[organica]

Hope one of you can help with this: everytime I type www.gmail.com or www.hotmail.com in the address bar at the top of my screen, the computer opens a page automatically with an address I did NOT enter: www.www.gmail.com.org or www.www.hotmail.com.org, which are just crap marketing sites.

This computer was checked for viruses today & showed none, although I believe the scan showed that 4 spyware programs or "other items" were running. Could this explain this phenomenon?

Is there any way to circumvent this crazy "hijacking"?

 

[Joe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by organica

Hope one of you can help with this: everytime I type www.gmail.com or www.hotmail.com in the address bar at the top of my screen, the computer opens a page automatically with an address I did NOT enter: www.www.gmail.com.org or www.www.hotmail.com.org, which are just crap marketing sites.

This computer was checked for viruses today & showed none, although I believe the scan showed that 4 spyware programs or "other items" were running. Could this explain this phenomenon?

Is there any way to circumvent this crazy "hijacking"?

Try using the anti-spyware program called HijackThis, available at:

http://www.download.com/HijackThis/3...-10379544.html

also available at the author's homepage at:

http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/index.php

Merijn helpfully translates his web address into numerical format for people with infected computers, i.e.,

http://216.180.233.162/~merijn/

While on this page, on the right hand side is a link to Spybot. Download and run that anti-spyware program as well.

 

[organica]

Thank you Joe!! I will try it right now!!

 

[organica]

Crap, now it's saying it can't find the server... I will try this again tomorrow, I have to buy groceries soon. Thanks Joe.

 

[organica]

Is there anything I can do when the computer keeps saying the server is down when I try to install Hijack This or try roundabout ways of accessing hotmail thru msn.com?

Maybe this computer needs professional help...

 

[Joe]

Try using

http://216.239.37.99/

to access Google. Then click on "more" and click on mail/Gmail on the next page to access GMail.

For GMail directly, try

http://66.249.83.19/

For Hotmail, try:

http://208.172.48.221/

 

[Joe]

Here is the program attached below:

Use it very carefully, though. If you have the option to save something to another directory or place rather than deleting it completely, try to save it. This would include registry keys, etc. Create a directory or folder called, say, SUSPECT and save everything there.

hijackthis.zip 207.8603515625k . file

 

[~Wonder]

I don't think hijack this is easy enough for the novice computer user to use successfully. I recommend Ad-Aware. Here's a direct link to the application in case your spyware prevents you from going there directly:

http://software-files.download.com/s...&psid=10045910

Make sure you have it check for new updates. It's pretty easy to use and should get rid of most, if not all, of your spyware. Some spyware can be pretty nasty and stubborn, so you may need to reformat your harddrive and install a fresh version of windows.

HTH,

~Wonder

 

[Joe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ~Wonder

I don't think hijack this is easy enough for the novice computer user to use successfully. I recommend Ad-Aware. Here's a direct link to the application in case your spyware prevents you from going there directly:

http://software-files.download.com/s...&psid=10045910

Make sure you have it check for new updates. It's pretty easy to use and should get rid of most, if not all, of your spyware.

You are right that it would probably be better to try Ad-aware first.

 

[Thalia]

Also, with spybot search and destroy, one can view one's own host file and edit it. It is a file often edited by malicious programs to prevent you from going to certain sites by redirecting you. Fortunately, the novice can edit this him or herself. Also Spybot might detect a malcious program that is on the system startup list. You might not be able to completely keep it from re-entering itself to system startup, but you can try, or at least get a clue as to what is on your computer.

I do agree that while Hijack this is very powerful, most people need to go to a forum to get an expert to interpret the results, or do a lot of googling to figure out which processes are malicious. I've removed viruses by hand myself, but still overwhelmed by my hijack this results.

Organica- just curious- what kind of security software, practices do you use? Gone to any unusual websites lately? Install any obscure programs or anything?

ETA- what I do when I have a problem is start googling it. put those URLs in google, and I bet you'll find a ton of forums where computer people have had the same thing and found resolutions. No reason to re-invent the wheel.

 

[Thalia]

I did a search and found this person who got a possible solution.

http://forums.spywareinfo.com/lofive...hp/t64107.html

 

[GhostUser]

Quote:

Originally Posted by organica

Is there anything I can do when the computer keeps saying the server is down when I try to install Hijack This or try roundabout ways of accessing hotmail thru msn.com?

Maybe this computer needs professional help...

I got a real bad virus or trojan..maybe it was a couple things. Anyhow, it ended up burning out 2 ethernet cards. I bet that's what just happened to you. You probably will have to scrub your hard drive and reinstall everthing.

 

[GhostUser]

Oh, and you can access hotmail through msn.com

 

[organica]

Thank you all but esp. Joe- the problem is now resolved after I finally installed HijackThis!!!

Things like this are why VB is awesome.

 

[organica]

btw, I have never installed anything before, but I'm assuming I did Hijack This correctly because the computer is now running fine.

Thalia, it's a work computer that I'm sure is used by others for all kinds of nasty, spyware-installing crap!! And poorly maintained by the computer-savvy folks here. Thanks again.

 

[Joe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by organica

Thank you all but esp. Joe- the problem is now resolved after I finally installed HijackThis!!!

Things like this are why VB is awesome.

You are welcome.

I'm glad you were able to fix the problem without further complications.

Say, this is too late for your problem, but may help in the future.

Fred Langa sent out a newsletter today in which he mentions a free anti-spyware/anti-hijacking program called eiwdo (free for non-commercial use only). I had heard of it before but never used it. But one thing I learned from Langa that I did not know is that the ewido site also offers a free on-line (no install) scanner. Just visit

http://www.ewido.net/en/

and click where it says

Quote:

Scan your computer now online

and clean it for free!

Your computer can be free of

malware in just a few

clicks.

Scan now

in the upper left hand section of the screen.