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What the fuck is IE doing?
Wavechaser
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I am having the weirdest fucking issue with Internet Explorer. For the last 3 or so days, clicking links produces random results.
Sometimes it will actually take me to the website I'm trying to get to, most of the time however, it will take me to some random banner/advertising webpage (which is different every time). I will literally go back to my original google search or whatever, click the same link 3 times, and get 3 different mother fucking results.
I have no idea what could be causing this.
Should I just say "fuck it" and switch to firefox? Because this is some weird annoying crap.
Sometimes it will actually take me to the website I'm trying to get to, most of the time however, it will take me to some random banner/advertising webpage (which is different every time). I will literally go back to my original google search or whatever, click the same link 3 times, and get 3 different mother fucking results.
I have no idea what could be causing this.
Should I just say "fuck it" and switch to firefox? Because this is some weird annoying crap.
Wavechaser on
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From the sound of it, you done got yourself a them there virus or trojan of some sort. As much as I dislike IE in any form, it cannot possibley by sending you to random links on its own. The fact that its sending you to ads is a dead give away your computer is infected
Anyone able to recommend a good (free) virus removal tool?
You should also run adaware and spybot. Also have windows defender installed if you don't already.
Actually, yes, can't believe i missed that point. I use Avira personally.
That's a load of BS. Not only is IE8 is proven to be safer than Firefox it's a moot point now. Malicious/Hijacked websites & web servers now attack the system OS directly after identifying the OS from the header info. Flash games/videos have also been seen trying to install malware/adware in the background. This is why people need to leave UAC or similar function running. On XP systems I use Spybot SD's Tea Timer or Comodo's system guard in their free Security suit.
Also +1 for NOD32. If you want free then try Comodo or PC Tools if you only want an AV.
This sounds like a 'hijacker' virus or bug of some sort. I had one that, ironically enough, hijacked FF. Google was the only site that worked, and every search result led to the same 'Antivirus' site. AVG's updates were blocked, as was Windows itself.
Unless you fix it, it's probably just a matter of time before the hijacking bug affects FF as well.
I'll suggest what fixed it for me: Malwarebyte's Anti-Malware. Despite the rather odd name, it's probably one of the best cleaners out there. Deleted the modded registry entries that were causing the redirection. Had to download it on another PC and move it there, but once it was installed and running, it worked.
http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php
It's also good for handling smaller things, like cookies, trackers, etc.
IE8 also breaks compatibility for countless sites and has a tendency to completely hose the system if you have to uninstall it for that reason. (Rollout on automatic updates for xp has kept me busy for days now due to compatibility issues that are far beyond what should be normal) It's highly doubtful he was using either ie8 or uac to get infected. Otherwise, the comment was harsh, but the op asked for an opinion.
Oh this brings me back to my youth days when i said "I don't need no AV program"...so everytime i went on certain websites i would get redirected all over the place.
Sounds like virus or at the least some spy/adware.
I thought it was rather hilarious that a Microsoft product redirected me from Google to the Brand New! Microsoft search engine.
You know IE8 has a compatibility view button, right?
Now just a button, IE maintains an actively updated site list of to render in compatibility (IE7 legacy) mode. If these people don't want to update/recode their websites then they just have to add one line of code to their templates. This will tell IE to automatically render the site in compatibility mode.
Best free protection combo.
I've already recommended Malwarebyte's, that being said.
The program had some "Engrish" the last time I checked, which put me off a bit...but it worked.
Thanks guys for all the help.
Not to knock Avira, but I have a sense that Malewarebyte's did the trick.
Given that I had the same problem (but for FF), I can't help but feel a little self-satisfied. Glad it worked out for you.
Since it was browser hijacking, I would imagine the antispyware took care of it too yes.
Avira is our first pass for virus cleanups on our linux network scans and works pretty good, ClamAV follows it up.
I would have stuck with Avira, if it wasn't for the huge amounts of false positives it was giving me. I'm sure that was correctable, but I was kind of in the 'trying' mood, so I switched between a couple different options.
Ugh, I had quite a fun episode of "Fix the Parent's computer" getting ZoneAlarm and McAffee off of one of their laptops. The thing just plain ran so slow from being loaded down with crap it was a real chore.