Malware error message

[sherrisewell]

Hello,

I've been dealing with a persistent error message for the past few days:

AutoIt Error Line 0 (File "C:\Users(MYUSERNAME)\jbndbhz\zqieu.qlw"): Error: Error opening the file.

This message pops up every five minutes, overlaying all open windows and programs, making it a significant nuisance.

I also checked the Registry for any related files and deleted everything in Safe Mode, but after booting Windows normally, the same error reappeared.

Another odd occurrence is that after entering my login credentials, a Microsoft Services dialog asks about location permissions and other settings. While it seems legitimate, it's unusual since there hasn't been a recent update. After I deselect everything and accept, a File Explorer tab remains open on the taskbar, linked to a Microsoft Account program that I can't access, even through the task manager.

Each time the error message appears, the AutoIt Script v3 task shows up in the task manager, and opening its file location leads to the empty folder from the error message.

I haven't performed any system restores and am hesitant to do a clean hard reset and reinstall Windows unless absolutely necessary.

Is there anyone having the same issue? Did you find any solution?

[Jos]

So you probably installed something you didn't want to install?

In any case: It seems an AutoIt3 compiled script is started each boot, so somewhere on your system that file is defined, either in the registry keys:

• Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
• Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce
• Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
• Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce

or in one of the other option in windows like task scheduler.

I normally use "HijackThis" to check how it is shelled.