Bob The Nailer 0 Posted June 7, 2004 Share Posted June 7, 2004 This may be very vague but I better start somewhere because my only pc user savvy friend only visits once a year and we've tried figuring it out on the phone to no avail. A few months ago I noticed I could no longer set my default page in my web browser. No matter what I did it just hel this one page "j??search.redirect" or something like that. I didn't know what to make of it bur I knew it couldn't be good. Well now it redirects it to porn sites half the time and the other half it says "C.WINDOWS.??" or something like that. I run windows XP and that's about all I can think to give for info. I've peeked in other forums and I've seen other users complaining about similar things but the steps to eradicate it are monstrous. I'm used to a mac where it is fairly simple to get rid of these types of problems or you don't get them at all. I have no clue about pc's and I hope someone here can shed more light on this. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
firefly2442 0 Posted June 7, 2004 Share Posted June 7, 2004 Sounds like spyware to me. Download and run Ad-Aware and that should clear away most of the spyware. Then go into Internet Explorer.... that is what you use for a browser? and click tools on menu, then Internet Options, and change the homepage to whatever you want. Oftentimes, spyware will hijack your browser and send you to sites you do not want to visit. HTH. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bob The Nailer 0 Posted June 7, 2004 Author Share Posted June 7, 2004 Sounds like spyware to me. Download and run Ad-Aware and that should clear away most of the spyware. Then go into Internet Explorer.... that is what you use for a browser? and click tools on menu, then Internet Options, and change the homepage to whatever you want. Oftentimes, spyware will hijack your browser and send you to sites you do not want to visit. HTH. I've tried that. I do use IE at home. I think it's really deep rooted whatever it is. Thanks anyway. Guess I should have mentioned that I've tried the novice user things like that (since my buddy hipped me to it) but I think it's much more serious. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
firefly2442 0 Posted June 7, 2004 Share Posted June 7, 2004 Is it the same site every time? You could search google and see what program might do that change.... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
NurFACE 0 Posted June 8, 2004 Share Posted June 8, 2004 adaware and spybot search & destroy should find the file that is causing the problem. There are some spyware programs that adaware and spybot see but can't uninstall so a search from google may be very helpful for you. Can you list the link or c:windows path fully so maybe we can help with more information. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
WhiteKnight77 1 Posted June 8, 2004 Share Posted June 8, 2004 Look in C:\Windows\System\ for stuff like bundle.exe, optimized.exe and what is listed in the error. If not there look in the main windows folder for stuff that doesn' tlook right. If you have any questions about any file you are not sure about, go to Google and do a search of that file. You will be able to find information an said file. If it is spyware, you can delete the files and it should stop the problems you are having. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Velocity 0 Posted June 8, 2004 Share Posted June 8, 2004 Forget AdWare and SpyBot, they aren't that good. The problem with AdWare i think is that the trial version doesn't let you move files to the vault, just delete them. Or at least my version does I've been in the same situation lately with a redirected homepage that i could never change. My homepage was like this search engine site and then when i went anywhere from then on, say to gr.net, it would bring up loads of pop-ups for allsorts of stuff like claims, insurance, medication, porn, allsorts. The best thing for you to do is go to http://www.grisoft.com and download their free trial version of AVG 7.0. Install and run it and it will scan your comp for allsorts of nasties. It takes a while to scan since it practically scans every single file on your computer, so leave it running. Once done, move all infected files (red ones) to the vault. This will protect your computer from them doing anymore mishief. Hope it helps Quote Link to post Share on other sites
ghostie 0 Posted June 8, 2004 Share Posted June 8, 2004 my sister had the same problem. She didn't want to pay for antivirus and firewall so go here: Avast Free Antivirus and here Zonealarm and download their free versions. Also it's good to get the above mentioned programs. This should take care of your porno problems. It did for my sister. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Bob The Nailer 0 Posted June 8, 2004 Author Share Posted June 8, 2004 Forget AdWare and SpyBot, they aren't that good. The problem with AdWare i think is that the trial version doesn't let you move files to the vault, just delete them. Or at least my version does I've been in the same situation lately with a redirected homepage that i could never change. My homepage was like this search engine site and then when i went anywhere from then on, say to gr.net, it would bring up loads of pop-ups for allsorts of stuff like claims, insurance, medication, porn, allsorts. The best thing for you to do is go to http://www.grisoft.com and download their free trial version of AVG 7.0. Install and run it and it will scan your comp for allsorts of nasties. It takes a while to scan since it practically scans every single file on your computer, so leave it running. Once done, move all infected files (red ones) to the vault. This will protect your computer from them doing anymore mishief. Hope it helps Awsome! It gave me back my homepage access. I highly roccomend this since it found and healed 50 more items than any other program even found. Here's the only thing left. Whenever I go to hotmail.com to get my email I get about 3 popups at a time every time I click on anything. It's the only place I get popups period. There all for viagra and spyware type things. Anyone else get them on that site? I took care of all my popup issues a long time ago and they never came back ubtil this happened and it's only there. Hmmm. Thanks guys. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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