can't access hotmail anymore

[kas187]

Hi all

Until a few days ago i had no problems in accessing my hotmail account, i have tried accessing the hotmail website in aol 8 and internet explorer 6. I also have another PC which gives me the same error message In aol 8 i recieve the following message

Now i figured there are 2 possible reasons,
1) a problem at hotmail which they need to sort out
2) my antivirus programme notified me that i had the a virus W32.Kwbot.F.Worm. After an initial scan norton 2002 didnt find anything although my definitions are upto date and thereafter i proceeded to remove the virus by following the below instructions.
http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.kwbot.f.worm.html#removalinstructions

1) Virus definitions are updated.
2) i couldnt end the trojan process using the task manager because there was nothing of sort, unless its been renamed.
3) i scanned all files before and after detecting virus and nothing is found.
4) (The hard part) completed steps a to c, deleted the value in step d (made a back up of registry), didnt complete steps e f & g as i couldnt find anything that i was looking for.

Q1) Now by messing with the registry have i some how messed up removal process which is also affecting me accessing my hotmail account?

Q2) Is the virus (trojan) still there which is affecting my me from accessing my hotmail account (although norton says its not) and have i partially removed the virus.

Q3) How do i undo the changes in the registry, do i just double click on the backup registy and click yes to the warning box?

thanks for your advice

kas

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[Solarjetman]

Q1) Now by messing with the registry have i some how messed up removal process which is also affecting me accessing my hotmail account?

I cannot say for sure, but I do not have the entry you deleted in my registry and my hotmail works as of my posting.

Q2) Is the virus (trojan) still there which is affecting my me from accessing my hotmail account (although norton says its not) and have i partially removed the virus.

Tough call as well. I read the instructions and it looks as if step d of the instructions is what will stop it from running on your computer.
Steps e & f are to prevent it from spreading over P2P programs. Therefore, I would wager that it is not running on your computer.

Q3) How do i undo the changes in the registry, do i just double click on the backup registy and click yes to the warning box?

That should work, but here are the directions straight from microsoft...
HOW TO: Back Up, Edit, and Restore the Registry in Windows XP and Windows Server 2003

EDIT: it also seems that this virus does not do anything automatically except propogate. It has to have a hacker on the other end to actually do any damage. In order for it to contact a hacker, you have to have port 6667 avialable as an outgoing port. If you are running a firewall, the good ones will notify you of a program attempting to send data outward (the built-in firewall with windows will not do this)

[kas187]

Solarjetman

Thanks for your reply, much obliged.

I have found out why i have problems accessing my hotmail and thats due to AOL having problems on their end but should be remedied soon, hopefully.

Currently i am running nortons personal firewall, so hopefully this should keep me safe for a while, i hope.

thanks for all the advice, its put me at ease now.

kas