No search

[Jack]

When I try to search from MSN home page it only shows page
not found. If I use Irider browser it will search through
Webcrawler but not google or altivista. Is there a virus
or something that prevents this. In addition when I type
in a web address and hit "go" button (at MSN home page) it
will not take me to that site.

Any ideas?
Thanks, Jack

 

[Elizabeth Chubbuck [MSFT]]

There could be good chance you do not have a virus as much as have been
hijacked by spyware. It commonly affects search engines, as they try to
direct you to what "they" think are the best sites. If you have ever
installed any type of search assistant this can occur. I had this personal
experience on my sister's computer.
Google is a commonly affected site. This person's site, has a lot of
information about spyware
http://www.generation.net/~hleboeuf/spyware.htm. Try the spyware removal
that seems best for you.
Hope this helps.

 

[H Leboeuf]

You got that right.
Qhosts virus/trojan, ALERT!.

http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/trojan.qhosts.html
http://vil.nai.com/vil/content/v_100719.htm
http://www.sophos.com/virusinfo/analyses/trojqhosts1.html

Removal tools that have been used with success.
http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/CIS/Software_Services/virus/index.html
http://software.brown.edu/dist/w-cleanqhosts.html

Be sure that you install hotfix 828750 which fixes the exploit that this
virus uses:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/downloads/critical/828750/default.asp