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Worm:Win32/Gaobot.ZR
Detected by Microsoft Defender Antivirus
Aliases: No associated aliases
Summary
Worm:Win32/Gaobot.ZR is a network worm that targets certain versions of Microsoft Windows. It spreads by exploiting multiple vulnerabilities that are patched in various Microsoft Security Bulletins. It also spreads to writeable network shares that have weak administrator passwords to retrieve personal and system information. The worm targets certain Web sites for denial of service (DoS) attacks. The worm also has backdoor capabilities, which allow attackers to control a computer through an IRC channel.
To manually recover from infection by Worm:Win32/Gaobot.ZR, perform the following steps:
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Disconnect from the Internet.
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Restart your computer in safe mode.
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End the worm process.
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Delete the worm file from your computer.
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Restart your computer.
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Take steps to prevent re-infection.
Disconnect from the Internet
To help ensure that your computer is not actively infecting other computers, you should disconnect it from the Internet before proceeding. Print this Web page or save a copy on your computer; then unplug your network cable and disable your wireless connection. You can reconnect to the Internet after completing these steps.
Restart your computer in safe mode
To start your the computer in safe mode
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Remove all floppy disks and CDs from your computer, and then restart your computer.
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When prompted, press F8. If Windows starts without displaying the Please select the operating system to start menu, restart your computer. Press F8 after the firmware POST process completes, but before Windows displays graphical output.
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From the Windows Advanced Options menu, select a safe mode option.
End the worm process
Ending the worm process will help stop your computer from infecting other computers as well as resolve the crashing, rebooting, and performance degradation issues caused by the worm.
To end the worm process
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Press CTRL+ALT+DEL once and click Task Manager.
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Click Processes and click Image Name to sort the running processes by name.
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Select the process wmon.exe, and click End Process.
Delete the worm file from your computer
To delete the worm file from your computer
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Click Start, and click Run.
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In the Open field, type %windir%\system32
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Click OK.
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Click Name to sort files by name.
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If wmon.exe is in the list, delete it.
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On the Desktop, right-click the Recycle Bin and click Empty Recycle Bin.
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Click Yes.
If deleting the file fails, use the following steps to verify that wmon.exe is not running:
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Press CTRL+ALT+DEL once and click Task Manager.
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Click Processes and click Image Name to sort the running processes by name.
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Confirm that wmon.exe is not in the list.
Restart your computer
To restart your computer
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On the Start menu, click Shut Down.
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Select Restart from the drop-down list and click OK.
Take steps to prevent re-infection
Do not reconnect your computer to the Internet until the computer is protected from re-infection. See the "Preventing Infection" section for more information.
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