Need help with Virus? Spyware?

[SKJohn]

I've picked up something on my system that is messing up my Internet Explorer.  Whenever I do a search for something, it comes up with a list of sites, then when I click on one of them, comes up with another similar looking list of sites, then when I click on one of those, it directs me to a webpage that (miraculously!) sells the services I'm looking for.

I've tried running Ad Aware, Spybot, AVG, etc., but can't get rid of whatever it is.  What do I need to do to get my laptop back to normal?

Help?

Thank you,
John

Forgot to add - Windows 7, IE 10 (I think . . .)

[guncrasher]

did you check your list of add ons for IE?  if it was me I would just reformat and reinstall, then get rid of IE and download firefox and use noscript.




semp

[Krusty]

download and install malwarebytes. You may need to download on another PC, put on jump drive, and transfer over.

You've got a browser hijack going. Common enough, but they can be nasty, depending on the type. They can have more than just what you're seeing going on built in as well.

[Bizman]

Start your computer in Safe mode with networking. Go to http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/combofix/, download combofix and Rkill. First run Rkill, then Combofix. Mostly it's not necessary to send the Combofix log for analysis, the first run often does the trick especially if you can run some clean scans after that with e.g. http://www.eset.com/us/online-scanner/. With Eset, select Advanced options and tick the two boxes for potentially unwanted and unsafe applications.

Downloading the tools with another computer might be a good idea if you can't get to the right page even in Safe mode.

[MrRiplEy[H]]

Also check your hosts file, some malwares route your internet requests to their own versions in order to get ad money or infect you more.

[Bino]

Also, check your web proxy setting.  Most systems should have it setup for no proxy.  For Internet Explorer 10, navigate to:

Tools... Internet Options... Connections (tab)... LAN Settings

[Bizman]

Also, tell us when you're done and what helped for future reference. Good luck! 

[DREDIOCK]

Start your computer in Safe mode with networking. Go to http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/combofix/, download combofix and Rkill. First run Rkill, then Combofix. Mostly it's not necessary to send the Combofix log for analysis, the first run often does the trick especially if you can run some clean scans after that with e.g. http://www.eset.com/us/online-scanner/. With Eset, select Advanced options and tick the two boxes for potentially unwanted and unsafe applications.

Downloading the tools with another computer might be a good idea if you can't get to the right page even in Safe mode.

This and malwarebytes

[Mano]

When it gets that bad you have to edit your windows registry as well. I had one hijack Mozilla and IE. It took forever to remove all the entries in the register. As mentioned in this thread, it might be better to format and reinstall windows. NEVER install free software as I did, unless someone you know has tried it.  I was trying out a video card benchmarking tool. It is not so FREE after all.

Good luck