Think PC has a Virus but Windows Live OneCare doesn't find anythin

[Morgaine]

I've been having some weird problems with my laptop lately. I have Windows XP
for my OS and Windows Live OneCare as my Virus/Internet protection.

Whenever I try to do a search, through Google or any other search engine,
any link I click on off of the results page takes me to a completely
unrelated page or a page trying to sell web-hosting space.

Also a couple of days ago my desktop automatically uploaded a Windows XP
Update and when my laptop did not (even though it's set to) I tried to do it
manually (by opening IE and selecting Windows Update from the Tools menu) and
the page would not load even though I'm not having problems with any other
webpages.

And I went to run Disk Defragmentor today and opened but it wouldn't start.

I've run a full computer scan with OneCare and it doesn't detect anything,
I've gotten rid of temp files with Disk Cleanup, I even tried to download
Windows Defender but it won't download, like the Update page, it won't
actually load the page after I click Start Download.

Any ideas? Suggestions? Helpful hints? Miricales to fix whatever is wrong?

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

Download the Free Version of Ad-Aware 2008 and scan your PC.
Afterward, restart your computer.
http://www.lavasoft.com/single/trialpay.php

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience

---------------------------------------------------------------------

I've been having some weird problems with my laptop lately. I have Windows XP
for my OS and Windows Live OneCare as my Virus/Internet protection.

Whenever I try to do a search, through Google or any other search engine,
any link I click on off of the results page takes me to a completely
unrelated page or a page trying to sell web-hosting space.

Also a couple of days ago my desktop automatically uploaded a Windows XP
Update and when my laptop did not (even though it's set to) I tried to do it
manually (by opening IE and selecting Windows Update from the Tools menu) and
the page would not load even though I'm not having problems with any other
webpages.

And I went to run Disk Defragmentor today and opened but it wouldn't start.

I've run a full computer scan with OneCare and it doesn't detect anything,
I've gotten rid of temp files with Disk Cleanup, I even tried to download
Windows Defender but it won't download, like the Update page, it won't
actually load the page after I click Start Download.

Any ideas? Suggestions? Helpful hints? Miricales to fix whatever is wrong?

 

[Patrick Keenan]

I've been having some weird problems with my laptop lately. I have Windows
XP
for my OS and Windows Live OneCare as my Virus/Internet protection.

Whenever I try to do a search, through Google or any other search engine,
any link I click on off of the results page takes me to a completely
unrelated page or a page trying to sell web-hosting space.

Also a couple of days ago my desktop automatically uploaded a Windows XP
Update and when my laptop did not (even though it's set to) I tried to do
it
manually (by opening IE and selecting Windows Update from the Tools menu)
and
the page would not load even though I'm not having problems with any other
webpages.

And I went to run Disk Defragmentor today and opened but it wouldn't
start.

I've run a full computer scan with OneCare and it doesn't detect anything,
I've gotten rid of temp files with Disk Cleanup, I even tried to download
Windows Defender but it won't download, like the Update page, it won't
actually load the page after I click Start Download.

Any ideas? Suggestions? Helpful hints? Miricales to fix whatever is wrong?

Sounds like more of a browser/search hijack, and HiJackThis can be very
helpful. It's not a beginner's tool, though, so take your time with it.

HTH
-pk

 

[Mick Murphy]

Download install and update Malwarebytes, and Spybot Search & Destroy.
Scan your System with each of them.
If you find a problem you can not remove, rescan in Safe Mode.
All info below.

http://www.spybot.info/en/index.html

Spybot Search & Destroy 1.6 is a very good, FREE Anti-Spyware Program.
Download, install, update, and immunize your System with it.
Then SCAN with it.
Update it, and scan your System once a fortnight.

http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php

Malwarebytes is as the name says, a Malware Remover!
For the Free version scroll down their page to either download from
Download.com, or Major Geeks.com

Download, install, and update.

Important re: Safe Mode
If you happen to find a problem that you can’t uninstall / delete, reboot
the computer, and go into Safe Mode.
To get into Safe mode, tap F8 right at Power On / Startup, and use UP arrow
key to get to Safe Mode from list of options, then hit ENTER.
RESCAN your computer with your Anti-Virus, Malwarebytes and Spybot S & D
while in Safe Mode.

 

[Robin Bignall]

Sounds like more of a browser/search hijack, and HiJackThis can be very
helpful. It's not a beginner's tool, though, so take your time with it.

The AUMHA forums are very helpful.
http://forum.aumha.org/index.php?sid=0cb5bf18930db17f398b9fe27b233790

You can post your Hijack logs on this one
http://forum.aumha.org/viewforum.php?f=30&sid=0cb5bf18930db17f398b9fe27b233790

Read the first message in that forum, and follow the instructions. I
had a browser hijack a couple of years ago and advice from these
experts fixed it after I had spent days trying to work out what to do.

 

[Morgaine]

Thank you so much! Malwarebytes found and removed whatever it was that was
causing the problem and everything is working fine again. Thanks!

 

[Mick Murphy]

You are more than welcome.
Malwarebytes is a great little Program.