Dns problems

I've been having DNS issues in the office for the past few weeks and have been so busy with year end reports and appraisals that I never had the time to fix it. Finally today decided to take the time to find the problem before it starts getting worst. As it is I can't do any printing and can't connect to the intranet.

First noticed this problem when I had problems connecting to my Exchange server. It couldn't connect and after much checking I found out that the DNS settings in TCP/IP has changed to a unknown server. Tried removing it several times and no matter what I did it still was there. This includes removing the network driver and reinstalling it.

I'm pretty sure that it's a virus or malware but I didn't have any problems browsing the web or even connecting to local server via IP.

Today when I wanted to apply for my year end leave and couldn't do it I really got frustrated. So I went to good ole Google to try and find a fix for this damn irritating problem.

Found a website that had a solution to the same problem I was facing. So I followed the instructions here.

I've copied the instructions and posted it up here as well as a backup just in case if the site goes down or the page is removed.

Please download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and save it to your desktop.
alternate download link 1
alternate download link 2

• Make sure you are connected to the Internet.
• Double-click on mbam-setup.exe to install the application.
• When the installation begins, follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.
• When installation has finished, make sure you leave both of these checked:
  • Update Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
  • Launch Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
• Then click Finish.

MBAM will automatically start and you will be asked to update the program before performing a scan.

• If an update is found, the program will automatically update itself.
• Press the OK button to close that box and continue.
• If you encounter any problems while downloading the updates, manually download them from here and just double-click on mbam-rules.exe to install. Alternatively, you can update through MBAM's interface from a clean computer, copy the definitions (rules.ref) located in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Malwarebytes\Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware from that system to a usb stick or CD and then copy it to the infected machine.

On the Scanner tab:

• Make sure the "Perform Quick Scan" option is selected.
• Then click on the Scan button.
• If asked to select the drives to scan, leave all the drives selected and click on the Start Scan button.
• The scan will begin and "Scan in progress" will show at the top. It may take some time to complete so please be patient.
• When the scan is finished, a message box will say "The scan completed successfully. Click 'Show Results' to display all objects found".
• Click OK to close the message box and continue with the removal process.

Back at the main Scanner screen:

• Click on the Show Results button to see a list of any malware that was found.
• Make sure that everything is checked, and click Remove Selected.
• When removal is completed, a log report will open in Notepad.
• The log is automatically saved and can be viewed by clicking the Logs tab in MBAM.

I followed the instructions and it manage to detect the DNS trojan which I immediately removed which then prompted for a system reboot.

After the reboot I ran the scan again just in case and the results came out negative. Time to check the TCP/IP setting again.

YES !!! Finally I get back control of my DNS settings !!! Damn you malware !! I wonder if any sensitive data like passwords etc was exchanged while I was using the DNS server.

The new pc draft config

After much thought and research I finally narrowed down the config of the new pc to the following

• CPU Intel Q6600 ~ RM 600
  - It was a toss between getting more MHz and more cores (E8400 3.0 Ghz vs Q6600 2.4 Ghz)
  - Though the E8400 has a higher bus speed I chose the Q6600 to help decoding the h264 and I'm pretty sure I can get the Q600 abover 3 Ghz if I wanted to.
  

• Motherboard Intel P35 chipset ~ RM 500
  - After reading the osx86 wiki and the list of compatible motherboards I decided to get the Intel P35 chipset due to it's simplicity in installing the hackintosh plus I have no need of the extra features the P45 chipset boasts currently.
  - I narrowed it down to the Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS3R v2.1

• RAM 4 GB DDR2 PC800/1200 RM 500
  - Ram prices are pretty cheap currently and getting 4 GB made sense since my old setup only had 1 GB

• Graphic Radeon HD3870 or Geforce 9800 GT ~ RM 500
  - Have always preferred the graphic display of the Radeon compared to the Geforce and since I won't be playing much games I decided to hunt for a Radeon card since most shops are selling the HD 4870 which hackintosh currently doesn't support.
  
  
• Hard drive 2 x 500 GB SATA ~ RM 400
  - Planning on getting 2 500 GB drives and running 4 OS (XP,Vista,Hackintosh,Ubuntu) and using the other one just for data. This allows me to share data saved in the second drive with the multiples OS
  
  
• Casing Coolermaster 690 ~ RM 300
  - Trying to find a casing that looks good at at the same time has enough expansion slot and ventilation that isn't too big and doesn't cost a bomb can be quite a daunting task. Finally after much deliberation decided on the Coolermaster 690 due to it's cooling abilities and not too expensive price tag.
  
  
• PSU 400-500W ~ RM 300
  - Was recommended to get something around that range especially since I'll be planning to overclock the system.
  
  
• Total estimate ~ RM 3.1k @ USD 880 - talk about maximising the budget as much as possible
  

Now that I have narrowed down the items I want to get, it was time to go and do some bargaining :)

Requirements for the new pc

The new pc should be able to

• Be a file web/server running 24x7
• Compatible with Linux/Ubuntu
• Compatible with Mac OS (hackintosh)
• Able to do HD 1080p without a sweat
• Not too noisy
• Be able to last at least the next 2-3 years
• Flexibility of being a workstation/HTPC when needed
• Basically an all-in-one PC that allows me to toy around with the latest OS and hardware and the occasional games
• Most importantly it should cost around RM2-3k (~ USD 500 - 700)
• The only existing thing that will be kept from the old pc would be an external 1TB hdd and my 24" LCD monitor and the keyboard/mouse which might get ditched for the wireless kind :)
  

The old pc

It's been a while since I've upgraded my computer and feeling a little outdated and not being able to play 1080p HD videos on my current computer I finally took the plunge and decided to splurge a bit on getting a relatively new pc that is up to the task.

The old pc spec

CPU - AMD X2 3800+
Motherboard - MSI K8N
RAM Corsair - 512MB x 2
Graphic - Ati Radeon HD2600 XT
Hard drive - 2 x 250 GB WD
Optical - LG CDRW
Casing - Coolermaster Centurian 5 Silver
PSU - Enlight 320W