Still can't access search engines

[Steph]

I wrote in to this ng last week with this problem (when I
try to get to a search engine I get one of two pages, one
of which refers to google, but both tell me that I have a
malicious program that won't allow me access to the page
I am looking for).

After reading several other posts and the responses to my
own (thank you), I decided I had the Trojan_Qhost virus.
I have Norton Antivirus 2002 installed on my WinXP
machine. I updated my definitions and ran a full system
scan several times. It said I was clean. I went to
Symantecs website and ran their fix for this virus. It
couldn't find said virus. I ran TrendMicro's Housecall
several times. Nothing. Ran their fix. Nothing. Went
to McAffee's website. I have followed every link I can
find and read all the info on Qhosts.

By all the symptoms, I have this virus, but all scans on
my computer say it is clean. Is there another virus that
behaves similiarly to the Qhost Trojan that the scans
aren't picking up yet? Is there another way to determine
if I do have this virus, other than by my browser's
behavior...like, say, a specific file or something?

The only thing I haven't tried yet is the manual fix
because it seems quite involved, and I am not very
confident about hacking the registry. Besides the fact
that everything is telling me I don't have a virus.

Any help would be appreciated,

Steph

 

[terri]

-----Original Message-----
I wrote in to this ng last week with this problem (when I
try to get to a search engine I get one of two pages, one
of which refers to google, but both tell me that I have a
malicious program that won't allow me access to the page
I am looking for).

After reading several other posts and the responses to my
own (thank you), I decided I had the Trojan_Qhost virus.
I have Norton Antivirus 2002 installed on my WinXP
machine. I updated my definitions and ran a full system
scan several times. It said I was clean. I went to
Symantecs website and ran their fix for this virus. It
couldn't find said virus. I ran TrendMicro's Housecall
several times. Nothing. Ran their fix. Nothing. Went
to McAffee's website. I have followed every link I can
find and read all the info on Qhosts.

By all the symptoms, I have this virus, but all scans on
my computer say it is clean. Is there another virus that
behaves similiarly to the Qhost Trojan that the scans
aren't picking up yet? Is there another way to determine
if I do have this virus, other than by my browser's
behavior...like, say, a specific file or something?

The only thing I haven't tried yet is the manual fix
because it seems quite involved, and I am not very
confident about hacking the registry. Besides the fact
that everything is telling me I don't have a virus.

Any help would be appreciated,

Steph
.
I recently had the same virus--Qhosts-- to be sure -- do

a search for a file called "hosts" -- if you find one in
%windir%\help and take a look at it in Notepad, you will
see why you are being redirected. The virus cleans up
after itself, so there are no malicious files to get rid
of. Manual removal -- of that hosts file and registry
cleanup -- redirecting back to the original hosts file
%windir%\system32\drivers\etc is what I found to do the
trick. McAfee has complete manual removal/cleanup
instructions.

Good luck

 

[twilsonspence]

this problem is very frustrating, i too am quite
concerned about hacking into the registry.

i think microsoft needs to set up and deliver some step 1-
20 and examples, so that we can be more confident about
going into the registry.

when is enough enough microsoft? we didnt let the trojan
qhost in, weve done every single sweep through every
single link we possibly can and we can not get to the
bottom of this!

WHAT DO WE DO???

 

[Kent W. England [MVP]]

If the removal tools don't work, then you have no choice but to follow
the manual instructions.