How to remove TWXO.exe

TWXO.exe

Tuesday, 16 February 2010 11:15

The file name TWXO.exe has appeared in an virus analysis report . You can see the report on this link

The virus installer is a 584 KB file.This is identified as a keylogger
It may further download more harmful files from the internet. A good firewall can make your computer much safer by detecting such harmful activities and blocking them. Some good freeware recommendations would be ZoneAlarm Free Firewall, and Comodo Internet Security Free Edition (you can choose to install just the firewall from their security suite)

It creates the file TWXO.exe on the infected computer. You need to search it and delete. You should end any running process named TWXO.exe from Task Manager, and also remove the file's entries from windows startup.

It is always possible that some legitimate application may be using the same file name as that of the virus, therefore to differentiate between the two, take into consideration the folder in which the file is located and also use special tools such as Windows Defender and SysInternal Process Explorer.

Using System Restore

If you know the duration since your computer is infected, you can try to restore your computer at a prior date, that will be an easy way to undo the changes done by the virus

Using System Restore in windows XP

Using System Restore in windows Vista

Boot in safe mode

Sometimes you will not be able to delete a file even if you find it, in that case you should boot in safe mode and then try to delete it/ them.

How to boot in safe in windows XP

How to boot in safe mode in windows Vista

View Hidden Files

Before you could delete TWXO.exe and its associated files you need to search for them, and before doing that you need to enable to view hidden files and folders

How to Enable to View Hidden Files and Folders in Windows XP
- How to Enable to View Hidden Files and Folders in Windows Vista

Remove Processes from Task Manager

Press Ctrl Alt Del keys to open the Task Manager, then select Processes tab, in the list look for the name/s TWXO.exe select if found and press the End Process button. It will ask for your confirmation to end that process, select Yes. You can end one process at a time.

You can find out if a process appearing in your Task Manager is useful or harmful by using Windows Defender to see the path of a currently running program/ process and its publisher, so as to differentiate malware processes from those belonging to legitimate publishers. You may find such processes listed under Unknown Publisher in Windows Defender.

How to use Windows Defender in windows XP

How to use Windows Defender in windows Vista

Or you can use Sysinternal's Process Explorer for easy detection and removal of virus processes.

How to use Sysinternal's Process Explorer

Removing entry from windows startup

The system configuration can be started in xp and in vista by typing msconfig in the run box/ start menu search box. In xp by clicking on Start > run . The windows startup is reversible, therefore you can check / uncheck any entry from windows startup any number of times.

After the system configuration window is open, Click on the Startup tab, that will list all the programs that are scheduled to start with windows. Expand the middle column using your mouse pointer so that you can see the full path of the program. Locate and uncheck "TWXO.exe" (look for any other suspicious names) Press Apply , Press Close/Ok , Select "restart" at the next prompt

Deleting files

After restarting the computer, use the windows search utility to search for "TWXO.exe " and also search for any other suspicious names listed below. This search should find all its instances on the hard disk, delete them. Boot in safe mode or in the dos prompt if needed.

These are the files created by this virus installer (in addition to those in the folders, I am avoiding to list all the files due to large number of them)

C:\Windows\System32\28463\key.bin
C:\Windows\System32\28463\TWXO.001
C:\Windows\System32\28463\TWXO.002
C:\Windows\System32\28463\TWXO.006
C:\Windows\System32\28463\TWXO.007
C:\Windows\System32\28463\TWXO.exe
%Temp%\@2.tmp
%Temp%\@5.tmp
%Temp%\Install.exe
[file and pathname of the sample #1]Folder
C:\Windows\System32\28463

( We do not know the name or the location of sample #1, it could be in your default download location or on the desktop or in a Temp folder. The files and folders in the Temp folder can be automatically removed, if you use a freeware temp files/ registry cleaner software like CCleaner )

Repair Hosts File

If you can not access security related sites or if your browser is redirected to unwanted sites then your hosts file may have been modified by the virus.To repair/ edit the hosts file. Login as administrator. open the following file in notepad

C:\ WINDOWS \system32 \drivers \etc \hosts
remove anything other than 127.0.0.1 Localhost, and save and close the file. Registry KeysMost of the registry keys created by this virus can be automatically removed using a registry cleaner software freeware like CCleaner. You can see the registry entries in the report mentioned in the beginning of this article

Using CCleaner

Although you can easily get rid of the files in the temp folder simply by running a freeware like the CCleaner, and you will be much safer, if you set CCleaner to run automatically each time the computer starts.

Do not forget to run CCleaner > Registry menu to remove the obsolete registry entries.