My computer caught a tough one

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It's called Mirar Toolbar and it's completely disabled Norton and it's updater. I can't seen to find it's registry signatures anywhere in regedit so I'm trying a number of spyware and malware programs.

I'm reallllly hoping someone could help out with this one instead of paying Norton $99.

Seems Advanced System Optimizer found something called "Mirar Toolbar" and I've navigated the registry looking for it as instructed by various places that I found on a Google search but haven't been able to find anything matching what they're telling me to find and eliminate. I've even rolled back my machine via the system restore. Nada.

I've tried running Norton Internet Security but it won't open or even update. Nothing will update. Spybot won't, ASO won't, the other freebies won't...

Something else that's odd, when I was going in to the chat with the techie from Norton, I needed to use IE instead of Firefox. Normally IE opens its homepage but for whatever reason it opened with about:blank but I was still able to navigate to the Norton site and chat with the techie.

I'm running Trend Micro's HouseCall 6.5 as I write this. Hopefully it'll give me some helpful tips on how to deal with the stuff. In the meantime, can you folks in your wisdom think of some solutions do my dilemma?

I'm happy to make and post a HJT log provided you actually look at and offer solutions

This may help you remove it, however if it was bundled in with any other software that you've recently downloaded, the functionality of that software may be compromised. Free versions of some software also come bundled with malware that will adversely affect you system. You have to carefully read the software licence of any software that you install during the install process to be sure that it doesn't come bundled with malware, which is legally required for the software manufacturer to state what other types of software packages are bundled within. --This being said, I don't know if Mirar registry keys over write Norton's .dll files , or whether you will have to edit your startup items under the system configuration utility.

A few years ago, I cancelled out of installing eMule on my system when the disclaimer said that it was installing adware on my system. Underneath the install palette for eMule was an identical install routine for the newdot Net toolbar which was a rather nastily pernicious piece of Malware a few years ago. --The install routine for the newdot toolbar was statically linked with eMule, and as stated above, was hidden underneath the eMule installer.

None of those registry items are on my machine. Weird.

Thanks though.

This may possibly be of use as well.

still none of those in my registry.

I might have to have the geeks looks at it at BB.

1. Install CCleaner and clean your entire hard drive and get rid off all Non-Microsoft Startup entries.

2. Start the computer in Safe Mode by pressing F8 @ startup

3. Run Norton and scan computer

4. Install Spybot & Superantispyware & scan with both. [Free Download]

PM me if you need any help along the way. Good Luck.

1. Install CCleaner and clean your entire hard drive and get rid off all Non-Microsoft Startup entries.

2. Start the computer in Safe Mode by pressing F8 @ startup

3. Run Norton and scan computer

4. Install Spybot & Superantispyware & scan with both. [Free Download]

PM me if you need any help along the way. Good Luck.

Oh, did I mention installing Easycleaner and Cleaning up your entire computer. Removing MRU, Cookies, Registry Issues, Startup Programs, Using anything else in Esycleaner will m ess up your computer.

easycleaner will mess up my computer?

Did I mention I can't open Norton?

Windows Defender is free for spyware/adware removal. Try using that.

That's why you try Safe Mode

tried safe mode, still can't open norton

Well then uninstall Norton & temporarily use a freebie like Avast. In fact uninstall everything from your computer besides drivers and Office Suites. Run CCleaner and find a good, free registry fixer to help with the registry.

Then I will turn off all startup programs besides Microsoft ones and install Comondo Firewall free. Then if the attacker tries to get through Comondo can stop it.

After that you can install superantispyware free and scan you computer. [Over 100,000 pieces of spyware & malware on the blacklist. The biggest backlist even for commercial antispyware programs.]

Then by this time around your computer will be speeded up drastically. I will then download Symantec Vundo Remover considering those toolbars come with Trojan Vundos.

Last thing will be scanning the computer with Avast and by then the nasties should be gone.

Afterwards you can either use Avast as your main AV or reinstall Norton for the commercial-grade security behind the Symantec products.

Also downloading Firefox and using Firefox to replace Internet Explorer should help too.

After that download Ad-Blocker for Firefox. It will drastically speed up page loading times. Get rid of pop-ups and ads and make your Internet Browsing more secure.


My Career Title is a Internet Security Analyst. I specialize in security of home & enterprise-based network security. Don't worry man, I get this all the time from clients who have computers/networks that are messed up. It should be against the law to make stuff that messes up networks, computers and steals personal information.

Neat. I'm not doubting you or anything. I'm very appreciative, trust me.

right now, I'm in the queue to chat with a Norton techie and if that doesn't work, I'll do what you suggest.

yet another update

I was in a chat session with a Norton virus techie who told me that the only way for them to help me was to connect to my computer for a cost of $99 and they'd fix it for me.

I then found out that there was a 2009 NIS update.

Downloaded and applied, it updated and it ran a virus scan. It found a tracking cookie.

I've yet to determine if other updatable programs can update or not.

You can do what gamefreak suggests, but even then there can't be any guarantee that you have a 100% clean of malicious programs PC. As for Norton many proper computer people say it sucks.

Depending on your computer usage, you may not even need Windows any more. You may still have a good reason for it, but in that case a good idea is a virtual machine or dual boot.

With virtual machine you can have an operating system that has been designed to be more secure than Windows, such as Ubuntu as your host OS, and if you have a good enough reason Windows as the guest. Then you run it in a virtual machine software, and the host operating system will treat it like any other normal file, which means you can easily copy a good virtual machine of a clean Windows install for backup, as well as delete a Windows virtual machine easily that has been infected by a malicious program.

If you decide to do the dual boot option, you should start with a clean install of Windows, after backing up your data of course.

With a dual boot you will get a bootloader program such as Grub, if you install Ubuntu or most other Desktop Linux distro's. The bootloader will load when you turn on or re start your computer, and it will boot Ubuntu or Windows.

If you decide you just want Windows for the time being, you should back up your data and do a fresh install. Clean install is the only way to be sure that all malicious programs are gone, unless you picked up a really nasty malicious program that also infected your motherboard's BIOS which is pretty unlikely.

With Windows malicious programs can easily do things, especially if your running as admin all the time, which you will be with a default install of XP or Vista. With admin rights you and malicious programs get full control, but this also means that any built in security that there otherwise is in Windows is turned off. That is why it is a good idea to run Windows with a limited account all the time, unless you need admin to say install a new program.

What exactly do you do and want to do on your computer? How old is your computer? How much RAM does your computer have? You can right click on my computer and go to properties and it will say there. Which version of Windows is it? How big is your hard disk? You can find that out by opening my computer right clicking on your Windows drive which is usually C and going to properties. Once I have the answer to at least the computer usage question, I can recommend a good computer set up which is the operating system, and installed programs.

Whatever operating system you are running if it is connected to the Internet you should have a firewall to keep blackhats out, as in what the media call hackers, which is actually the wrong term, with the other correct term being crackers. Hacker is another name for a programmer.

You should have a password that has at least letters and numbers for any user account.

Most versions of Windows are rather insecure, because it is also the most used OS, as a result many malicious programs have been made for it. Other operating systems such as Linux distros, and Mac OS X, have been designed to be much more secure. I am not that sure about Mac OS X since I don't use it, but with most if not all Linux distros, for example Ubuntu, the user would actually have to know what they are doing to get a malicious program installed, unlike with Windows.