Google/Search Engine Virus

MMan_3

Hi

I seem to have virus/spyware on my computer that I cant get rid of. If I search for anything using google/yahoo/altavista and then click on one of the results it redirects me to a dodgy site which is nothing to do with the link I actually clicked on. I've run AVG, Spybot and Ad-aware but it doesnt pick up anything. Any ideas?

Many Thanks

StuntmanBob

Unbelievably some of these are not classed as viruses. Go to control panel, add/remove programs and look for "Cool Web Search" or any other "web search" programs. Uninstall them. It may be as simple as that. Fingers crossed.

MMan_3

StuntmanBob wrote: »

Unbelievably some of these are not classed as viruses. Go to control panel, add/remove programs and look for "Cool Web Search" or any other "web search" programs. Uninstall them. It may be as simple as that. Fingers crossed.

Cheers, unfortunately there isnt anything like that I can see

Browntoa

Please download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and save it to your desktop.
alternate download link 1
alternate download link 2

• Make sure you are connected to the Internet.
• Double-click on Download_mbam-setup.exe to install the application.
• When the installation begins, follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.
• When installation has finished, make sure you leave both of these checked:
  • Update Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
  • Launch Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
• Then click Finish.
• MBAM will automatically start and you will be asked to update the program before performing a scan. If an update is found, the program will automatically update itself. Press the OK button to close that box and continue.
• If you encounter any problems while downloading the updates, manually download them from here and just double-click on mbam-rules.exe to install.
• On the Scanner tab:
  • Make sure the "Perform Quick Acan" option is selected.
  • Then click on the Scan button.
• The next screen will ask you to select the drives to scan. Leave all the drives selected and click on the Start Scan button.
• The scan will begin and "Scan in progress" will show at the top. It may take some time to complete so please be patient.
• When the scan is finished, a message box will say "The scan completed successfully. Click 'Show Results' to display all objects found".
• Click OK to close the message box and continue with the removal process.
• Back at the main Scanner screen, click on the Show Results button to see a list of any malware that was found.
• Make sure that everything is checked, and click Remove Selected.
• When removal is completed, a log report will open in Notepad and you may be prompted to restart your computer. (see Note below)
• The log is automatically saved and can be viewed by clicking the Logs tab in MBAM.
• Copy and paste the contents of that report in your next reply and exit MBAM.

Note: If MBAM encounters a file that is difficult to remove, you will be presented with 1 of 2 prompts. Click OK to either and let MBAM proceed with the disinfection process. If asked to restart the computer, please do so immediately. Failure to reboot will prevent MBAM from removing all the malware.

MMan_3

Silly question, but is that a free link you suggest? Or does the program cost?

Browntoa

MMan wrote: »

Silly question, but is that a free link you suggest? Or does the program cost?

it is free, use it myself

MMan_3

Thanks, it seems to have got rid of at least a chunk of the problem. In the past it sent me to 3 different sites, now it is just 1 and less often. I'm doing a full scan to see if there are anything else. Is this Malware then? As opposed to viruses or spyware? Is there anything else I can scan with too just to check the thing is gone?

Browntoa

follow this to be sure

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=133269