keep getting links to gambling sites??

j.e.j.

well, I've run the anti-malware (thanks for the link) and it's picked up and deleted 4 things. But I'm still getting this weird thing, where random words on a thread or post appear in orange and/or are underlined. If I hover the mouse over that word an ad pops up. This makes me think there's still something dodgy in the computer somewhere.. It's happening on Internet Explorer now.

reallyAnnoyed_2

Check your firefox add-ons (extensions). It could well be an add-on (like quickWiki or something).

.

Former_MSE_Ian

Hi j.e.j,

Yes hopefully there's a Firefox plug-in or extension which can be conveniently disabled and uninstalled.

If not... it might be a case of deleting your Firefox profile and creating a new one. You'll obviously lose any data associated with the profile. See these pages for details. Hopefully it won't come to that.

Profiles - Where Firefox stores your bookmarks, passwords and other user data

Use the Profile Manager to create and remove Firefox profiles

Ian

j.e.j.

OK, have now got rid of the firefox profile. (I no longer have FF after uninstalling it the other day) Have also tried running Internet Explorer without add-ons, but I still get this problem.

Maybe I will try and look at the Internet Explorer browser settings, or try and locate the DNS settings, as previously suggested.

As I say, it seems to be selecting certain words, and putting them in orange and double-underlining them. Then when I hover the mouse over the word an ad pops up. (This is using I.E.)

Whatever virus or bug it is, it seems it doesn't want to be found! It's a bit annoying when I'm using the MSE site, but I'm also a bit wary of doing any internet banking, or anything like that knowing there's something iffy on the computer.

nilrem_2

Have you got a search toolbar in firefox such as Google toolbar or similar?
This might cause the problem.

Not connected to your highlighted words but do you use the firefox extension Adblock plus in firefox, it's completly free and can help prevent pop up adds.

http://adblockplus.org/en/


Edit sorry just noticed you are not using firefox now.

nilrem_2

Did you try running malwarebytes in windows safe mode?

Have you also tried Spybot? http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html

reallyAnnoyed_2

^ do you have any searchbars installed? This highlighting the words in browser issue points to either a searchbar or add-on.

nilrem_2

j.e.j. wrote: »

OK, have now got rid of the firefox profile. (I no longer have FF after uninstalling it the other day) Have also tried running Internet Explorer without add-ons, but I still get this problem.

Maybe I will try and look at the Internet Explorer browser settings, or try and locate the DNS settings, as previously suggested.

As I say, it seems to be selecting certain words, and putting them in orange and double-underlining them. Then when I hover the mouse over the word an ad pops up. (This is using I.E.)

Whatever virus or bug it is, it seems it doesn't want to be found! It's a bit annoying when I'm using the MSE site, but I'm also a bit wary of doing any internet banking, or anything like that knowing there's something iffy on the computer.

I do know how you feel in fact in the end I actually reinstalled windows from scratch after my problems because I could not be 100% sure it was clean.

As I said above I had all sort of strange problems similar to yours for quite some time, in the end I was quite surprised to find my DNS settings had been changed in my router.

Make sure you are not using a proxy server in IE as some of these can be quite dodgy, they can be useful if your isp blocks a site or have a problem but proxy servers can be from dubious sources sometimes.

I use a proxy server occasionally but I normally only do so on a temporary basis.

j.e.j.

nilrem wrote: »

I do know how you feel in fact in the end I actually reinstalled windows from scratch after my problems because I could not be 100% sure it was clean.

It might come to that :eek: :rotfl:

I've just got rid of google searchbar, and for a moment I thought that had done the trick, as the words which were highlighted weren't anymore. But I've had a look at some other threads and unfortunately the problem's still there. Random things are often the hardest to solve, aren't they.

I'm going to try some more of your suggestions. Thanks a lot for all your help. Btw how would I know if it's a proxy server? I am using mobile broadband at the moment (just an O2 dongle), don't know if that's relevant.

Former_MSE_Ian

Hi j.e.j.,

At this point I must advise you to seek the advice of a local computer professional with access to the machine.

It sounds as if the malware is farily deeply rooted in your computer's system. It's going to be difficult to dig out and you could do potentially do damage trying to do so.

Ian