SOMETHING IS AFOOTE HERE!

[zacker]

WHEN USING MY LAP TOP I GET STRANGE AND ANNOYING THINgS HAPPENING. WHILE ON THE NET, WHEN I CLICK A LINK, SAY FOR INSTANCE, LAST NIGHT I WAS ON B&H'S SITE, I WAS LOOKING AT GRIPS AND WHEN I CLICKED A(damn you caps lock!) pic of the one i wanted to see, it pulled up a page that was a search engine. Even here.. i would click a topic and id get some search engine page that has something to do with the topic! And...it gets even freakier, while reading the threads and posts here, key words will suddenly become links, like if someone posted something and they used the words Dell, of lens or filter or canon..like that, those words would be blue and be links to search pages... Hmmm seems ive been hijacked! I ran yahoo anti spy and got rid of some stuff..like 19 objects and then i did a whole system sweep with Ad-aware and found about 28 more items but its still doing it, its totally annoying.... what do you guys think?
-zacker-

[forsakenme720]

I think you need to lay off the crack! - lol. Seriously though, you need to scan for viruses. It's probably a spyware/virus combo. And make sure your spyware and virus software are up to date when you scan.

[MazerRakhm]

What search engine comes up, and what browser are you using?

I know there are some software plugins that will automatically make some words link to search engines and things like that.

[zacker]

I think you need to lay off the crack! - lol. Seriously though, you need to scan for viruses. It's probably a spyware/virus combo. And make sure your spyware and virus software are up to date when you scan.

Ya know, I thought it was my crack addiction but this has never happend to me before... hey, while we here.... you got a dollar?
lol

-zacker-

[zacker]

What search engine comes up, and what browser are you using?

I know there are some software plugins that will automatically make some words link to search engines and things like that.

not sure what engine it is, ill have to check tonight.

its gotta be a virus/trojan or something... it just started happening
im using IE 6 XT Home and this just started the night before last. its sooo annoying.. 5 out of 10 things i clikc on, pics, websites..even forum threads, pulls up a search engin!
-zacker-

[condyk]

Do a Google search on the search engine name and see what you find, esp. on Symantec or McAfee sites. I use Microsoft Anti-spyware and Adaware. Some of these are very hard to get rid of.

[thomascanty]

Sounds like you've been hijacked. Run Adaware, Spybot Search & Destroy and Hijack This to see what they find on your computer.

Adaware: http://www.lavasoft.com/
Spybot: http://www.safer-networking.org/
Hijack This: http://www.majorgeeks.com/download3155.html

Also, run a complete virus scan (I'd recommend AVG Free way more than anything by Symantec or McAfee).

[zacker]

cool, thanks, ill try those tonight.
-zacker-

[queenbee288]

Zacker: It happened to me once too. I was hijacked by a really nasty trojan. It kept getting worse and worse until my system was freezing up completely. The one I had was so bad that that a member of the following forum had to make a special tool to fix it. Go here.http://www.techguy.org/
Download hijack this, run it and post the log. The experts there will look at it and advise you of what to get rid of and how. They are terrific! I can't say enough good things about them. Some of these baddies cant be gotten rid of with spybot or adaware alone.
After you get rid of it, download spyware guard and it prevents them. Since I started using it I have never had another thing found by adaware or spybot, No more problems.

[Moppie]

I can also recomend Hijack this.

Although when I had a problem bad enough to need it, I simply did a clean install.
I had a little bug that wrote 3 differnt versions of itself, and all 3 of the kept track of each other, if you removed 1 of them, the other 2 would replace it.
Hijack this is able to remove all 3 at once.
Unforunatly the bug I had also changed and altered several registry settings, I would have had to re-enter a lot of entries, far to many to make it worth while.

However, I had two partitions on my drive, so it was a very simple matter of only formatting one, while all my photos stayed safe on the other.
Now I have 3 physical drives, one of which is in two partitions, lots of options for replaceing the OS with out having to reload a lot of other software etc, or lose any valuable data.


And of course if not already a Firefox user I recomend switching, combined with norton and SpyBot I havn't had anymore problems.

One useful note, if you insist on useing IE, then use Spybot and turn on registry checking.
It monitors your registry, and if anything tries to change it it lets you know, and gives you the option of allowing it or not.
Of course it can be annoying when installing new software, you have to keep allowing, and clicking "remember changes", but it can be a life saver if something you don't want to tries to fiddle with things. The deny changed option will stop it dead in its tracks.

[picturepages]

Have you uploaded Yahoo Browser?
If I remember right thats where I got those "key word" links from before...It's an option that came with the browser tools. I had to disable it somehow...have ya tried to right click the key word link and look to see if maybe the option to disable it is there?
You may have something different though cause I dont remember it makeing everything I cliked on into a search broswer.
Good luck

[CyberDyneSystems]

You are most likely infected with one of the now hundreds of variations of the "CoolWebSearch" virus...

It infects you through your browser... (you've been visitng crack list sites haven't you? Shame shame)


Go here for info and removal.
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html

Or just downlaod and try this;
http://www.intermute.com/spysubtract/cwshredder_download.html

[Citizensmith]

And of course if not already a Firefox user I recomend switching, combined with norton and SpyBot I havn't had anymore problems.

What he said.

And remember the more wonderful, can't live without them, must have utilities you install, or let sites install just so you can take advantage of their content, the more screwed you will be. :)

Firstly, the more stuff you have running the slower your system will get. Secondly, many of them are bait to get you to install stuff they are not honest about.

Sure people are smart enough to not click that russiannakedgirls.exe file someone just emailed them, but way too many people decide that the little gadget in their task bar telling them the weather is a must have and end up with a trojan or two steering their browsing.

[20DNewbie]

Yes definitely switch to Firefox(love the tabs), Spybot S&D/Adaware combo is awesome also, can't remember the last time I used anything else.

[zacker]

oh my god, this is sooo annoying... i get allot of microsoft.com search pages.. I was trying to download "hijackthis" last night and everytime i clicked the link it went to an microsoft.com search engine that pulled it up, so id click that link and it would open the hijack this page so id click the download link and it would open up the microsoft page again...lol so i just upgraded my norton antivirus and ill see if that can find it, if not ill do a clean sweep of the hard drive, i only use the laptop for websurfing and email so i have nothing on it to loose.
-zacker-

[zacker]

i noticed that ( iforget which one) one of the anti-spy programs pulled up allot of Kazza and Grockster things from the harddrive.. I havent used those sites in a couple years now... I think all this stuff has been in the harddrive for the last three years or so..lol and i must have picked up something new just recently from the nakedrussiangirls.exe file i open...;)
-zacker-

[Citizensmith]

so i just upgraded my norton antivirus

Problem is it sounds like what you are dealing with is a trojan and not a virus. A virus will be stealthy, hide in the background and try and either kill your computer or email itself to other folks. A virus does not want to be noticed.

A trojan on the other hand is an application that managed to get installed that will be redirecting your browsing, changing home pages, tracking what sites you visit, and such. Their effects are obvious but they are also hard to remove as they can often defeat things like Adaware and Spybot.

Once you've managed to pick up some of these things they can be annoying to remove. Even the best, paid for, anti-spyware software never gets 100% of the stuff out there (90% if you are lucky). You really need them running and installed before you ever start messing with stuff.

The most reliable alternative, back up everything that matters to CD/DVD and then reformat. Your computer will thank you for it and you should be copying important stuff to disc anyway. :)

[zacker]

luckily, i only use this laptop for sitting at the tv while surfing..so a clean, re-install wont hurt me.
-zacker-

[Citizensmith]

luckily, i only use this laptop for sitting at the tv while surfing..so a clean, re-install wont hurt me.
-zacker-

If thats the case then go at it. Just make sure you know where your driver disks are. :)

[condyk]

If the likes of Adaware won't shift it then it's actually the easiest and quickest way. Your computer is refreshed too: much quicker and more responsive. Have fun matey ;-)

[Grimnar]

im using IE 6 XT Home

There is your problem and your solution.;)