Adware & Search Engine Hijack Help Needed

[ocean976124]

A few days ago I was surfing the internet and got a (what turned out to be) fake java update "popup." My java actually needed to be updated and it looked like a legit update so I clicked "run". BIG MISTAKE
Well since then banner ads are replaced with one of those "your computer may be infected with spyware - click now to download antispyware" and my search engine results are replaced with their results (though it looks as though it comes from yahoo and google).
Obviously the hijacked banner ads are their product so I will not click and download that.
I've tried Lavasoft Adware and it found some stuff and deleted it, but couldn't find what was hijacking the banner ads and search engines.
I then downloaded and tried Spyware Doctor 5.5 and it found some things and deleted them, but it now says my system is clean but I still have the same problems.

Anyone have any advice?

 

[Aloha511]

Future shop, $100 to clean out everything

 

[tboy]

There is a setting in IE that allows you to select which search engine to use as default. Sounds to me like this app that you downloaded switched that over to theirs.

I think it's under tools, internet options. Look around, it'll be there somewhere (sorry I can't be more specific).

Looked it up for you:

Under Tools;
Internet Options
General Tab
Search and click on settings where you should see the option to remove any search providers you don't want. (I think "live search" is the default).

 

[WoodPeckr]

HijackThis

You could try:

Trend Micro HijackThis 2.0.2

I've never used it but it gets good reviews.

 

[ocean976124]

Nothing seems to be able to remove it. I tried Webroot's Spysweep and that found a few things and deleted them and yet the banner ads of every website kept being changed to the fake spyware alert ad.

I found this http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

It probably doesn't get rid of whatever the hell is on my computer (but nothing else can either) but so far, after an hour I haven't seen any banner ads being hijacked. According to the site this is what it does:

The Hosts file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. This file is loaded into memory (cache) at startup, then Windows checks the Hosts file before it queries any DNS servers, which enables it to override addresses in the DNS. This prevents access to the listed sites by redirecting any connection attempts back to the local machine. Another feature of the HOSTS file is its ability to block other applications from connecting to the Internet, providing the entry exists.

You can use a HOSTS file to block ads, banners, 3rd party Cookies, 3rd party page counters, web bugs, and even most hijackers. This is accomplished by blocking the connection(s) that supplies these little gems.

 

[ocean976124]

Never mind, spoke too soon. Its baaaack.

McAfee finds nothing. Great.

 

[Esco!]

Never mind, spoke too soon. Its baaaack.

McAfee finds nothing. Great.

2 Easy steps to remove crap from your computer

STEP 1: System restore, just restore your PC to an earlier date before you got the virus/spyware
Click: accessories > system tools > system restore

If system restore didnt work you try step 2

STEP 2: Find out the name of the virus or spyware, then google the name of it with the word delete. So if the spyware is called 'pieceofshitspyware' then you google this: "delete pieceofshitspyware".

 

[cypherpunk]

Spybot and HijackThis should be all you need.

 

[ocean976124]

2 Easy steps to remove crap from your computer

STEP 1: System restore, just restore your PC to an earlier date before you got the virus/spyware
Click: accessories > system tools > system restore

If system restore didnt work you try step 2

STEP 2: Find out the name of the virus or spyware, then google the name of it with the word delete. So if the spyware is called 'pieceofshitspyware' then you google this: "delete pieceofshitspyware".

System Restore doesn't work and haven't yet been able to find the name of malware/spyware/adware/virus. I was kind of hoping that someone on here had had a similiar issue and knew the name or how to fix it.

 

[ocean976124]

Spybot and HijackThis should be all you need.

Spybot S&D can't seem to find it either. HijackThis is something I am working on.

 

[bobistheowl]

I had a couple of virus alerts related to Java updates when I did a full virus scan yesterday with Antivir. It took about 14 hours to go through all of my hard drives. Sometimes these virii get into the tray icons, and start up when the operating system starts, and you can't delete a file if it's open.

Try opening your task manager as soon as you open Windows, and look under the processes tab. Check to see if you have any unusually named apps running, note their names, and look for them by name in Search, to see where they are. If they're holed up in a temp file, they shouldn't be there. If they don't show up in the search results, they probably shouldn't be there. Close them manually in the task manager with the End Task button. Also check in the Control Panel under add/remove programs, to see if there's anything there that you don't want or didn't install. Try these tips in addition to the ones above, not instead of those. These might work, if those don't.

One of my buddies accidentally got one of those porn dialers from a South Pacific island country installed on his desktop because his son clicked yes on a banner ad that said 'do you want a free Ipod?'. He didn't get the Ipod, but he did invite the dialer to install itself.

 

[ocean976124]

Try opening your task manager as soon as you open Windows, and look under the processes tab. Check to see if you have any unusually named apps running, note their names, and look for them by name in Search, to see where they are. If they're holed up in a temp file, they shouldn't be there. If they don't show up in the search results, they probably shouldn't be there.

I downloaded and used http://www.neuber.com/taskmanager/index.html

It showed something as beeing a high probability of being malware. I searched its combo of letters and numbers and found nothing. I quaranteened it and it seems to be gone for now.

 

[oleman]

I had this problem just a little while ago, and I broke down and installed Norton Anti-virus, and it cleaned it up. I had been using Avast free, and a couple of other free ones, but they just couldn't get rid of those damn things.
Taking it to a shop and asking if they'll guarantee results sounds like a good approach. I spent a lotta lotta time fooling around with the thing.

 

[RayFinkel]

Not sure if this helps but for anyone who's CPU is running slow
do these 2 things to speed up your CPU


I use ccleaner at least once a month to clean out my CPU
http://www.download.com/CCleaner/3000-2144_4-10315544.html

below will stop all programs running in background every time you start
your CPU. Do it every so often.

Click START
Click RUN type msconfig OK
Click STARTUP
Click DISABLE ALL
Click APPLY
then Restart your CPU.