Search engines takingme to the wrong pages...

Detroit_Waves

Detroit_Waves

Detroit_Waves

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Joined
18 May 2009
Posts
572
Location
Expat in LA
Hey guys,

Firstly, sorry if this has been posted in the wrong section, but I couldnt really find anywhere more appropriate.

Have always been a fan of these boards, just have always decided to keep my mouth shut, as my knowledge is not enough to be helpful here I guess. Unfortunately Im having quite a few problems with my system at the moment. So I thought I would see if any of you could get to the bottom of them.

the first, and one of the most annoying is the current issues I have online with any search engine whatsoever.

Whenever I type anything in a search engine, on firefox, or even IE, for eg. I typed in live nation, the first link was to livenation.com, I clicked it, it took me to some electronic store. I tried again on msn...this time the link took me to ebay. All is fine when I type the address in, but anything searched in a search engine doesnt work, even if I right click to open in a new window.

I have run NOD32 to see if anything was up, but it found nothing.

Do you guys have any ideas?

Thanks!
 
Thanks for your replies and the welcomes!

Im not sure if its a problem im having, but I have tried those links, and even searched malware bytes on yahoo and copy and pasted the links, but they are all coming up with page load errors?

Is is just my pc, or does the site happen to currently be down?

Thanks again
 
Sounds like a really nasty bit of Spyware - the site works for me

We had something just like this on a PC at work - search engines took you to the wrong link and you couldn't load any anti-spyware/anti-virus/etc sites

We ended up rebuilding the PC as it was quicker :(

Hopefully someone else will be of more help - would you be able to download it elsewhere and then install it on your PC (if it lets you)? Otherwise, have you tried booting into Safe Mode with Networking and trying to download it?
 
Its is starting to appear to be worse than I originally thought. I just managed to download malware from a third part online, however, everytime I try and open the program I get windows error telling me of a problem whem opening.

Another issue I had, that I didnt think could have been related to this, is Ive noticed, everytime I restart or turn off my computer...When I restart, windows firewall has been turned off! Maybe it unrelated, im not sure now however.

Hopefully someone has an idea how to get this thing off, and hopefully keep it off
 
Okies, Ive just tried it in Safe Mode: Unfortunately it wouldnt let me access the malware site online again. I tried installing malware that had downloaded, but once installed, whenever double clicking to open, it wouldnt do anything to open the program.

I unistalled malware, and renamed it, and reinstalled it, but same problem, kept getting a windows, programs crashed, message.

I will keep trying any suggestions you guys have

I also dont know if it helps, but everytime I have malware installed on my pc, my wireless connection just cuts out every 3-4 minutes, and takes forever to come back on. Once I remove it, back to normal
 
Did you try running 'safe mode with networking'? You'll probably have to use a network cable rather than wireless in safe-mode though.

Can you run hijackthis instead?
 
This sounds like it's going to lead to an inevitable formatting and reinstallation of Windows. Can you be bothered to spend the time and effort to try and remove this malware which isn't going to be easy and more than likely still be hiding in your system? Sometimes it's worth starting again, you can easily spend hours and hours trying to get rid of something that nasty.
 
Welcome to the forums :)

Yep, it's reinstall time. Sounds like that malware has got pretty deep into your system, which means: a) it'll take ages to get rid of it, and b) you'll never be truly sure if it's gone and isn't lurking somewhere sending your passwords to somebody.

Back up all your docs and stuff and install afresh. It'll only take a few hours and you'll have that nice fresh install feeling :)
 
Thanks for all the pointers guys, seems like my only choice now is a fresh install. Will be good to start over again I guess, havent given this machine a good reinstall since I got it!

I guess my next question however is....How on Earth do I stop this happening again?

My current defense has been my router, assisted by Windows Firewall (I don't mind it) along with NOD32...but if they all managed to miss this, what am I lacking to prevent it happening again?

Also, do have about 300gb worth of music, pictures, tv, movies, videos the lot currently on this machine. My plan is to get a 1TB external drive, and shift all the stuff I need onto that. Is there anyway to ensure I dont take any of the nasty stuff with those files? Or should my files alone be ok?
 
Detroit_Waves said:
My current defense has been my router, assisted by Windows Firewall (I don't mind it) along with NOD32...but if they all managed to miss this, what am I lacking to prevent it happening again?
Click to expand...

The weak link here is not your software, but you. You need to only run programs for which you trust the source. This almost certainly got access by you clicking something you shouldn't or downloading a program to "speed" up your PC. I think a little bit of paranoia would do wonders :)

Also, make sure you're running a restricted user account and not as an administrator.
 
Yep. Your router and firewall will do nothing to stop malware which you allow onto your PC, and anti-virus provides only a limited defence. LimeWire and other P2P services are havens for this kind of thing, but you really have to be careful what you download at all times. Trust nothing by default.
 
I do like to think I try and be as strict as I can on the things I allow on my pc, but obviously it hasnt been as much as is required. I dont have any P2P devices on my pc for this exact reason, however Ive let enough people on my pc for them to have clicked something.

The only thing I have been doing is running my pc as an administrator, just as it seemed easier than not. Would it make that big a different in the future do you reckon?
 
Yup, non-admin account is a good idea in general, but particularly if other people use your system who might not be as careful as you are!
 
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