Topic awaiting preservation: Browser Hijacking (Page 1 of 1)

Hi!
I really need help with this!
Everytime internet explorer starts
the default hompage are different
porno sites. And there is an toolbar
with the name IE search toolbar (pic) which
cannot be removed by either Adaware or
spybot search & destroy.
And I have no idea how the malware got there
because this machine is not used to download
anything.



(Edited by OlssonE on 12-06-2004 13:20)

google being my friend I used it to look up Hijack This!, a great removal tool for browser hijacks. Turned up this dandy page: http://hjt.wizardsofwebsites.com/

Hope it helps.


Justice 4 Pat Richard

it probably went right through IE. I would use Hijack This! to remove the hijacker (find and destroy) - finding out what the thing is called would help - then research it in the Internet.

Then switch to Firefox - and you won't have these problems anymore.

Thanks for the help!
I'll look into Hijack This...
I've already installed firefox as
an temporarily solution. If they
like it maybe they'll keep it.

Or better yet, stay away from all the porn sites

It's a computer at work so it's not me porn surfing.



(Edited by OlssonE on 12-06-2004 18:50)

Ask your boss to use someonelses computer to watch the porn...

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Support Justice for Pat Richard

I had a similar problem awhile back at home (although it was bringing up a search engine with a dozen popups) as the home page. HijackThis! found several of the problems, but not all unfortunately. If you don't mind getting your hands dirty, you can go through and edit the registry yourself (not quite as daunting as everyone makes it out to be, as long as you're paying attention and are careful).

Before regedit, I'd recommend HijackThis! and the other apps already mentioned though.

I suppose it's not possible to switch to some Unix variant? I find in public environments, Unix is less work to administer and fix such problems (and is also a bit more idiot-proof, since the idiots get scared at the thought of a command-line).

In the meantime, if nothing else works, a clean install and hiding Internet Explorer with Firefox should help... but sometimes people will even go to the great lengths of digging around the hard drive to find Internet Explorer even though Firefox sits right in front of them...

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." -- Arthur C. Clarke
"Any sufficiently arcane magic is indistinguishable from technology." -- P. David Lebling