Solved IE and Firefox redirecting every search link

A

adiwalsh

New member
Local time
11:11 AM
Messages
31
Everytime I click on a link from a google search it redirects me to other search engines and websites, how can I fix this? is it malware? I have scanned with AVG and Spybot SnD but not found any problems. :banghead:
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7 64 bit
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Compaq presario cq56
OS
Windows 7 64 bit
what other search engines?
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7 Ultimate 32bit SP1Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU @ 2.40GHz, 2400 MHz4 GBATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Bruce ... somewhere in his 40's
OS
Windows 7 Ultimate 32bit SP1
CPU
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU @ 2.40GHz, 2400 MHz
Motherboard
INTEL/D975XBX2
Memory
4 GB
Graphics Card(s)
ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro
Monitor(s) Displays
Samsung SyncMaster 914v
Screen Resolution
1280 x 1024
Hard Drives
2/500GB each ... ST3500630AS ATA Device.
One is not connected
PSU
Rocketfish 700 W
Case
G.Skill Gigabyte Chassis
Keyboard
Standard PS/2 Keyboard
Mouse
Microsoft PS/2 Mouse
Internet Speed
DSL
Antivirus
Avira Internet Security
Browser
IE 11
Other Info
ATI HDMI Audio
All search engines and all web browsers
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7 64 bit
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Compaq presario cq56
OS
Windows 7 64 bit
adiwalsh said:
All search engines and all web browsers
Click to expand...
Your description of the problem is too general. We understand your frustration, but please be more specific. Please walk us through exact steps for a particular search. Preferably with screenshots.
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 8.1 ; Windows 7 x86 (Dec2008-Jan2013)
Computer type
PC/Desktop
OS
Windows 8.1 ; Windows 7 x86 (Dec2008-Jan2013)
Other Info
"The scale icon at the top right of a post or tutorial is how you can give rep to the member."
Sorry for being too general, Im new to forums.

1. I search something in a search engine EG: cake recipe.
2 When I click on one of the results it instantly redirects me to other search engines and weird dating sites, one of the sites it takes me to is autra.com.

Sometimes the page goes blank then just takes me back to search results, and when i click the link lots of times very quickly it opens normal. No spyware searches have braught up anything
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7 64 bit
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Compaq presario cq56
OS
Windows 7 64 bit
Please follow my advice from this post.
We need yo check your hosts file and Startup.

Also, try using google by ip address
http://74.125.224.72/
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 8.1 ; Windows 7 x86 (Dec2008-Jan2013)
Computer type
PC/Desktop
OS
Windows 8.1 ; Windows 7 x86 (Dec2008-Jan2013)
Other Info
"The scale icon at the top right of a post or tutorial is how you can give rep to the member."
Let's flush the dirty DNS cache and store MS's Hosts file:

Copy and paste these lines in Note pad.

@Echo on
pushd\windows\system32\drivers\etc
attrib -h -s -r hosts
echo 127.0.0.1 localhost>HOSTS
attrib +r +h +s hosts
popd
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew
ipconfig /flushdns
netsh winsock reset all
netsh int ip reset all
shutdown -r -t 1
del %0

Save as flush.bat to your desktop.
Double click on the flush.bat file to run it.Vista and Windows 7... right click the .bat file and choose to run as Administrator. Your computer will reboot itself.

After rebooting, download TFC by Old Timer TFC - Temp File Cleaner by OldTimer - Geeks to Go Forums and save it to your desktop.
Save any unsaved work. TFC will close ALL open programs including your browser!
Double-click on TFC.exe to run it. If you are using Vista/Windows 7 right-click on the file and choose Run As Administrator.
Click the Start button to begin the cleaning process and let it run uninterrupted to completion.
Important! If TFC prompts you to reboot, please do so immediately. If not prompted, manually reboot the machine anyway to ensure a complete clean.

Tell me if you're still being redirected.

ps.. you're being directed to 82.98.86.163 Germany Frankfurt Plus.line Ag
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7 Ultimate 32bit SP1Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU @ 2.40GHz, 2400 MHz4 GBATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro
Computer type
PC/Desktop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Bruce ... somewhere in his 40's
OS
Windows 7 Ultimate 32bit SP1
CPU
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU @ 2.40GHz, 2400 MHz
Motherboard
INTEL/D975XBX2
Memory
4 GB
Graphics Card(s)
ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro
Monitor(s) Displays
Samsung SyncMaster 914v
Screen Resolution
1280 x 1024
Hard Drives
2/500GB each ... ST3500630AS ATA Device.
One is not connected
PSU
Rocketfish 700 W
Case
G.Skill Gigabyte Chassis
Keyboard
Standard PS/2 Keyboard
Mouse
Microsoft PS/2 Mouse
Internet Speed
DSL
Antivirus
Avira Internet Security
Browser
IE 11
Other Info
ATI HDMI Audio
Neutron16 said:
Please follow my advice from this post.
We need yo check your hosts file and Startup.

Also, try using google by ip address
http://74.125.224.72/
Click to expand...



I downloaded the tool and ran all the options, the HOST one didnt work though, it brought up this message

'Could not find file 'C:\hosts.txt'

Here are the other two files though:
 

Attachments

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7 64 bit
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Compaq presario cq56
OS
Windows 7 64 bit
Well, typically a C:\hosts.txt file does not exist. The hosts file (no extension) usually resides in C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc. If the error you saw was from the results you got when doing what Jacee requested, then you must've done something not quite right.

Did you try How to remove malware belonging to the family Rootkit.Win32.TDSS (aka Tidserv, TDSServ, Alureon)?? I've cleaned a few machines with redirect problems over the last few months. It really only takes a few minutes to give it a try by simply downloading and running it. It may or may not work, as it is only looking for specific malware, but it's worth a shot.
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7 Ultimate x64
OS
Windows 7 Ultimate x64
I didnt get any errors when doing what Jacee suggested but it did not dix the problem. I get this error message when doing what Neutron16 suggested:

'Could not find file 'C:\hosts.txt'

I tryed the TDSS killer when it was suggested on another forum before and it did not fix the problem or show any malware.
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7 64 bit
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Compaq presario cq56
OS
Windows 7 64 bit
According to the text files that you attached to one of your earlier posts, it appears that you have the Ask toolbar installed or that you once had it installed. Please uninstall that toolbar if you can... and maybe all other toolbars that you see listed under:
Start > Control Panel > Uninstall a program
or
Start > Control Panel > Programs and Features
depending on your settings.

Also uninstall PeerBlock - you can put it back after you get this issue fixed.

Are there any other computers in the home? If so, do they suffer from this same problem?
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

W7 Pro SP1 64biti78GBIntel HD Graphics
Computer type
Laptop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Employer provided Dell Latitude
OS
W7 Pro SP1 64bit
CPU
i7
Memory
8GB
Graphics Card(s)
Intel HD Graphics
Hard Drives
crappy SSD
Antivirus
Employer mandated Symantec Endpoint Protection
Browser
Pale Moon 64bit, IE11 64bit & Chrome 64bit
adiwalsh said:
I didnt get any errors when doing what Jacee suggested but it did not dix the problem. I get this error message when doing what Neutron16 suggested:

'Could not find file 'C:\hosts.txt' ...
Click to expand...
It really does not matter about the HOST file because the steps that Jacee suggested wrote over top of whatever was in that file.

I also see the 'Could not find file 'C:\hosts.txt' error when I run that tool.



Maybe some other people involved in this thread could check to see what they get from the SF Diag Tool and the HOSTS button.
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

W7 Pro SP1 64biti78GBIntel HD Graphics
Computer type
Laptop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Employer provided Dell Latitude
OS
W7 Pro SP1 64bit
CPU
i7
Memory
8GB
Graphics Card(s)
Intel HD Graphics
Hard Drives
crappy SSD
Antivirus
Employer mandated Symantec Endpoint Protection
Browser
Pale Moon 64bit, IE11 64bit & Chrome 64bit
UsernameIssues said:
According to the text files that you attached to one of your earlier posts, it appears that you have the Ask toolbar installed or that you once had it installed. Please uninstall that toolbar if you can... and maybe all other toolbars that you see listed under:
Start > Control Panel > Uninstall a program
or
Start > Control Panel > Programs and Features
depending on your settings.

Also uninstall PeerBlock - you can put it back after you get this issue fixed.

Are there any other computers in the home? If so, do they suffer from this same problem?
Click to expand...


I uninstalled ask toolbar and dont have any other toolbars installed and uninstalled peerblock.

There is one other computer in the home and it does not have this problem, I have connected to 3 different wireless networks and a wired ethernet connection and I have the same problem on all of them.
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7 64 bit
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Compaq presario cq56
OS
Windows 7 64 bit
adiwalsh said:
...There is one other computer in the home and it does not have this problem, I have connected to 3 different wireless networks and a wired ethernet connection and I have the same problem on all of them.
Click to expand...
Excellent info to have - now off to scratch our collective heads.

Have you had a chance to surf to the IP as this post asked?

Just as a point of curiosity - do you get the '"Could not find file 'C:\hosts.txt' " error when you run that tool as admin?
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

W7 Pro SP1 64biti78GBIntel HD Graphics
Computer type
Laptop
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Employer provided Dell Latitude
OS
W7 Pro SP1 64bit
CPU
i7
Memory
8GB
Graphics Card(s)
Intel HD Graphics
Hard Drives
crappy SSD
Antivirus
Employer mandated Symantec Endpoint Protection
Browser
Pale Moon 64bit, IE11 64bit & Chrome 64bit
Yes I get that error when I run the tool as administrator and when i just run normally.

I dont know how to do the IP thing
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7 64 bit
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Compaq presario cq56
OS
Windows 7 64 bit
adiwalsh said:
I dont know how to do the IP thing
Click to expand...

I believe the poster was just wanting you to see if you could get to Google's page by typing their ip address, 74.125.224.72, into the address bar of your brouser (instead of typing in google.com).

And I just have to ask, after all these posts, all the time that's passed, and I'm sure some growing frustration: are you sure you ran that flush.bat file as administrator (ie, right click on it and select "Run as Administrator")? I know you ran the other tool as administrator, and that's where you got the error on the hosts file, but I'm specifically referring to the way you may have run flush.bat. It won't work fully otherwise.
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7 Ultimate x64
OS
Windows 7 Ultimate x64
I definitely ran as administrator.
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7 64 bit
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Compaq presario cq56
OS
Windows 7 64 bit
My computer is also running really slow on the internet (mainly when watching videos) and I am wondering if its anything to do with this redirecting problem, spybot SnD has not found anything. This is really getting annoying, I got this computer at christmas I dont have alot of disk space used and really dont know what the problem is. Thanks everyone for the help so far
 

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7 64 bit
Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
Compaq presario cq56
OS
Windows 7 64 bit
Did you complete the second part of Jacee's post by running TFC?:

Jacee said:
download TFC by Old Timer TFC - Temp File Cleaner by OldTimer - Geeks to Go Forums and save it to your desktop.
Save any unsaved work. TFC will close ALL open programs including your browser!
Double-click on TFC.exe to run it. If you are using Vista/Windows 7 right-click on the file and choose Run As Administrator.
Click the Start button to begin the cleaning process and let it run uninterrupted to completion.
Important! If TFC prompts you to reboot, please do so immediately. If not prompted, manually reboot the machine anyway to ensure a complete clean.

Tell me if you're still being redirected.

ps.. you're being directed to 82.98.86.163 Germany Frankfurt Plus.line Ag
Click to expand...

If you haven't yet done so, try an online virus scan from Eset:

ESET :: Get a FREE Online Virus Scan :: Help
 
Last edited:

My Computer My Computer

At a glance

Windows 7 Ultimate x64
OS
Windows 7 Ultimate x64
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Reduction in web page load times in IE and Firefox; can't work out why
Replies
4
Views
4K
Faladu
Faladu
Windows 7 Ulimate 32 bit crashing frequently on IE and Firefox
Replies
1
Views
3K
Debbie B
Debbie B
Network connected to internet, IE and Firefox dont work, Chrome does
Replies
3
Views
6K
chev65
chev65
Solved IE and Firefox stopped working
Replies
8
Views
3K
writhziden
writhziden
Fonts text display in IE and Firefox wrong
Replies
6
Views
10K
fimble
F
Back
Top