Anyone ever hear of HeaD.exe? Virus?

JohnPaul

Senior member
Oct 20, 2002
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I am pretty sure this is a virus. I know it's not hardware related, but I don't know where else to put this. I have not been able to get rid of this program, and think it might be residing in one of my downloaded apps, but have no way to tell, and don't want to lose gigs and gigs of apps if you understand my meaning. Norton popped up today saying it was indeed a virus, but said there was nothing it could do about it, and didn't even try to quarentine it. WTF? Also, I think it goes by the name redlabel or something similar, because I have been having issues with a file with that in the name also. Someone help, tell me how to track down and get rid of this thing.
 

mechBgon

Super Moderator<br>Elite Member
Oct 31, 1999
30,699
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Are your virus definitions current? Is Norton set to delete infected files on sight without asking you first? Is it set to scan ALL files of every type? Yes = good.

I'd start by booting from the Norton CD and letting it do a baseline scan that way. After that, start in Safe Mode and scan again, with heuristics enabled.

That said, it sounds like you're engaging in some stuff you should be avoiding (duh).
 

JohnPaul

Senior member
Oct 20, 2002
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Yes, my virus definitions are up to date, yes it's set to delete, yes all files are set to be searched. On a side note, I just ran a scan again, and it didn't even find the virus it told me I had less than an hour ago. WTF? So do I have a virus or not? Norton doesn't even know.
 

Bleep

Diamond Member
Oct 9, 1999
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If one has the perl libwww module installed, then a file 'HEAD' is installed in /usr/bin. On cygwin, where (a) executables can be called without a trailing '.exe' -- even though the executable is named thus, and (b) the file system is case-insensitive but case-preserving, this leads to a problem:

HEAD is indistinguishable from head.exe -- and in fact, is preferred.

This causes problems in libtool, where 'head' is invoked without the trailing .exe -- and calling HEAD instead leads to, err, unsatisfactory results.

This patch adds $HEAD to the list of variables stored in the libtool script, and during configury hunts for 'head.exe' in preference to 'head' (or HEAD), and invokes the program thru that variable rather than directly. It should have no impact on other platforms -- beyond adding another unused variable to the libtool script (like OBJDUMP and DLLTOOL are now), since nothing but win32_libid() calls 'head'
dont look like a virus to me.

Bleep
 
Apr 17, 2003
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Originally posted by: Bleep
If one has the perl libwww module installed, then a file 'HEAD' is installed in /usr/bin. On cygwin, where (a) executables can be called without a trailing '.exe' -- even though the executable is named thus, and (b) the file system is case-insensitive but case-preserving, this leads to a problem:

HEAD is indistinguishable from head.exe -- and in fact, is preferred.

This causes problems in libtool, where 'head' is invoked without the trailing .exe -- and calling HEAD instead leads to, err, unsatisfactory results.

This patch adds $HEAD to the list of variables stored in the libtool script, and during configury hunts for 'head.exe' in preference to 'head' (or HEAD), and invokes the program thru that variable rather than directly. It should have no impact on other platforms -- beyond adding another unused variable to the libtool script (like OBJDUMP and DLLTOOL are now), since nothing but win32_libid() calls 'head'
dont look like a virus to me.

Bleep


you hit the nail on the head (no pun intended), head.exe has something to do with binary code and what you said above
 

JohnPaul

Senior member
Oct 20, 2002
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If that's the case, why did norton first pop up and call it a virus? I'm not doubting you, as you're likely right, but why? BTW, I searched the registry, and there were various references to head.exe, and also RedLabel.scr or svr, which I promptly deleted, since they are nothing I need or want.
 

CrazySaint

Platinum Member
May 3, 2002
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A search on Google for "head.exe" listed nothing but the Perl stuff already mentioned in the first 80 hits, however there is some indication that RedLabel may be a virus.