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Published Jun 16, 2009 | Updated Sep 15, 2017

Worm:Win32/Virauto.A

Detected by Microsoft Defender Antivirus

Aliases: Win32/SillyAutorun.AMZ (CA) Worm.Win32.AutoRun.aasp (Kaspersky) W32/Autorun-AAA (Sophos) Worm.AutoRun.LJV (VirusBuster) W32/Autorun.worm.gen (McAfee) :W32/Autorun.IWT (Panda) WORM_AUTORUN.JFZ (Trend Micro)

Summary

Worm:Win32/Virauto.A is a worm that propagates by copying itself to drives in the system. It may also add its copy to archived ZIP files in the system. It has backdoor capabilities and may also download other files. It modifies the HOSTS file to prevent the system from downloading antivirus updates.
Manual removal is not recommended for this threat. To detect and remove this threat and other malicious software that may have been installed, run a full-system scan with an up-to-date antivirus product such as the Microsoft Safety Scanner (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=212742). For more information, see http://www.microsoft.com/protect/computer/viruses/vista.mspx.
To recreate a clean HOSTS file:
  1. Click Start, and click Run.
  2. Open the Hosts file, according to operating system:

    On Windows 95, Windows 98, or Windows ME systems:
    In the Open field, type: notepad %windir%\hosts

    On Windows NT-based operating systems, such as Windows 2000 or Windows XP:
    In the Open field, type: notepad<system folder>\drivers\etc\hosts
    -- for example, on Windows 2000:
    In the Open field, type: notepad C:\WINNT\system32\drivers\etc\hosts
    -- or on Windows XP:
    In the Open field, type: notepad C:\Windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

    On Windows Vista:
    Click Start, click All Programs, click Accessories, right-click Notepad, and then click Run as administrator
    Click File, click Open, type: %windir%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts, and then click Open
  3. On the first line of the HOSTS file, type: 127.0.0.1 localhost as in the following example after modifying a default 'hosts' file:


  4. Save the file to the same location you opened it from.
  5. Close Notepad.
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