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Published Jul 15, 2004 | Updated Sep 15, 2017

Worm:Win32/Randex.A

Detected by Microsoft Defender Antivirus

Aliases: W32.Randex.gen (Symantec) WORM_MORPH.A (Trend Micro) W32/Morph.worm (McAfee)

Summary

Win32/HLLW.Randex.A is a worm that targets computers running certain versions of Microsoft Windows. The worm generates and scans IP addresses randomly to attempt to spread to writeable network shares that have weak passwords. If your computer is infected by this worm, you may notice crashes or slowdowns during normal operation.
To manually recover from infection by Win32/HLLW.Randex.A, perform the following steps:
  1. Disconnect from the Internet.
  2. Restart the computer in safe mode.
  3. End the worm process.
  4. Delete the worm files from the computer.
  5. Restart the computer.
  6. Scan network shares with an antivirus program. 
  7. 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 the computer in safe mode

To start the computer in safe mode
  1. Remove all floppy disks and CDs from your computer, and then restart your computer.
  2. 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.
  3. 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
  1. Press CTRL+ALT+DEL once and click Task Manager.
  2. Click Processes and click Image Name to sort the running processes by name.
  3. Select process ntsys32.exe if it is in the list, and click End Process.
  4. Select process rkd.exe if it is in the list, and click End Process.

Delete the worm files from the computer

To delete the worm files from the computer
  1. Click Start, and click Run.
  2. In the Open field, type C:\ 
  3. Click OK.
  4. Click Name to sort files by name.
  5. If any of the following files are in the list, delete them: ntsys32.exe, ntsys.bat, rkd.exe.
  6. On the Desktop, right-click the Recycle Bin and click Empty Recycle Bin.
  7. Click Yes.
  8. Repeat steps 2 through 7 for the following additional possible locations of ntsys32.exe, ntsys.bat and rkd.exe:
    %Windir%
    <system folder>
If deleting files fails, use the following steps to verify that files ntsys32.exe and rkd.exe are not running:
  1. Press CTRL+ALT+DEL once and click Task Manager.
  2. Click Processes and click Image Name to sort the running processes by name.
  3. Confirm that neither ntsys32.exe and rkd.exe is in the list.

Restart the computer

To restart the computer
  1. On the Start menu, click Shut Down.
  2. Select Restart from the drop-down list and click OK.

Scan network shares with an antivirus program

  1. On the Start menu, click Run.
  2. Type cmd and click OK.
  3. Type net share
  4. Run an antivirus program to scan the resource locations of listed shares.

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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