(Venting) Computers are ok as long as they work right, and mine...

isn't working right!!! It's developed a strange problem that no one seems to have even heard of before!!!! It suddenly loads only certain pages but not others. On some sites, it loads the main page just fine, but then gets suck and won't load any other pages on that site. Some links work and some don't...I can't read my email. Last of all, my son, who is a computer geek and a friend who is another computer geek spent HOURS working on it and couldn't find the problem!!! They checked everything, and even checked with some other computer geeks on-line and no one had a clue about what was wrong and what to do!!

But at least it still works here at TCS...except for the links!!!!

bad...bad...BAD PC!!!!

I had a similar thing happen last year to me. What you describe sounds somewhat like my problem. Spyware had hijacked my search toolbar. Without going into all the awful details, I had to get a computer guy over to help me fix it. Turns out it was some nasty spyware on my computer. He used two free downloads from the internet to remove all the junk from my computer. He used Ad-Aware and Spybot Search and Destroy. Ad-Aware wasn't able to remove it. Spybot S&D cleaned house! I had so much garbage on my computer you wouldn't believe it. Anyways...I sure am no computer expert, and I do not even know if this is what your problem is, but...it sounded so similar that I thought I would send you the links to those sites. They are free and they sure couldn't hurt to try them and see if they might help. If it is spyware...these programs will remove them.

http://www.lavasoftusa.com/

http://www.safer-networking.org/

Hope you get your computer up and running again. Good luck!

Cindy W.

That sounds just awful! I hope you can get it fixed soon! I hate it when my computer acts up.

When stuff like that happens to me I just erase the whole damn hard drive and start over from scratch.

Maybe a Virus ? But then , I really don't know a hole lot about pc.

Thanks Cindy, I'll mention that to my son.

I downloaded and ran it, it found LOADS of junk and now my PC is running a LOT faster!!!! Thanks for that link!

Ad-aware and Spybot Search & Destroy are exactly what I recommend too, but I also recommend at least a third program called "Hijack This" You can find it at www.spywareinfo.com It's free and was made by someone who frequents the forums there. This is the most important program for you because I'm guessing that your browser is being hijacked. The other two programs aren't really geared towards everything at this point.

Hijack This needs only a bit of geek knowledge if you can recognize a suspicious result(s) after it searches. Otherwise, download it, join the forum there (at sypwareinfo), run Hijack This, use the "save log" button, open it, then copy and paste all the text into a forum message. Ask which boxes should be checked. People do this often and someone will answer.

The next time you run Hijack This you can check the appropriate boxes. I also recommend trying some shareware anti-trojan software. You can find some of them at www.download.com in the utilities section. Try using the search word trojan or anti-trojan. I also suggest downloading and installing Zonealarm. www.zonelabs.com -sorry there's so much here. I could go on and on though. It takes a lot to keep your computer safe. Good luck!

Thanks for the links everyone.

I hope you get your computer working okay Lorie.

Thanks for posting the link to HiJack This. I had never heard of it before. I am going there now to check it out.

The whole spyware thing, hijacking is such a nasty business for one's computer. I got hit very bad by one called "IGetNet". It completely took over my tool bar and everything that I tried to type in as a search would bring me to some bogus search engine called "Search Results.net" It rendered my computer useless. I couldn't do anything without being routed to that site. Then, once I got there, I could only click on their links and nothing else.

People always mention how bad worms and viruses are. And...indeed they are, but very few people seem to mention just how malicious spyware is.

I am off to go check out the HiJack This site and download it promptly. Anything to keep my computer clean of all that garbage!

Cindy W.

You're welcome. I'm sure you'll find it useful. How did you manage to get rid of your previous hijacking problems?

After holding for an hour to talk to Dell tech support, who were unable to solve the problem, I decided to play around in Safe Mode. Until tech support told me how to get into it from XP (I knew how to from W98, this was different), I had no clue how to reboot in Safe Mode. Well then I did a system restore to two weeks ago, and all is well! I am going to run the antivirus program again just to be safe, but I am just thrilled to have my own computer back! (I've been using the old backup one for the past week..the old SLOW backup one!)

I feel so...smart!

I think I mentioned it in my original post, but, my computer guy and I ran Ad-Aware (didn't get rid of the problem, but, eliminated a lot of other bad junk) and then we discovered Spybot S&D. That got rid of the IGetNet/Search Results.net hijack. I wasn't aware of the HiJack This program at that time.

I was going to download HiJack This earlier this morning, but, it is in a zip file, and I don't know how to download it to my computer. Any ideas for me there? I don't think I have ever downloaded a zip file before (not too terribly computer literate, as you can tell!) If you can tell me how to download it, I would be ever so appreciative!

Cindy W.

Thanks so much for the links guys!
I talked to my son about the possibility of my computer problems being caused by spyware. He said that since they had removed and reinstalled everything on my computer, spyware couldn't possibly be the cause of the problems. The other day, my son mentioned the possibility that my hard drive might be starting to go bad. Hmmmmm....I wonder if that could be it?????????

Yeah, Spyware has hijacked hubby's computer 4 or 5 times (and lucky me gets to clean it all the time). We now have Spywareguard and Spywareblaster loaded full time.

Originally posted by Cindy W.
I think I mentioned it in my original post, but, my computer guy and I ran Ad-Aware (didn't get rid of the problem, but, eliminated a lot of other bad junk) and then we discovered Spybot S&D. That got rid of the IGetNet/Search Results.net hijack. I wasn't aware of the HiJack This program at that time.

I was going to download HiJack This earlier this morning, but, it is in a zip file, and I don't know how to download it to my computer. Any ideas for me there? I don't think I have ever downloaded a zip file before (not too terribly computer literate, as you can tell!) If you can tell me how to download it, I would be ever so appreciative!

Cindy W.

Click to expand...

No problem Cindy... nobody learns it all in one day. You can download Winzip here: http://download.com.com/3120-20-0.ht...zip&tg=dl-2001 Once you install it, run Ad-aware and Spybot S&D because Winzip used to have some spyware, but Ad-aware will remove it. -sounds strange, but it's possible that they don't have it anymore. I've been using Winzip for years.

To unzip Hijack This:

1. First download the program to your desktop or folder where you usually download to.

2. Go to your desktop of folder and right-click on the Hijack This icon. You'll see a dropdown list.

3. Left-click on the option that says, "Extract to folder C:\\Windows\\whatever\\whatever\\etc." It will extract the program.

4. If you don't already have the window open to the folder you extracted to, go to it now.

5. Look for the folder called Hijack This. Open the folder.

6. Double-click on Hijack This.exe to run the program.

7. Click on "Scan" to find the junk.

8. Remember that not everything listed will be spyware.

If you have any problems feel free to email me or post again.

Originally posted by Lorie D.

Thanks so much for the links guys!
I talked to my son about the possibility of my computer problems being caused by spyware. He said that since they had removed and reinstalled everything on my computer, spyware couldn't possibly be the cause of the problems. The other day, my son mentioned the possibility that my hard drive might be starting to go bad. Hmmmmm....I wonder if that could be it?????????

Click to expand...

Did your son just remove the programs by uninstalling them, or did he manually delete the folders and delete things in the registry too? I could be wrong, but uninstalling some programs doesn't get rid of everything. They leave behind settings in special folders and junk in the Windows registry. When you re-install the programs, not much has been changed or lost, including the spyware.

I'll check it out tomorrow morning and try to get it downloaded

Thanks for the help!!!

Cindy W.

Originally posted by Hydroaxe

Did your son just remove the programs by uninstalling them, or did he manually delete the folders and delete things in the registry too?

Click to expand...

I'm not sure, I'll have to ask.