Browser Hijacking...???

Hello,

I've been experiencing an odd problem over the last couple of days. All of a sudden I am unable to veiw about 75% of my internet bookmarks or any site for that matter. they all come up with the same general IE message "The page cannot be displayed". The odd one will reload after a few refreshes but most don't come up at all. I contacted my ISP and everything appears fine on their end, we also checked Lan settings, I powered down both my router and modem, as well as several release/renew procedures. And oddly my MSN messenger and email or both working fine.

I then started to think that it may have been some type of Browser hyjacking/virus, and performed my usual, Norton /Adaware scan which came up clean (The odd tracking cookie nothing to serious)

So I came here and read/ installed / preformed all the additional suggested scanning and cleaning steps. and aside from the online scan at Trend Mirco (wasn't able to open the page) all the newly installed progams came up with minor stuff, like tracking cookies and data miners. I haven't gone as far as the "Hijack this" and although my device manager shows no conflicts, I'm thinking it may be a hardware issue like my NIC card or something...

Is anyone familiar with a Browser Hijacker that works in this manner? or have any recommendations on things I might check/try.

Thanks
C

 

Hi Chris,

It doesn't sound like malware to me. Did you recently install SP2? It has had issues with Norton that result in similar problems. It may well be a settings type issue. You could temporarily uninstall Norton to rule that out.
Also, you might try asking the regulars in Hardware and Software forums for input if you rule out malware.

Best luck,

PP

 

Thanks for the response

I've been running SP2 for quite some time prior to the problem. Today I tried Opera and then Firefoxwith the same results, So I Re scanned in safe mode with the online Norton Virus Detection as well as the security check, which both passed, I was able to open the Trend Micros site, but the window that I assume shows My computer/ drives doesn't load. I continued to use both Adaware, and Search and destroy which both found nothing. So I then did a XP repair install, and am in the midst of updating, however my problem continues to persist.

I'll try the norton suggestion, Thanks

 

This post leads me to believe that it isn't a malware problem. You could take a look at your Hosts file and make sure it hasn't been altered - Long shot, not too likely.

You should ask the regulars in the Software Forum for suggestions - You may get better response.

PP

 

Got it!

After you redirected me to the software, section I read a few threads, and tried a couple things out, turned out it was my router, which a firmware upgrade corrected.

Thanks

C

 

Glad to see you figured this one out!

PP