The said:
Hi everyone,
My internet connection is fine, but my computer seems to
block any attempt I make at using a search engine. For
example, it will not take me to Google at all and though
it will take me to YAHOO, it will not let me execute a
search. It is very strange as all other pages are fine
but no search engine will let me in.
Any ideas, smart people?
It is the Qhosts trojan sometimes called Delude.
Read the many many answers available already. Click on Expand All or the
+ to see the individual answers.
http://www.mvps.org/inetexplorer/darnit_3.htm#qhost
Symantec Security Response has developed a removal tool to clean the
infections of Trojan.Qhosts. This is the easiest way to remove this threat
and should be tried first.
http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/trojan.qhosts.removal.tool.html
Manual Removal
As an alternative to using the removal tool, you can manually remove this
threat.
The following instructions pertain to all current and recent Symantec
antivirus products, including the Symantec AntiVirus and Norton AntiVirus
product lines.
Disable System Restore (Windows Me/XP).
Update the virus definitions.
Run a full system scan and delete all the files detected as Trojan.Qhosts.
Reverse the changes that were made to the registry.
Reverse the changes that were made to the Hosts file.
Info on the patch.
http://www.microsoft.com/security/security_bulletins/ms03-040.asp
Install the latest IE cumulative patch (828750) for protection against
QHosts from the Windows Update Site:
http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/en/default.asp