I think I have a problem here...
Tonight when I tried searching for "dragoncon"in the google search window of Firefox, all the usual link descriptions had their URL's switched to things like freescan.antivirus dot com/dragoncon and security-antivirus dot com and monstermarketplace dot com.
It wasn't doing this at 8am when i last used the internet, and I started a full Norton anti-virus and ad-aware spyware scan before I went to bed at 8 - both were completely clean when I got back on my computer at 6pm tonight.
This can't be a good thing... anyone know what might be causing this?
***EDIT***
After checking yahoo answers, these symptoms indicate the antivirus2009 virus - I've tried running Spybot and Malwarebytes, and I even restarted in safe mode and ran them again. They detected some spyware, but even after removing it Firefox and IE still do the URL substitution thing.
I installed an old version of Firefox just after restarting from safe mode to regular mode and it did NOT do the URL substitution, but when I installed the latest version of Firefox, it went right back to doing it.
I've tried the manual removal instructions for antivirus2009, but none of the processes in the instructions appear in my Task Manager at all... I have no idea what is wrong, or what kind of problems this could cause.
***EDIT***
I had entertained the thought of just wiping the hard drive and re-installing windows from scratch, but unfortunately my DVD-R drive is refusing to open. It has done this before, but I was able to help it along by prying on it with a screwdriver - that's not working this time.
So i have 3 gigs of files I really want to save, and no way to save them unless I buy a cheap CDR drive and hope it works.
I really don't want to wait for 2 more weeks until my new computer gets here - but I don't want to use the internet on this compromised computer any more than I already have.
It wasn't doing this at 8am when i last used the internet, and I started a full Norton anti-virus and ad-aware spyware scan before I went to bed at 8 - both were completely clean when I got back on my computer at 6pm tonight.
This can't be a good thing... anyone know what might be causing this?
***EDIT***
After checking yahoo answers, these symptoms indicate the antivirus2009 virus - I've tried running Spybot and Malwarebytes, and I even restarted in safe mode and ran them again. They detected some spyware, but even after removing it Firefox and IE still do the URL substitution thing.
I installed an old version of Firefox just after restarting from safe mode to regular mode and it did NOT do the URL substitution, but when I installed the latest version of Firefox, it went right back to doing it.
I've tried the manual removal instructions for antivirus2009, but none of the processes in the instructions appear in my Task Manager at all... I have no idea what is wrong, or what kind of problems this could cause.
***EDIT***
I had entertained the thought of just wiping the hard drive and re-installing windows from scratch, but unfortunately my DVD-R drive is refusing to open. It has done this before, but I was able to help it along by prying on it with a screwdriver - that's not working this time.
So i have 3 gigs of files I really want to save, and no way to save them unless I buy a cheap CDR drive and hope it works.
I really don't want to wait for 2 more weeks until my new computer gets here - but I don't want to use the internet on this compromised computer any more than I already have.