OT: tips on removing Google redirect virus

[Kingfisher]

This stinking virus is driving me crazy! Every search on google or bing brings me to a different site......anyone with a legitimate way/knowledge of how to remove this thing on a Windows based machine?

Thanks

[Andrewlcox]

Have you tried Microsoft Security Essentials? (http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security_essentials/default.aspx)

I have been using it since before it was free and have never had a virus problem. All the tech websites like Gizmodo, Engadget and CNET all call is great software.

It might work for you,
Andy

[Clydesdale]

Malwarebytes.org - free download that will work.

You may have to boot in safe mode with networking to access the website? You may also have to rename the download something like iexplore.exe. If you can search from another computer you will find lots of info on removal, but typically an infected computer will not let you go to helpful web sites.

Good luck.

[CNY rider]

Once you go Mac you'll never go back......

[Lifelover]

Get a Mac. Seriously!

Been a Mac man for 10 years, on my 2nd Imac, have no security or firewall set up and have had exactly ZERO viruses.

Never have had a OS problem that a reboot did not completely resolve.

[William]

Don't mean to rub it in but.......go Mac. :)




William

[Lifelover]

Kingfisher (and anyone else reading this),

I know that these "get a mac" replies are not at all helpful to your current problem and maybe annoying and even seem insincere.


However, when the dust settles on your current problem and when you are in the market for a replacement computer, please take these comments seriously and do some research.

Macs are considerably more expensive, however, they are also considerably more problem free.

I often compare them to cars of the 80's. Macs are a Honda accord and PC are a Ford Taurus. You can get lucky and get a good Taurus, but chances are you will be replacing a transmission and/or the AC at 100K.

If you enjoy tinkering and are truly computer savvy a PC offers many more options than a Mac. If you simply want to turn the computer on and have it work, a MAC is the bomb.


P.S.
I currently own 3 Taurus. 1 has been great, 1 decent and the other is a complete POS!

[rePhil]

I had the same thing running windows 98. Boot up in safe mode and work from there. AVG antivirus is what ultimately found mine (the free version). I ran it twice to be sure, then ran Malewarebytes & adaware all from safe mode.
And google this: google hijack virus removal tool

It made me wonder why some people can be so mean or evil spirited. If they are that talented they should be working in the PC industry.
I used to have a friday evening ritual of running all the above programs. I say used to as I switched to a iMac. I should have made the leap long before I did, two years ago.

[MadRocketSci]

go here:

http://www.windowsbbs.com/malware-virus-removal/

register

post your symptoms

wait a few hours

do/post what they tell you to

be happy with your computer for a while...

[zmudshark]

http://support.kaspersky.com/viruses/solutions?done=y&qid=208280684&omniture=f204269533_q1%3Dn1%3B&qid=208280684#FeedBackForm

[tiretrax]

Do you Mac users wonder when the goons will come after you? I keep reading security bulletins at work saying that Macs are no longer immune to virus, hacking, pirating, et al.

[William]

Do you Mac users wonder when the goons will come after you? I keep reading security bulletins at work saying that Macs are no longer immune to virus, hacking, pirating, et al.

I'm sure they will eventually. So far though it's been a pretty trouble free run (knock on wood).




William

[BumbleBeeDave]

I'm sure they will eventually. So far though it's been a pretty trouble free run (knock on wood).

William

. . . watches over us!

BBD

[verticaldoug]

I assume you have fixed the problem by now. But if not, besides Malwarebytes , you can try AVG.com

You can down load a free trial and it works well although can be a bit heavy.
The new version works well against the newer Fake Anti-Virus softwares. I found these to be a real pain.

Luckily for us, most virus software is just about redirecting our traffic to various websites where the perps make money from increased traffic or in selling you stuff.

[mcteague]

Macs are not immune to virus'. It's just that, as they represent such a tiny proportion of the computer population, malware creators don't bother with them.

Tim

[cuda2k]

Been there, that one sucks. Malwarebytes will get you a good ways to the solution, but I don't recall if it fixed everything for me or not. I think I had to resort to even bigger guns to get rid of the last of that one.

As far as Mac - they're great if you're an artist, or all you do is browse the web or work with Office type documents. -- that's just my opinion as a software developer.

[Dekonick]

Macs are not immune to virus'. It's just that, as they represent such a tiny proportion of the computer population, malware creators don't bother with them.

Tim

Exactly - my bet is you will see many Mac users find unpleasant surprises in the near future... as there are now enough to make them worthy prey...

If you want security, REAL security, have 2 computers and run a Linux distribution on one, windows on the other. Use the Linux machine for surfing... windows for your programs that only work with windows.

To make it relatively easy, (and less expensive) you can dual boot, or run linux from a thumb drive. For true security (it requires a bit more know how, but not hard to figure out with the web...) make a physical switch that will power seperate hard drives. Install your operating systems on each and when you need one or the other, power down, switch, power back up. To make it a fast process, use small Solid state drives for your operating systems.

I run windows 7 64, and Linux (Ubuntu - the flavor of the month... I change this often) on the same machine with this switch... as it keeps a physical barrier between the drives, essentially it keeps the OS's clean. If you are surfing known safe sites, use your windows to your heart's content. Uncertain sites (if you are researching... hitting links from searches, opening email attachements etc...) use the linux machine. Linux, while it has security risks, is much more secure by both its design AND number of users. A house in the middle of the forest doesn't need locks because no one goes there to steal. That is the logic Mac users are relying on... one day they will find the forest has been chopped down and now they are at risk (happening NOW) as their safety is being compromised by their increasing use.

Good luck, and if you want help with a Linux setup holler... :beer:

[Dekonick]

One more note - a SSD will make any computer experience MUCH better. If you don't have one, go buy one now! They have become affordable.

Almost...

:crap:

[peanutgallery]

malwarebytes is the way to go for those of us too cheap to put style over substance. sounds like it should just download and go to work. I have used it for whenever I pick up a little something and it always does the trick. best thing is that it is free

now about that POS apple ipod touch that is nothing but a brick after about a year. fair is fair you know

[palincss]

malwarebytes is the way to go for those of us too cheap to put style over substance. sounds like it should just download and go to work. I have used it for whenever I pick up a little something and it always does the trick. best thing is that it is free


So is Linux. What's more, it's quite undemanding of resources, and works very nicely on older machines.

[Ralph]

An update.....I've got the redirect virus.....and none of the scans mentioned above or a bunch of scans not mentioned here will remove it from my computer. And I've run some scans guaranteed to work, but they didn't.

So took it to a local computer shop, they knew what I was talking about, said they ran their fancy scan equipment, and said they got it out. Sure enough....it did not "redirect" in the computer shop. But as soon as I got home, hopped on my net work, and immediately got redirected.

One place on the web I went looking for help said it can infect the router, and no matter what you do to your computer, it comes back from the router. I'm so PO'd and frustrated at this point, I don't mind going to best Buy and buying a new router....if's that's the solution.

Does anyonr have experience with this particular virus? Did you change out your router? Getting other stuff out of my computer has been child's play compared to this one. I have successfully got out the anti virus virus, and stuff like that, but this one has got me stumped.

[rice rocket]

Sounds like your DNS servers have been switched?

[roydyates]

Sounds like your DNS servers have been switched?
I'm willing to bet a nickel that RiceRocket is right. It's the simplest explanation that makes sense. As far as I know, there is no way to store a program on home gateway router short of burning new firmware.

[MadRocketSci]

make a post describing your problem to

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/forum103.html

just do it...

[bronk]

If you haven't done this already, try pressing the reset button on your router.

[Ralph]

make a post describing your problem to

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/forum103.html

just do it...


Thanks for the suggestion, but I've been to their web site which explains the fixes for this virus. That's where I got the idea about it being the router.

[Ralph]

If you haven't done this already, try pressing the reset button on your router.


I've disconnected power, but haven't reset. Will do that. Thanks for suggestion.

With reset, I believe I will have to go thru installation again.

[bronk]

I had the same redirect problem and sluggish response. Didn't find diddly on the internet on how to solve it except this...

http://tidystorm.com/423/the-redirect-virus-was-in-my-router/

The router reset seemed to do the trick. Otherwise, I suspect a new router will do it.

[Ralph]

I had the same redirect problem and sluggish response. Didn't find diddly on the internet on how to solve it except this...

http://tidystorm.com/423/the-redirect-virus-was-in-my-router/

The router reset seemed to do the trick. Otherwise, I suspect a new router will do it.


Thanks.....that explains exactly what I have. Not sure I can follow all the fix or want to spend the time. Probably just buy a new router.

[rugbysecondrow]

I struggled through this last spring. Hours and Hours of work, just left me upset. I finally got it cleared up, then bought a Mac. Great with no problems since then. I hate ????ing with my computer, I just want it to work. If you are like me, then go Mac. If you like to dick with it and make computer tinkering a hobby, follow some of the other advice.

[ultraman6970]

A virus cant mess the router tables or even change the configuration of a router, but what a virus can do is to mess with the host file in your computer.

No matter how many times u fix it if the seed is still there the dns in the host file will continue being wrong.

I advice you to use combofix to start with.

get it from here...

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/anti-virus/combofix


Second thing, big chance u have more than one hi-jacker in your pc, once u get one the other ones will arrive like crazy monkies. And to finish, there was a nice virus long time ago that used to SIT himself in the zero track, no antivirus can fix that but a russian thing. Wonder if they found a way to put that one (the virus) back in the market, that one in particular to fix the problem u had to replace the HD because not even with a format the think was getting erased, then those russians found a way to scan the area and clean the pc.

So far from what I have seen the google thing is just a dns redirector thing, if the user have no idea what a host file is, or where is located guess what, desperation and no way to fix it. MACs dont have host files thats why all these viruses doesnt affect them, the only problem is to learn to use their OS.

Get the combofix... download it, discconnect the pc from the network (pull the cable out).. close any antivirus u have running also. Run the combofix, will ask you to download the recovery console say no, will ask you something about the right place to download it and say yes and will tell you that is not responsible for damages too, say yes and let it run, dont touch anything untill u get the report page. It can take 5 mins, it can take 2 hours it depends on how bad the pc is.

Good luck.

[rice rocket]

If viruses can delete/tamper with files, send emails, etc., viruses can also send packets to routers to change their configs.

And Macs have host files.

/private/etc/hosts

[ultraman6970]

Dont care about mac or mac os so no clue.

U can send deformed packets but a simple reboot of a router can fix that man. But in all this cases the stuff is the pc, routers have nothing to do with the problem.

Well what ever... good luck.

[rice rocket]

I'm not talking about malformed packets, just properly formed HTTP packet with a POST request to update the DNS servers. Here, I'll even write the packet for you.

POST /DHCP.html HTTP/1.1
Authorization: Basic IGFkbWlu

DNS1=0.0.0.0

Where 0.0.0.0 is your selected server.

Boom. Any Linksys router with the default password, compromised.

[Ralph]

When I hop on someone else's system, my son's home or any public system, I do not get redirected. It's just at home I have this problem.

I'll change the router (I've got another one if I can remember installation or find the disk).