Solved Tried Removal of Survey.com-annualsurvey.info With No Success

[Gage]

There seems to be no visible evidence of adware or malware after using the guide I found and followed at http://malwaretips.com/blogs/survey-com-annualsurvey-info-removal/ but I'm still getting two survey tabs popping up in Chrome only at least 4-5 day. Nothing happening in Firefox or any other browser.

Not sure if buying HitManPro will help as none of the others found any trace of malware. If it can help me I will gladly buy it. However, that is the only step I could not complete out of everything listed to do at http://malwaretips.com/blogs/survey-com-annualsurvey-info-removal/.

Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Gage

 

[TwinHeadedEagle]

Hello,



They call me TwinHeadedEagle around here, and I'll be working with you.



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That being told, if any evidence of illegal OS, software, cracks/keygens or any other will be revealed, any further assistance will be suspended. If you are aware that there is this kind of stuff on your machine, remove it before proceeding!
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Scan with Farbar Recovery Scan Tool

Please download Farbar Recovery Scan Tool and save it to your desktop.

Note: You need to run the version compatibale with your system. If you are not sure which version applies to your system download both of them and try to run them.
Only one of them will run on your system, that will be the right version.

• Double-click to run it. When the tool opens click Yes to disclaimer.
• Press Scan button.
• It will make a log (FRST.txt) in the same directory the tool is run. Please attach it to your reply.
• The first time the tool is run, it makes also another log (Addition.txt). Please attach it to your reply.

 

[Gage]

Thank you so much for your help, TwinHeadedEagle.

I ran the Farbar Recovery Scan Tool as instructed and attached the two reports requested.

Gage

 

[TwinHeadedEagle]

Does it happen in all browsers?

Scan with ZOEK

Please download ZOEK by Smeenk and save it to your desktop (preferred version is the *.exe one)
Temporary disable your AntiVirus and AntiSpyware protection - instructions here.

• Right-click on
  
  icon and select
  
  Run as Administrator to start the tool.
• Wait patiently until the main console will appear, it may take a minute or two.
• In the main box please paste in the following script:
  

  createsrpoint;
  autoclean;
  emptyalltemp;
  ipconfig /flushdns;b

• Make sure that Scan All Users option is checked.
• Push Run Script and wait patiently. The scan may take a couple of minutes.
• When the scan completes, a zoek-results logfile should open in notepad.
• If a reboot is needed, it will be opened after it. You may also find it at your main drive (usually C:\ drive)

Post its content into your next reply.

 

[Gage]

Okay, I've attached the log.

Thanks!

 

[TwinHeadedEagle]

Excellent. How is your PC now?

 

[Gage]

Oh the same two tabs still pop surveys in Chrome. No other browser is affected. Just Chrome. But I still have the same issue.

Thank you for all your help so far.

 

[TwinHeadedEagle]

Can you try to reinstall Chrome?

 

[Gage]

Okay, I uninstalled Chrome, rebooted my machine and reinstalled Chrome. When I opened Chrome, within a couple of minutes two tabs launched with surveys.

 

[TwinHeadedEagle]

Scan with Farbar Recovery Scan Tool

Please re-run Farbar Recovery Scan Tool to give me a fresh look at your system.

• Right-click on
  
  icon and select
  
  Run as Administrator to start the tool.
  (XP users click run after receipt of Windows Security Warning - Open File).
• Make sure that Addition option is checked.
• Press Scan button and wait.
• The tool will produce two logfiles on your desktop: FRST.txt and Addition.txt.

Please include their content into your next reply.

 

[Gage]

Thanks again for your help. I greatly appreciate it.

Files attached as requested.

 

[TwinHeadedEagle]

Is it happening in all browsers?

Fix with AdwCleaner

Please download AdwCleaner by Xplode and save the file to your Desktop.

• Right-click on
  
  icon and select
  
  Run as Administrator to start the tool.
• Wait until the database is updated.
• Accept the Terms of use and click Scan.
• When finished, please click Clean.
• Upon completion, click Report. A log (AdwCleaner[S*].txt) will open.

Please include the contents of that file in your reply.

Note: Reports will be saved in your system partition, usually at C:\Adwcleaner

 

[Gage]

No. Only Chrome.

 

[TwinHeadedEagle]

Run Adwcleaner.

 

[Gage]

Okay, I ran it. Log file attached. The surveys still popped after reboot.

 

[TwinHeadedEagle]

Can you try to reset your router to factory defaults?

 

[Gage]

I can give it a shot. The router and modem are one unit from the cable company so I'm not sure how to do that but I'll figure it out.

Something odd that I noticed...we've been troubleshooting my laptop. Last night I fired up my desktop for the first time in a couple of weeks and when I launched Chrome, the same survey tabs popped up shortly after opening Chrome. I not sure about this but I now suspect this may have something to do with one of my Chrome extensions that may have become corrupt or may have been hacked. Is this possible?

Why else would this only happen in Chrome and now on two machines? Odd, right?

 

[TwinHeadedEagle]

It is probably infected router, but we can only imagine until you restore it to factory defaults.

 

[Gage]

Hi, I just wanted to report back and say thank you for all your help. I have not fixed the issue yet. I didn't want to go through the trouble of restoring my router to factory settings as that would disconnect all devices in my home, mobile devices, printers and other machines.

SOLUTION: Disable ALL Chrome Extensions

As I mentioned in my last message, I noticed the same surveys popping up in Chrome on my desktop which I had not used since before these surveys began popping in Chrome on my laptop. I strongly suspected that one of my Chrome Extensions has been compromised. This has happened with Wordpress plugins on Wordpress sites I manage. The Plugin becomes corrupt and then causes sitewide problems. So I chose to DISABLE ALL CHROME EXTENSIONS but for LastPass as I'm a heavy user of it. It's been nearly 20 hours since I did this and so far so good. No surveys have popped in Chrome on either machine. I'm pretty confident it's a Chrome Extension. Now the challenge is to learn which one. My immediate solution is to enable one extension per day until I observe which one is responsible.

Any other suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thank you for all your help so far, TwinHeadedEagle! I really appreciate it. If you know of a software that can scan Chrome Extensions for malware that might speed things up for me. If not, I only have a dozen or so plugins so I'll move through them pretty quickly over the next couple of weeks.

 

[TwinHeadedEagle]

Okay, let's scan again:

Scan with Farbar Recovery Scan Tool

Please re-run Farbar Recovery Scan Tool to give me a fresh look at your system.

• Right-click on
  
  icon and select
  
  Run as Administrator to start the tool.
  (XP users click run after receipt of Windows Security Warning - Open File).
• Make sure that Addition option is checked.
• Press Scan button and wait.
• The tool will produce two logfiles on your desktop: FRST.txt and Addition.txt.

Please include their content into your next reply.