I'm not even sure if it's a virus, and if it's not, it's equally annoying.
- It generates an exe file in (almost) every folder in C: drive with the same name as the source folder (e.g. within Program Files folder, it has Program Files.exe; iTunes, itunes.exe).
- So if the program has the same name as the source folder, such as itunes.exe, I won't be able to run that program since the virus has overwritten it already.
- The file size is always 36 kb.
- It has a Microsoft Word icon, even if I don't have Microsoft Office installed.
- The My Documents folder doesn't seem to be affected, which is a good thing.
I've tried searching online for information, but I can't find any. I've tried every search keyword I can think of: virus, application, "new document", "microsoft word icon," 36 KB, etc. Still nothing.
I'm positively, absolutely sure that my antivirus software is updated as well as my Windows XP since I have scheduled maintenance enabled. I did a full scan but nothing was detected. I also tried using the online scanner in the Trend Micro website, but it didn't detect anything wrong either.
Also, I just reformatted and my computer has been working fine for around 24 hours until a few hours ago when iTunes wasn't opening anymore. It can't have been the websites I've been visiting since I've only visited regular ones like Yahoo, MSN, and different blogsites.
I also checked the other folders within C: and it seems it has gotten worse. I had to uninstall Winamp too, CoreFTP Lite, eMule, and LimeWire -- even if I hadn't run them yet after reinstalling them.
And then after a couple more hours of running around my hard drive, I found something odd when I checked msconfig. When my system starts up, it loads a file:
C:\Documents and Settings\[Profile]\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\startupfolder.com
Apparently, it creates a new Startup folder with the name Startup ' (yes with the apostrophe) and changes the attribute of the original Startup folder to Hidden.
I tried deleting the startupfolder.com file and deleting the Startup ' folder as well, and removing it from the startup items in msconfig, but when I rebooted the computer, it's still there!
Again, I Googled for solutions with new keywords, but still no results. This is driving me nuts! I don't want to have to reformat lappy again... :'(
