Yet another PC problem

Tech Talk
1

So yeah. I’ve managed to pick up some kind of virus or spyware or something. I even ran a scan in safe mode and nothing. I’ve used norton antivirus corporate edition, spybot and adaware and they all came up with nothing.

What’s the problem I’m having? Well, every time I click a link after a search in google, yahoo and msn (and probably any other search engine I use) it takes me to the wrong place. Any ideas as to what’s causing this? My homepage hasn’t changed at all. So I don’t know what’s going on.

This is happening in both IE7 and Firefox 3.0. Has anyone heard of any spyware etc that causes this so that I can continue to research the problem myself? I’d hate to have to reformat this thing.

ONEZ

2

run Malwarebyte. Sounds like you got some adware or something.

If that fails, I am not sure whats wrong with your computer but it does sound liek you have some adware or something.

3

Sounds like a textbook browser hijack… These can be tricky, and annoying to remove. Is your important stuff all backed up? If it is, it might not be a bad idea to just re-install whatever OS you’re using.

Two reasons for this: One, it never hurts to occasionally do a fresh install, especially if it’s been a while since you last did one. Two, the time you take to re-install your OS and your programs might actually turn out to be less than the time it would take you to track down the source of your problem, find the right program that can actually remove it altogether, and continue on your normal life.

I’d say it’s a last resort, but it might wind up being the most painless way. With really nasty stuff, it might be the only way.

But if you’d rather not, I’d recommend downloading AVG or another free anti-virus software program on another PC, putting it on a flash drive and running it on your PC while in Safe Mode (that assumes you’re running a Windows OS). While you’re at it, try running your other anti-spyware and virus scanners while in safe mode and see if that picks up anything. Soemtimes that’s the only way to remove those buggers.

4

Malwarebyte is a good software. Download a better antivirus software such as AVG or Avast

5

Meh, a reformat wouldn’t be so bad. I just did one on this laptop about 6 months ago. I hadn’t really added any personal touches to it yet or really important info. I have a few papers I typed up in word for school, bit I could remove those no problem. I’ll try out the malwarbyte and see what happens. Is it free???

ONEZ

6

There’s a free and pay version. Though Free version seems to be doing quite well at the moment.

That’s what I’ve been using lately.