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[DeKaFu]

I've been having this issue ongoing for several months and I'm out of ideas on how to kill it.

About 1 in 10 times, when I click on a link on a Google search, something is redirecting me to a sometimes-similar but unrelated website. The websites vary based on what the link/search was, but are consistant for a given one (like the Dwarf Fortress homepage always redirects to the same site when it happens). I'm a silly person who types things into Google whenever I want to get to a site instead of using favourites so it's especially noticable to me. The exact same thing happens in both IE and Opera.

Things I've tried:
1. Checked my LAN settings in IE to make sure "Use a proxy server for your LAN" wasn't checked. It's not.

2. Ran several scans with both AVG and MalwareBytes Anti-malware. They report everything as clean.

3. Tried TDSSKiller to look for rootkits. Its scan also came up clean.

Anyone have any other ideas?

[miauw62]

Superantispyware? (Make sure it's the actual website and not a redirect)

Google chrome settings? (if that's your browser)

Is there anything that connects the redirects?

[LordBucket]

any other ideas?

Format and reinstall. It's the only way to be sure.

[dreadmullet]

I was infected with a nasty virus once. Among other things, it would redirect me to false websites. I tried to google for malwarebytes, but I'm pretty sure it took me to some website that looked like malwarebytes.org but was actually a fake. When I realized the virus was redirecting my browser after I had ran other anti virus stuff, I gave up. I smashed my hard drive apart, burned it, then buried the remains. (Or, in other words, formatted and reinstalled Windows.)

[Bauglir]

When I was using a neighbor's wireless, I had similar problems. It turned out their router's DNS settings had been hacked to use a server in the Ukraine or something. Changing it to use Google DNS solved the problem. Might help here?

[ed boy]

I had the same problem about a year and a half ago, and fixed it using gooredfix

[DeKaFu]

Is there anything that connects the redirects?

They're links from Google?
To clarify, it's not "one in ten links gets redirected", but rather "links are redirected one in ten times". So clicking the link to Dwarf Fortress in Google will get me Dwarf Fortress 9/10 times and "Greek Insurance" 1/10 times. When looking for wool supplies on various websites I was being randomly redirected to "The Felt Store" some of the time. I believe I also got a redirect once when trying to look at the Futureshop website. Hitting "back" and clicking the link again is all I need to do to get to the real site.

I just tried going to Malwarebytes as an experiment and it got redirected to some site called "Bees" or something that mentioned anti-malware. Going back to google and clicking the link again got me to the real site. Perhaps it redirects the first time you visit a link and then waits a while before doing it again?

I had the same problem about a year and a half ago, and fixed it using gooredfix

That says it's for Firefox. The only browsers I use are IE and Opera, and this is showing up in both of them.

When I was using a neighbor's wireless, I had similar problems. It turned out their router's DNS settings had been hacked to use a server in the Ukraine or something. Changing it to use Google DNS solved the problem. Might help here?

I'm not really well-versed in DNS and router settings, but my computer is the only one out of 3-4 computers connected to our router experiencing this issue.

[foil]

This reply ended up in wrong post earlier for some reason.:-


Is there any strange tasks running in Task Manager?

You could also download Autoruns from Microsoft and look for any strange files running from temp folders or etc etc.

Do you use an Adblocker in Opera?  Id never browse the internet without an Adblocker these days as ads are probably the number 1 source of infections, especially when using Internet Explorer as its full of so many security holes and bugs and doesnt have a free full function adblocker available.

[LeoLeonardoIII]

Maybe your computer is telling you something. Like "hey man you should get some Greek Insurance for your felt".

[Killjoy]

What browser are you using? Pretty much every modern browser has a plugin system, which allows for shenanigans like these. They wont be detected by a virus scanner, because they are not viruses.

That said, I can only help you if you are using Chrome. Put:

Code: [Select]

chrome://chrome/extensions/In the address bar and check if you have anything unwanted running and just disable or remove it.

[Sensei]

What browser are you using? Pretty much every modern browser has a plugin system, which allows for shenanigans like these. They wont be detected by a virus scanner, because they are not viruses.

That said, I can only help you if you are using Chrome. Put:

Code: [Select]

chrome://chrome/extensions/In the address bar and check if you have anything unwanted running and just disable or remove it.

I know it's About:Addons for firefox. You shouldn't have too much trouble looking up the addon screens for IE or Opera.

[MonkeyHead]

I had exactly the same issue recently. Its a bugger to remove and is capable of evading most forms of antivirus. Turns out it was due to a nasty rootkit. A nifty programme called "ComboFix" removed the rotkit, 647 viruses it burrowed into my system, and restored all pre-infection settings, all in under 90 mins.

[Tellemurius]

also check the HOSTS file and make sure its set to default
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/972034

Check to see if your network settings have changed from the normal DNS from your computer. Also try resetting Internet Explorer settings, that will clear out any BHOs and set default registry keys

DO NOT USE combofix until last resort as it can fuck up the system, run HijackThis and post the log

[miauw62]

Superantispyware.
Get a program that allows you to edit what programs run on boot, like starter, see if it runs a program on startup.