Computer people...HELP!

[nicolesheridan 0]

OK, so I will try to make this short. I am running XP Home on the machine in question. I installed SP3 and thought I was one of the lucky ones at first...no problems.

Then I started noticing that when I used a search engine (didn't matter which one), I was getting results that took me to portal sites instead of where they should have been taking me...even happened when searching for DZ.com and my own site. I thought I might have gotten some sort of virus.

Did a full system scan, cleaned up discs, defragged, etc., etc. Then when I went to run Live Update fro Virus defs, Norton said it couldn't connect. That was 2 days ago.

Today, weh I went to turn on this machine I got a blue screen c0000139 entry point not found. I could not start up in safe mode and couldn't even get into the recovery console at first.

After numerous tries, I finally got into the recovery console and ran a repair install on XP. Rhis took me back to XP SP1 and IE6. I thought that everything would be OK. NOT!

Whenever I search for anything using google, MS search, ask.com or yahoo, I am not taken to the actual result, but rather an ad, portal, or just get a 404 error. I am running 4 other machines through the same router with none of this so it is not on that end.

Anyone have any ideas or suggestions? I am getting ready to run over this tower with my car just to make myself feel better.

_________________________________________________

"People often say that this or that person has not yet found himself. But, the self is not something that one finds. It is something that one creates"- Thomas Szasz

[mnealtx 0]

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

You've got a virus or malware that has hijacked your browser (among other things). Go to the site above and let it catch anything it can.

Then get Ad-Aware and Spybot Search and Destroy and run them.

After all that...THEN try to update your installed virus software and run a scan.

That *should* set you back to rights.

Mike
I love you, Shannon and Jim.
POPS 9708 , SCR 14706

[PhreeZone 20]

Ran another Virus Scanner on the system. A lot of the current viruses are targeting AV software and will disable or break them if they are not protected. Odds are you are infected and it trashed your Norton. Trend has an online VirusScaner or I can walk you through a few other vendors stuff for free if you need the help on PM's.

Yesterday is history
And tomorrow is a mystery

Parachutemanuals.com

[floridadiver81 0]

When all else fails do a complete reinstall of the OS. I know its a pain the the ass due to having to remove important data off the machine to return it to it after the OS is reinstalled. Obviously SP3 started the problems..and with computers..if you know them well..sometimes it takes time for things to "happen". I know them rather well..and sometimes i would come across a problem that just refused to want to be fixed. IF you dont know how to reinstall your OS let me know and i can walk you through it.

"Age has absolutely nothing to do with knowledge, learning, respect, attitude, or personality." -yardhippie
"Fight the air, and the air will kick your ass!!! "-Specialkaye

[nicolesheridan 0]

I ran both Ad Aware and BPS Spyware Sweeper while all this was going on and they didn't find anything. I cant even go to the housecall site....IE won't let me and I can't even open Firefox right now. Any other suggestions?

"People often say that this or that person has not yet found himself. But, the self is not something that one finds. It is something that one creates"- Thomas Szasz

[nicolesheridan 0]

Looks like I might have to do this as I can't even access any of the sites for other AV software.....just get "this Page Cannot Be Displayed" or 404 errors. Can I down;oad anything on another machine and then run it on the one I'm having probs with?

"People often say that this or that person has not yet found himself. But, the self is not something that one finds. It is something that one creates"- Thomas Szasz

[JackC 0]

Windows can sometimes develop behavioural issues without actually having any virus or malware problems at all. Windows just gets bloated after a while by virtue of how many programs and websites mess around with the system registry when they have no business going anywhere near it. The best solution is to get comfortable with doing a fresh install of the OS every so often. I keep all my data backed up to a removable hard drive containing a folder with all the downloads and install.exe programs I need to configure my system. I can format the PC HD, load a fresh OS and get all my basic software back up and running in about an hour.

[Armour666 0]

it could be your host file has been changed that when you try any antivirus sites it redirects you to the

you can find your host file here
C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

open it in notepad below is what a clean normal XP host file should look like

# Copyright (c) 1993-1999 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host

127.0.0.1 localhost

SO this one time at band camp.....

"Of all the things I've lost I miss my mind the most."