My computer is infected with a virus.

[SmileyBoy]

It's not spyware, I know that for a fact, because I scanned and deleted all my spyware with 3 different programs I have. It permanently set my home page to a generic search engine with pop-ups all over it. And I can't go to certain websites, because after a split-second, the screen will pop straight back to that damn generic search engine.

Is there a good anti-viral program I can buy???

[zach]

Give...

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/ a try.

It's a free online virus scan and it works great. Let me know if it doesn't find anything, maybe we can find another solution.

Good luck!

- Zach

[belladonna]

1. I HATE that damn thing

The best way to get rid of it is to find it in your registry and delete it

[Nomad559]

2. I think you just have

some nasty spyware that those programs cannot remove. :(

If you can, scan your system here. http://housecall.antivirus.com/housecall/start_corp.asp

[vivalarev]

3. Spybot & Norton!!!!

thats all you need...Spybot is free and Norton is cheap. you cant go wrong!

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

4. This happened to a friend...

...sounds like you have a browser hijack trojan. Same thing happened to my friend, a non-stop re-direct to a search engine I'd never heard of. If I typed in any URL and hit "enter," it went to the search engine. Bookmarks didn't work, either.

I ran Spybot and Adaware and after it removed a BOATLOAD of crap, things were back to normal.

Maybe if you post some details on what you're seeing we can Google it for you and get to the cause. What detail do you have on the "generic" screen?

[belladonna]

5. Happened to me and a couple of other people too

Nothing helped, other than finding it in the registry and deleting it. Spybot, Adaware, nothing worked... Hijack This works if you know exactly what to look for, but it's much easier to just go to the registry and get rid of it.

[SmileyBoy]

10. How do I find it in the registry and delete it???

:shrug:

[belladonna]

17. Sorry, I waited for ya for a bit, but had to go to bed

If you still have it, let me know what OS you're running and I'll walk ya through getting rid of it. It's really not that hard to do, I promies :P

[freetobegay]

6. I am in shock!

I am running this program I am over 40,000 files right now that was enough to shck me, but so far it's reporting 500 viruses! I feel so violated!

[ParanoidPat]

7. Update your Spybot Search and Destroy and download.....

.....Anti Vir, It's free and reminds you to check for updates and downloads and installs them automatically!

For the latest Spybot S&D download, start here. http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html

It will help you get rid of the latest Hijacker programs.
+ FunWebProducts ++ StartPage.IG. + CoolWWWSearch.WCADW (3) ++ CommanderNet ++ Gwtbob ++ iSearchToolbar ++ Matrix ++ spex + CWS + CWS.008k ++ CWS.Zonealarm ++ ICOO Loader + ClearSearch.Net + CWS.Xxxvideo

For the free personal Anti Vir go to, http://www.free-av.com/

Good luck! :)

[Rabrrrrrr]

8. Follow the other's advice, and also reboot into safe mode

and then re-run the spyware, virusscanners, and everything else.

That is, boot normally, run the programs and let them delete everything they find, then reboot into safe mode, and re-run the programs yet again.

That should, 99.99% of the time, get rid of every nasty little bastard that was running when it was deleted and simply manages to reinstall itself on a boot. Booting into safemode keeps those bastards from re-installing themselves.

Good luck!!

[jukes]

9. hard to find in the registry, too.

they alter the name of the software in the registry so it doesn't show as the program or search-engine.

try to look for a spot you can left click & get a menue marked "properties" shd list the company name. look for that in the registry.

[Rhiannon12866]

11. Norton Anti-Virus is what I use

I have been very pleased with it. It catches incoming and checks outgoing.:shrug:

[Sven77]

12. antivirus and spyware tools

i like the free grisoft antivirus avg and spybot search and destroy.

heres a list of spyware tools
http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads31.html

also try HijackThis, CWShredLast.exe

[ET Awful]

13. It's still spyware, despite whatyou might think.

If you are infested with Cool Web Search or Home Search, your typical cleaning tools won't take care of them.

Download CWShredder and try that.

What is the title of the generic search page that pops up? Is it Cool Web or Home Search by chance?

Home Search is the only one I've run into that nothing I tried would clean it, I had to reformat the computer.

[denverbill]

18. I'm seconding CWShredder.

We had that shitty thing on our computer too. We tried everything to get rid of it. Nothing worked except CWShredder. And it's free.

[LTR]

14. It's a browser hijack

I run across them from time to time, and have had to fix systems infected with this so-called 'script' (not spyware, but it may open the door to it).

CWShredder works, as it opens your HOSTS file and you can remove it from there.

I use a personally hacked HOSTS file myself, which protects my system from even coming into contact with the little nasties. Check out this page to see what the heck I'm talking about:

http://www.accs-net.com/hosts/how_to_use_hosts.html

To get rid of the stuff first, you may also want to try Ad Aware. But you have to update it (look for the icon (by hovering your mouse) when you open the program). Ad Aware is configured to scan your HOSTS file and quarantine anything malicious.

[Screaming Lord Byron]

15. Is it that 'MySearch' nonsense?

I had to pull the registry apart to get at it. Nasty.

[nuxvomica]

16. I've had similar

One was something called "Xupiter." Neither Norton nor Ad-Aware removed it so I did a file search for "*xupi*" figuring that was pretty unique and deleted all the files and folders it found. That stopped it. Another time, I got a filename by checking the task manager when the thing was running. That pointed me to the executable and it's home directory, which I deleted.