What is DSO Exploit?

[sun]

Can someone help me, please, I downloaded Spybot, and keep getting -DSO Explooit? What is it? Is it dangerous, if so, how do I get rid of it, if not, is it ok to leave it there...Every time I remove it, by using Spybot, and Mc Afaee virius remover, it still comes back...can it hurt my new computer? I trust the Toonzone people will come up with an honest solution, went to google.. and I don't even know all those websites, they may be worse than the original problem, I know there are people out there that disguise themselves as help, and really are out there to hurt and get you...thanks for anyone here who helps...Stuart--new computer owner

[Good Ol' Batmanuel!]

I get it all the time with Spybot, too. A friend of mine did some procedure that he figured would get rid of it, but it didn't work. Doesn't seem to do anything, though. Whatever it is, I figure it's pretty non-threatening.

Sorry I don't have an answer. Maybe we'll both learn more about it together.

[ZephyrSamba]

When Spybot or any such program turns up an unrecognised item on my computer, I usually google it to see what it is - most of the time someone else has already found the same thing on their computer and posted information about it somewhere - huzzah for the internet! =) As for the potential for ending up being hurt more than helped by such pages ... well, I know there's no "failsafe" method of being safe from that but I tend to see if I can find basically the same information on a couple of different pages, I read through what I find to see if it seems "safe" to me, and maybe look through some of the other articles on the same site to see if anything feels suspicious - knock on wood I've never had problems with that so far ...

At any rate, when I searched on "DOS Exploit," I came up with a number of pages that all pretty much say the same thing - this one from PC Hell (http://www.pchell.com/support/dsoexploit.shtml) describes it as:
a bug in Internet Explorer that under certain circumstances would allow untrusted software to run on the computer. In other words, its a hole in Internet Explorer that hackers could use to gain access to your system. However, if you are running the latest version of Internet Explorer and have all your Windows Updates installed, the bug has been patched and is not a threat to your computer system. Even though Spybot may still show it as a threat.This page also gives instructions for how to get rid of it if you'd like to do so, although to be honest, given that the instructions involve messing with your reg files you may want to forego doing so if you're not all that comfortable messing around with your computer - you can do a lot of damage by incorrectly modifying your registry files and I'd feel pretty darned bad if I contributed to that! If you do decide to brave it, though, please just make sure to back up that registry first. Have fun ...

[BonyT]

Well, Stu, I'm far from a computer expert, but let me share my experience, because it's very similar to yours.

DSO Exploit used to turn up on my computer every time I ran Spybot -- every time. I'd remove it each time, but it'd be back the next time. I read a little bit about it, but the stuff I read was pretty much over my head.

Then, one day I ran Spybot, it found DSO Exploit like always, I dutifully removed it -- and it stayed gone, forever. This was after, like, months of finding it every time. Now, my computer always checks out completely clean when I run Spybot.

Reading what ZephyrSamba posted, here's what I suspect happened: Between the last time I deleted DSO Exploit and the first time I ran Spybot & found my computer clean, I must have downloaded a Windows update that patched the hole. (I never made the connection before reading Zephyr's post; like most folks, I download Windows updates all the time, without thinking a whole lot about it. But it certainly makes sense that that's what happened.)

Maybe if you just delete DSO Exploit with Spybot, then go to Windows update & be you've got all the latest, your problem might be solved.

It's certainly worth a try. Here's hoping. :)

[Nimbleness]

Unless you haven't been downloaded any security updates for about a year now you don't have to worry about anything.

Spybot will still tell you it's there, regardless whether its fixed or not. If it bothers you anyway, then follow the pc hell link and do what it says. I remember doing something similar.

[sun]

Unless you haven't been downloaded any security updates for about a year now you don't have to worry about anything.

Spybot will still tell you it's there, regardless whether its fixed or not. If it bothers you anyway, then follow the pc hell link and do what it says. I remember doing something similar.I bought this thing on 3/5/05, I cannot believe that it would have this kind of defect...Windows Update? Would I need something like that on this new HP Pavilliion Computer? (or maybe it isn't new, it may have been sitting at Best Buy for a long time, who knows..) I assume that this has the lastest version of Explorer...but I have been told to assume nothing, assuming makes an ,,,,,,,,,out of you.

[Kuja's Light]

Well, the Windows Security updates are for people who want to feel safer I guess. They aren't necassary. Besides, strong virus protection software is much better.

Oh yeah!! You might want a firewall too. Zone Alarm is good, and you can downlaod a free version online.

[BonyT]

I bought this thing on 3/5/05, I cannot believe that it would have this kind of defect...Windows Update? Would I need something like that on this new HP Pavilliion Computer? (or maybe it isn't new, it may have been sitting at Best Buy for a long time, who knows..) I assume that this has the lastest version of Explorer...but I have been told to assume nothing, assuming makes an ,,,,,,,,,out of you.Well, going on Windows update can't hurt, anyway. If you've got all the latest & don't need an update, no harm done. :)

[Nimbleness]

I bought this thing on 3/5/05, I cannot believe that it would have this kind of defect...Windows Update? Would I need something like that on this new HP Pavilliion Computer? (or maybe it isn't new, it may have been sitting at Best Buy for a long time, who knows..) I assume that this has the lastest version of Explorer...but I have been told to assume nothing, assuming makes an ,,,,,,,,,out of you. What I meant was, Spybot will still tell you that the vulnerability is there even if you already have the fix.

Copy and paste the link to test for it.

http://www.greymagic.com/security/advisories/gm001-ie/simplebind.asp

If the calculator program doesn't come up don't worry about it.