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My searches keep getting redirected to bogus websites

  • 2 replies
  • 19 have this problem
  • 16 views
  • Last reply by Rangerdbs

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When I do a search (google, yahoo, etc), I get the search results page but if I click on the link I am redirected to some other site. so I must have some malware on my computer. If instead, I copy and paste the website address into the address bar, it takes me to the correct website. I have run scans with both Norton Anti-Virus and Malware Bytes and both say that my PC is clean. What do I do?

When I do a search (google, yahoo, etc), I get the search results page but if I click on the link I am redirected to some other site. so I must have some malware on my computer. If instead, I copy and paste the website address into the address bar, it takes me to the correct website. I have run scans with both Norton Anti-Virus and Malware Bytes and both say that my PC is clean. What do I do?

All Replies (2)

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That can be caused by Malware or a Rootkit. As good as Malwarebytes is, it doesn't catch everything. This is the standard recommendation for dealing with Malware.


Install, update, and run these programs in this order. They are listed in order of efficacy.
(Not all programs detect the same Malware, so you may need to run them all to solve your problem.)
These programs are all free for personal use, but some have limited functionality in the "free mode" - but those are features you really don't need to find and remove the problem that you have.
Note: If your Malware infection is bad enough and you are mis-directed to URL's other than what is posted, you may have to use a different PC to download these programs and use a USB stick to transfer them to the afflicted PC.

Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware - http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php
SuperAntispyware - http://www.superantispyware.com/
AdAware - http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/
Spybot Search & Destroy - http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html
Windows Defender: Home Page - http://www.microsoft.com/windows/prod.../default.mspx
Also, if you have a search engine re-direct problem, see this:
http://deletemalware.blogspot.com/2010/02/remove-google-redirect-virus.html

If these don't find it or can't clear it, post in one of these forums for specialized help:
http://www.spywarewarrior.com/index.php
http://forum.aumha.org/
http://www.spywareinfoforum.com/
http://bleepingcomputer.com

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Thank you - I will try that and advise the results