Unremovable Icon from desktop?

Question

An hour ago my laptop was attacked with some trojan or spyware, i am not sure which. I downloaded a few anti-spywares and now I have an icon on my desktop which is titled "HIJACKTHIS". When I double click on it, it says that this is not a valid win32application. I also canot delete it, it would say that another person or program is using it. I fear that this icon would be harmful to my laptop. I had a long night downloading various antispywares (spybot, adaware, superantispyware, spyware doc, u name, i've got it) but none would work on this unremovable icon! my laptop is slightly lagging, and is a tad annoying, please help!

Thanks for all the answer.
Tried restarting and deleting again, doesn't work.
Tried renaming, doesn't work
Tried cut and paste, doesn't work
Lol yes, I realized that most of the anti spywares I downloaded were pretty useless urgh.
No, I don't think I have an anti-virus actually..*blushes* really am not tech-savvy
Am currently trying to get into safe mode and deleting it. Will update again later! thanks for all the answers!

Alright, went into safe mode and tried again, doesn't work.
Removed it from Add/remove programs, but the icon still remains stubbornly on the desktop
What do i do, what do i do??!?!?!?!

Answer 1

SORRY, NEEDED TO EDIT THIS FIRST SECTION. Was up late when I originally answered this and overlooked a few details. What I should have said was that it sounds like you're computer is infected with a virus, worm, or other malicious program. I mistakenly labeled the "HyjackThis.exe" as the virus instead of saying it's a targeted file for these anti-security viruses.

There were 100 results when I did a search for "HYJACKTHIS" on the Symantec website. There are several viruses that are designed to attack through the HyjackThis.exe this is just one of them.

http://www.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2005-082216-5822-99&tabid=1

You can look through the rest of the list here:

http://searchg.symantec.com/search?entqr=0&access=p&output=xml_no_dtd&sort=date%3AD%3AL%3Ad1&ie=UTF-8&client=symc_en_US&q=Hijackthis&filter=0&ud=1&site=symc_en_US_vir&spell=1&oe=UTF-8&proxystylesheet=symc_en_US&ip=24.254.198.191&start=0

Most viruses get through because the antivirus program is not designed (or updated) to scan for them. Once it gets through they are designed to override firewalls and security programs, making the computer completely defenseless and allows the hacker that designed the program to use your computer.

Your computer is running slow because the program is controling it to send out massive emails or is making cyber attacks on other computers on behalf of the hacker that designed it.

If you want to be sure you can try this scan that Symantec offers:

http://www.symantec.com/home_homeoffice/support/index_virus.jsp

Best advice I can give you after you read this is to do the following:

1) Disconnect your computer from the net and/or from the LAN so that it cannot "talk" with other computers (including any wireless links) by unplugging the cable and/or antenna from its ports.

2) Go to CompUSA, Best Buy, OfficeMax, Radio Shack, Electronics Boutique, or a major department store with a decent computer section. You'll have more luck with CompUSA their dedicated to computer stuff, Best Buy would be your second best shot since they tend to have large computer sections. Buy an ANTIVIRUS program, or better yet an Internet Security program that has both an ANTIVIRUS, FIREWALL, and system monitoring capabilities. Cost ranges between $40 to $80 usually.

Look for one of the following (Ignore the order, these are just the order I came across them, not a ranking of which is better.):

MCAFEE VIRUS SCAN PLUS
http://us.mcafee.com/root/landingpages/affLandPage.asp?affid=101&lpname=linkshare_vsp

MCAFEE PC PROTECTION PLUS
http://us.mcafee.com/root/landingpages/affLandPage.asp?affid=101&lpname=linkshare_ppp

NORTON ANTIVIRUS
http://www.symantec.com/home_homeoffice/products/overview.jsp?pcid=is&pvid=nav2007

NORTON INTERNET SECURITY
http://www.symantec.com/home_homeoffice/products/overview.jsp?pcid=is&pvid=nis2007

3) If your at CompUSA or Best Buy talk to one of the workers and find the most computer savy guy on shift and talk to them about tackling the problem with the new antivirus program you going to get. If you need additional help talk to a computer savy friend. If you have to search the web for help on another site (or to come back to Yahoo Answers) USE A DIFFERENT COMPUTER. You need to keep the original computer isolated (if you can) until you can get rid of the malicious program.

If worse comes to worse you can always hire a professional like from Geeks On Call.

http://www.geeksoncall.com/

I have Norton Internet Security 2002 on my computer and it has a firewall, antivirus and system monitoring capabilities. There's a more recent version that has better capabilities the last one I saw was for 2004, but I'm pretty sure there's a 2006 version, I think they come out with an updated version either every year or every 2 years. McAfee also has an internet security program with similar capabilities.

If you can't buy a full internet security package you need to buy an upto date ANTIVIRUS program. In either case the progam will come with a subscription that usually last for 1 year once it is installed, and you'll need to pay a subscription fee after that first year to keep it updated.

It may cost a bit, but considering the fact that there are programs that can literally destroy a computer's software (making it completely usless), a $100-200 investment in a good antivirus program (and regular subscription each year) is worth it compared to the $1,000+ cost of buying a new computer. This doesn't even cover the headache and hastle of reinstalling all your programs and losing important files to damage/deletion by a malicious program.

Yeah, I know what you're thinking... ("F*CK!!!")
but the only thing I can add to all this is "Good Luck".

Answer 2

okay, we need to know some info, do you have a firewall and a good antivirus such as mcafee?
if you do, ill show you what to do.
If you don'tm get one.
First, remove your computer from the internet, unplug the adapter or something like that. Next, run a full scan of antivirus and every single one of your anti spywares. Third, fix everything that comes up. Okay, if you still have it there, remove it from add and remove programs. If you need more help, email me at [e-mail]

see you and good luck

also, don't do what the person above is doing, that only works for processes, or programs that are currently running. That program probably isn't even running.

Answer 3

Looks like an antispyware program. Check out this link.

http://whatis.techtarget.com/wsearchResults/1,290214,sid9,00.html?query=hijackthis

If you want to get rid of it, I suggest you go into Safe Mode. (Power on and immediately press and hold the F8 key until you get a DOS menu where you will select Safe Mode.)

Go to Start
Settings
Control Panel
Add/Remove

See if you can remove/uninstall the program. If you are successful, you can delete the icon if the uninstall doesn't clear it.

When finished, Restart, then drag icons back into place.

Answer 4

What other programs did you download?
Hijackthis if it's the one by merijn is a legit program, and it's very good diagnostic tool.

You don't need too many antispyware programs to run to get rid of any nasties, you just have to run the good one.

Have you tried deleting it in safe mode? can you rename it, also there are third party tools like Killbox, Unlocker etc that will delete hard to delete files/folders.

Answer 5

Try this : Download Process Explorer (Link below), install and run. Find the process that is running with your "ICON" and close it down then you should be able to delete. Process explorer is a lot better than Windows Taskmanager at closing apps down. Other option you could try is right click the icon, go to properties, general and make sure the icon is not set as read only.

Answer 6

HijackThis is a very useful(and nowhere harmful) software, because it allows you to have free access to some computer experts and seek their help on how to get rid of nasty computer infections. But, still, it might be some spyware under that name. If you want to remove it, open the 'Secure Shredder' option under Tools menu of SpyBot. Drag the file to that place and 'shred' it. Thats it!!

:-)

Answer 7

I suggest that you try to carryout system restore to a day previous to the day when there was no virus or any problems. It may be a few weeks or months back. You have to decide the date. Detailed instructions are posted at http://fixit.in/systemrestore.html
The problem is likely to be solved. Then,You insatll a standard antivirus soft ware such as Norton, AVG , Avast ( free antivirus software and Ad-aware, Ewido ( free spyware removers). You can download free softwares at
http://fixit.in/antivirus.html and http://fixit.in/spywareremover.html

Answer 8

I actually have a neat and tidy laptop with all of the icons i exploit at my fingertips so i do no longer could shop pulling up the beginning up menu to look for them. I particularly have as an occasion, the IE icon, Libraries, recycle bin and my 2 maximum widespread video games, Solitaire and Spider Solitaire.

Answer 9

Is a form of anti spyware. Just restart computer and then delete. Or try to cut an paste it to a new location and then delete it.

Answer 10

Hijack This is a good tool. U may have inadvertently deleted the uninstall file. Just reinstall Hijack this and then use Add/Remove pgms when U want 2 uninstall something.