Desperate for a Solution

Darth Fanboy · Post by **Darth Fanboy** » 2007-07-03 11:15pm

My aunt's PC has this problem where every time she clicks on a link brought up by any search engine, it goes directly to an Ebay, Ask.com, or other similar page instead of the desired site. I think it is some kind of Virus. Is this something I could fix with simple Ad Aware or HijackThis or is a more drastic measure required?

Tanasinn · Post by **Tanasinn** » 2007-07-03 11:20pm

From my limited knowledge, it sounds more like adware than anything else. Ad-Aware, HijackThis, and others should pry it from her computer, but there's always formatting as a last resort.

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2007-07-03 11:20pm

Run Spybot S&D and AdAware first. Those should take care of most of the infections.

Darth Fanboy · Post by **Darth Fanboy** » 2007-07-03 11:23pm

That's what i'm attempting to do. If those don't work i'll try Hijack.

RThurmont · Post by **RThurmont** » 2007-07-04 06:14pm

My firm reccommendation in all instances such as this is that, assuming you have the original installer disks for the infected operating system, you backup all important files, and do a reinstall. As I see it, any install that has had any kind of browser hijack or other serious infection that actually did damage is not worth taking chances with.