Hi Jon - Try this before going the re-install route. Download and run:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/regs_edits/RestoreSearch2.REG to restore
your search functions.
Note that this symptom often indicates the possibility of other malware.
You might want go to this page at Jim Eshelman's site, here:
http://aumha.org/a/noads.htm and wait a little bit (be patient), while an
analysis of a number of possible parasites on your machine will be made to
help you identify and remove them. NOTE: You will need to disable Ad
Blocking in Zone Alarm 3.x, if present or any other Ad Blocking software
which interferes with Java Scripting for this scan to work. You should get
a message between the two lines of **** giving the results of the scan.
For the general hijack case, the best way to start is to get Ad-Aware 6.0,
Build 181 or later, here:
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/.
UPDATE and run this regularly to get rid of most "spyware/hijackware" on
your machine. If it has to fix things, be sure to re-boot and rerun
AdAware again and repeat this cycle until you get a clean scan. The reason
is that it may have to remove things which are currently "in use" before it
can then clean up others.
Another excellent program for this purpose is SpyBot Search and Destroy
available here:
http://security.kolla.de/ SpyBot Support Forum here:
http://www.net-integration.net/cgi-bin/forums/ikonboard.cgi. I recommend
using both normally. After UPDATING and fixing things with SpyBot S&D, be
sure to re-boot and rerun SpyBot again and repeat this cycle until you get a
clean "no red" scan. The reason is that SpyBot sometimes has to remove
things which are currently "in use" before it can then clean up others.
Note that sometimes you need to make a judgement call about what these
programs report as spyware. See here, for example:
http://www.imilly.com/alexa.htm
A currently common parasite which can cause this symptom is some malware
called CoolWebSearch. Do the following:
Download and run:
http://www.merijn.org/files/cwshredder.zip to remove the
parasite. Be sure to close all instances of IE and OE. Always download a
new copy of this application, as it is updated almost daily.,
Then download and run:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/regs_edits/iegentabs.reg to restore your
tabs and remove any restrictions that the parasite has put in place.
Be sure that you also download and install hotfix Q816093, here:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=816093
which blocks the exploit upon which this parasite family depends.
Once you get things cleaned up, you might want to consider installing the
SpywareBlaster and SpywareGuard here to help prevent this kind of thing from
happening in the future:
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html (Prevents malware Active
X installs) (BTW, SpyWare Blaster is not memory resident ... no CPU or
memory load - but keep it UPDATED) The latest version as of this writing
will prevent installation or prevent the malware from running if it is
already installed, and it provides information and fixit-links for a variety
of parasites.
http://www.wilderssecurity.net/spywareguard.html (Monitors for attempts to
install malware) Keep it UPDATED. Both Very Highly Recommended.
--
Please respond in the same thread.
Regards, Jim Byrd, MS-MVP
In
