Search engines not searching!!

[Mark Riley]

Further to my post yesterday, the only way I have found
to reach the Google home page is to search for google in
the search box on my freeserve home page, then click
on "google image search"(the link to google search engine
fails!)

Then I tried the image search which worked fine, but
clicking on "web" and entering ANYTHING into the search
box results in page unavailable.

Similarly Yahoo isn't working either, though I can reach
the home page and use links. Again, typing anything into
the search query box produces the same results.

Alta Vista and Lycos pages also fail to load.
As stated before it is ONLY the search engines which I
can't use!!

As a couple of other people have reported the same
problem, and there appears NOTHING wrong with security
settings or accessibility on my PC, is there any way of
finding out what is wrong? Is this just a temporary
problem with these web sites?

As stated previously, I have never had this problem
before! Yes, I regularly download Windows Updates!

Thanks again,
Mark

 

[virusman]

Virus going around disabling search engines.
Did you perform updates Friday evening?
This fixes some problems with IE and Media Player.

 

[Sharon F]

Further to my post yesterday, the only way I have found
to reach the Google home page is to search for google in
the search box on my freeserve home page, then click
on "google image search"(the link to google search engine
fails!)

Then I tried the image search which worked fine, but
clicking on "web" and entering ANYTHING into the search
box results in page unavailable.

Similarly Yahoo isn't working either, though I can reach
the home page and use links. Again, typing anything into
the search query box produces the same results.

Alta Vista and Lycos pages also fail to load.
As stated before it is ONLY the search engines which I
can't use!!

As a couple of other people have reported the same
problem, and there appears NOTHING wrong with security
settings or accessibility on my PC, is there any way of
finding out what is wrong? Is this just a temporary
problem with these web sites?

As stated previously, I have never had this problem
before! Yes, I regularly download Windows Updates!

Thanks again,
Mark

See this article:
http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/trojan.qhosts.html

 

[Ramesh [MS-MVP]]

Hi Mark,

As said by Sharon, your system might be affected by the recent Qhosts
Trojan. This Trojan Horse that will modify the TCP/IP settings to point to a
different DNS server. Blocks many search engines.

Trojan.Qhosts Removal Tool
http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/trojan.qhosts.remova
l.tool.html

http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/pf/trojan.qhosts.html

==
Open the HOSTS file and delete all mappings except:
127.0.0.1 localhost

The file is located at
"C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc" (named "HOSTS")

Backup the current HOSTS file first.

==
Reset TCP/IP.

Click Start | Run | Cmd
type "netsh int ip reset changes.txt"

==
To prevent this from happening:

Install hotfix 828750 which fixes the vulnerability:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/downloads/critical/828750/default.asp

==
HOSTS file guide:
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm


--
Regards,
Ramesh
[MS-MVP]
AOL: SRamesh2k

«·´`·.(*·.¸(`·.¸ ¸.·´)¸.·*).·´`·»
«.............. Ramesh ...............»
«·´`·.(¸.·´(¸.·* *·.¸)`·.¸).·´`·»

~ Please reply to newsgroup ~


Further to my post yesterday, the only way I have found
to reach the Google home page is to search for google in
the search box on my freeserve home page, then click
on "google image search"(the link to google search engine
fails!)

Then I tried the image search which worked fine, but
clicking on "web" and entering ANYTHING into the search
box results in page unavailable.

Similarly Yahoo isn't working either, though I can reach
the home page and use links. Again, typing anything into
the search query box produces the same results.

Alta Vista and Lycos pages also fail to load.
As stated before it is ONLY the search engines which I
can't use!!

As a couple of other people have reported the same
problem, and there appears NOTHING wrong with security
settings or accessibility on my PC, is there any way of
finding out what is wrong? Is this just a temporary
problem with these web sites?

As stated previously, I have never had this problem
before! Yes, I regularly download Windows Updates!

Thanks again,
Mark