Google Problem?

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Darrell
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Google Problem?

Post by Darrell »

Twice today, once at work, and just now at home, I've gone to Google looking for something or other; at work it was actually looking for the website of a sister company to my employer, and tonight it was looking for problems with a certain make of automobile. Both times I opened the link listed by Google, both times at or near the top of the page, and both times I was immediately bombarded by spyware/virus/trojan messages, wanting me to run an offered antispyware service or such. Is this something new? I've seen such pages before, of course, but never by following a link directly from Google. I would certainly not expect to get such a message from the website of the sister company, it is a legitimate business, and based in the same building I work from!
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Dedicated_Dad
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Re: Google Problem?

Post by Dedicated_Dad »

Possibilities:

(1) Your machine is compromised
(2) Your sister-company is compromised.

I'm inclined to think it's #1...

DD
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mekender
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Re: Google Problem?

Post by mekender »

usually this is called a BHO or a browser hijacker object (not a Barack Hussein Obama)

it isnt a virus, it is a "feature" that has been added to your browser much like toolbars are added... they are a real pain in the ass to deal with...

you can use spybot to get most of them (www.safer-networking.org)

and you can use hijackthis to get the rest (http://www.trendsecure.com/portal/en-US ... hijackthis)

both are free and will most likely fix the problem...
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arctictom
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Re: Google Problem?

Post by arctictom »

mekender wrote:usually this is called a BHO or a browser hijacker object (not a Barack Hussein Obama)

it isnt a virus, it is a "feature" that has been added to your browser much like toolbars are added... they are a real pain in the ass to deal with...

you can use spybot to get most of them (http://www.safer-networking.org)

and you can use hijackthis to get the rest (http://www.trendsecure.com/portal/en-US ... hijackthis)

both are free and will most likely fix the problem...


Yup , and Google is a politically correct search engine , I don't use it , I use Lycos, Altavista and Webcrawler, ymmv.
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308Mike
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Re: Google Problem?

Post by 308Mike »

If you picked up Anti-Virus 2009, you might have to reformat and install your machine. We had to do that on two machines here at the office, 'cause we just could NOT get rid of it.

Here's a couple of other search engines:

http://clusty.com/

http://www.cuil.com/

My recommendation would be to start using Firefox (now at version 3.0.8) and install the NoScript plugin to control which sites are allowed to run scripts on your machine.
POLITICIANS & DIAPERS NEED TO BE CHANGED OFTEN AND FOR THE SAME REASON

A person properly schooled in right and wrong is safe with any weapon. A person with no idea of good and evil is unsafe with a knitting needle, or the cap from a ballpoint pen.

I remain pessimistic given the way BATF and the anti gun crowd have become tape worms in the guts of the Republic. - toad
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Darrell
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Re: Google Problem?

Post by Darrell »

Hmmm. Well, it happened on two different PCs, the one at work, the other my home machine. I'm very careful about where I go on the work computer, plus they run Symantec antivirus and such. I ran a scan after it happened at work, with no bad stuff reported. My home system reports clean as well. It struck me as odd that it happened at Google both times. I tried it again this morning at work, several times when I'd click on a link through Google, the address bar, instead of reading for whatever site I was seeking, read googleads something or other.
Eppur si muove--Galileo
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Rich
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Re: Google Problem?

Post by Rich »

An acquaintance of mine reports the same thing after installing Google tool bar. But he is kind of notorious around here for picking up strange things when sailing on the cyber sea.
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308Mike
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Re: Google Problem?

Post by 308Mike »

Do you have the same IE toolbars installed on each machine?
POLITICIANS & DIAPERS NEED TO BE CHANGED OFTEN AND FOR THE SAME REASON

A person properly schooled in right and wrong is safe with any weapon. A person with no idea of good and evil is unsafe with a knitting needle, or the cap from a ballpoint pen.

I remain pessimistic given the way BATF and the anti gun crowd have become tape worms in the guts of the Republic. - toad
Alcibiades

Re: Google Problem?

Post by Alcibiades »

Are all the links being replaced/modified or just the first several?
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clyde621
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Re: Google Problem?

Post by clyde621 »

I had the same problem several months ago and took care of it with Hijack This. It is a bastard to get rid of. :evil:
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