Explorer won't allow me to use google links.

[Guest]

Okay so here is the problem. Everytime I use a search engine (google, yahoo,
msn, etc) and I attempt to click on the search links I get taken to some
other site that is trying to sell me something. Sometimes it's shopping.com
other times it is a site associated with my search. After I re-click on the
the link about 4 times then it will actually take me to my search result.
This is very frustrating. I have ran Ad-Aware and it didn't help, I have ran
Spy-Bot, no help from it. I also have Norton on my computer and my firewall
up and running. I have tried everything I know of. Spent about 5 hours last
night working on it and still the same. It doesn't do it with firefox so I am
sure it must be an explorer parasite of some kind. Any advice or ideas would
be greatly appreciated.

 

[Don Varnau]

Hi,
See these sites for additional help:
The Parasite Fight http://www.aumha.org/a/quickfix.htm
Dealing with Unwanted Spyware and Parasites:
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm
Malware Removal and Prevention Overview - CastleCopsWiki:
http://wiki.castlecops.com/Malware_Removal_and_Prevention:_Overview
Bugs, Glitches & Stuffups: http://www.mvps.org/inetexplorer/Darnit.html
Removing Malware:
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware
What you can do about spyware and other unwanted software:
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/spywarewhat.mspx

Hope this helps,
Don
[MS MVP- IE]

 

[Guest]

I'm having the same problem for a few weeks now. It happens with links from
search engines, but with other sites as well. I contacted Microsoft and they
blew me off, told me to contact my hardware vendor (Dell). Microsoft wasn't
even interested in hearing about this problem. I just bought this computer
(Dimension 9100) in September. Dell told me it's a software problem, so they
wouldn't help me either, at least not without charging me $79 per incident,
which they describe as a "nominal" fee. So much for warranties and customer
support. So here I am.
I read an earlier reply you got, and followed the suggestions. I visited
the site for Ewido Anti-Malware and downloaded their free software. I
scanned my computer and it found 49 infected objects. Windows Defender
didn't find anything. Neither did McAfee. I had checked for updates to both
of them before scanning. The Windows Defender Beta is free, of course, but
McAfee isn't. What am I paying them for? This isn't a brand-new problem.
The thing is, Ewido finds these infections, but apparently can't remove all
of them. It give an error message "Error during cleaning", usually for
entries beginning with a name like this: "[672] VM_00DB0000 ->
Downloader.Agent.uj"
I guess all I can do is wait for McAfee and Windows Defender to get around
to updating their definitions.

 

[Don Varnau]

Hi James,
My reply? You don't mention Ad-aware or HijackThis. Start at The Parasite
Fight http://www.aumha.org/a/quickfix.htm Work through the cleaning steps.
Read this important message http://forum.aumha.org/viewtopic.php?t=4075 then
post a hijackThis log.

Don
[MS MVP- IE]

I'm having the same problem for a few weeks now. It happens with links from
search engines, but with other sites as well. I contacted Microsoft and they
blew me off, told me to contact my hardware vendor (Dell). Microsoft wasn't
even interested in hearing about this problem. I just bought this computer
(Dimension 9100) in September. Dell told me it's a software problem, so they
wouldn't help me either, at least not without charging me $79 per incident,
which they describe as a "nominal" fee. So much for warranties and customer
support. So here I am.
I read an earlier reply you got, and followed the suggestions. I visited
the site for Ewido Anti-Malware and downloaded their free software. I
scanned my computer and it found 49 infected objects. Windows Defender
didn't find anything. Neither did McAfee. I had checked for updates to both
of them before scanning. The Windows Defender Beta is free, of course, but
McAfee isn't. What am I paying them for? This isn't a brand-new problem.
The thing is, Ewido finds these infections, but apparently can't remove all
of them. It give an error message "Error during cleaning", usually for
entries beginning with a name like this: "[672] VM_00DB0000 ->
Downloader.Agent.uj"
I guess all I can do is wait for McAfee and Windows Defender to get around
to updating their definitions.

[snip]