Bell said:
This sounds like your Registy settings for IE have been changed from
the defaults.
No. It means that Rob's Hosts file has been compromised.
I'm not too sure what hijackthis program is but in Microsofts new Anti
Spyware progam there is an option to restore your IE browser to its
original settings.
Restoring IE's settings to default will not help.
Rob - You need to check your hosts files, as follows. Additionally, make
sure you are doing all malware removal with updated tools in Safe Mode.
1. In XP's Search preferences, set the files and folders handling to
Advanced, and then check the box that will make Search look in hidden
files/folders.
2. Now enter the search term "hosts" without the quotes.
3. You will get several hosts and lmhosts files. Double-click each one
to open it. When you do this, you'll get a Windows dialog box saying
that Windows cannot open this file, do you want to use the web or
select from a list to find the proper program. Choose "select from a
list" and highlight Notepad. Make sure the box to always use this
program to open this type of file is not checked.
4. Now carefully examine the file. Lines that begin with a # are
comments and don't count. Leave them alone. Unless you know you use a
proxy server to get to the Internet or you added entries yourself, the
only uncommented entry that should be there is:
127.0.0.1 localhost
If you see any other entries, delete them and Save the file. Make sure
you scroll all the way down to the bottom of the window if there is a
scrollbar. Do this for each file you found.
Let me know if you need further help in cleaning up your system.
Malke
