hijacked browser

[Lon Sharp]

Help!
Something seems to have hijacked Internet Explorer. Every
time I open a browser window, unwanted (and unremovable)
search toobars show up with links to gambling and/or adult
sites. In addition, every link I click on takes the
browser to an adult site and repeatly opens new windows
(despite a pop-up blocker) that I can barely keep up with
closing. I believe that my son installed something he
shouldn't have, but he doesn't know what, and I cannot
find any unknown programs anywhere. This mystery program
also eats up ALL available memory on the machine. The
only way to stop it is to uninstall IE and run Netscape.
Re-installing IE does not help, and I don't know if
reinstalling XP will do any good.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[H Leboeuf]

Try this: Tools > Internet Options > Advanced > Browsing
Uncheck the Enable 3rd party browser extensions

If this clears your problem then find out who the culprit(s) is/are with
these tools.

Let AD-Aware Scan your system for advertising Spyware
http://www.lavasoftusa.com

and:

SpyBot-S&D
http://security.kolla.de/

p.s Reset the 3rd party browser setting.

More: This may be caused by a third-party program (adware, spyware,
parasite).
Get AdAware and SpyBot and run them both. Keep them up to date.
Dealing with Unwanted Spyware, Parasites, Toolbars and Search Engines
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm