same files, just with different paths. Just to be safe I have given the Notepad files different names so you can check them individually. Therefore file 1 (that has the path C:\I386) is designated "HOSTS" and file 3 (that has the path C:\WINDOWS\I386) is designated "HOSTS2". I've done the same with files 2 & 4, giving them the names "LMHOSTS" & "LMHOSTS2". The last file has a completely different path and going by my original virus scan, I think this is the one where the problem may lie. I've called this one "lmhosts3" - please note that it is in lower case.

Hopefully you followed everything I just wrote and it hasn't confused the issue!

I followed all your steps up until number 10. At this point, when I right clicked, I was not given the option to "open with", only "open", so instead of doing that, I dragged the files individually onto blank Notepad files. I think that this will have achieved the same result.

Thanks again.

Mike