Greetings,

My home machine has begun to act strangely. I have first followed the virus/spyware tutorial as best as I could but am still having a problem.

I am running Windows 2000 and IE version 6. When I visit some websites the links on that site send me to random other sites. These sites are benign (Google, eBay, etc) but I cannot seem to make the machine behave properly.

Procedures completed: Spybot, Adaware, spyguard, and online Housecall and Bit Defender (Panda did not work, popup-blocker or something) along with Norton Symantec and I think something called spyware blaster. A number of other nasty things have been removed but this problem still exists. I have tried to use Foxfire to access these sites but the same problem exists there which leads me to believe there is something lurking in the Windows registry. This is as far as I can go on my own without additional help.

I am currently at work and cannot provide more details until later. When I get home I will add anything else I feel is pertinent.

Is there something else I need to do before posting a HJT file? The rest of the machine seems to be running fine and some websites seem to be completely unaffected while others are not accessible. Thanks in advance for your help.

Cheers,

DamonHill

Could you post links to the sites you're having troubles with, and explain which links aren't working?

Ok, here is an example of the problem. (Once again I am at work and had to do this from memory).

http://www.logicmazes.com/links.html This is the main site and when I click on the link about 1/3 of the way down called Web Sudoku it sometimes takes me to Google homepage or eBay homepage. I can type the address into a blank browser and it will take me to the intended site. However, when I click on it directly it occasionally sends me elsewhere.

I will try some experimenting when I get home but I think this most often occurs when I click on a link that takes me to a different site. For example, if I am on the ESPN site and click to go somewhere else on the ESPN site there is never a problem. However, if I click on something that takes me outside ESPN it redirects me to an unintended place. I can copy the link and paste it into a browser and it will work but not from a direct click.

This is why it is so perplexing. It does not always happen and I can detect no other weirdness (home page is not altered, no bizarro favorite places, etc).

I can ignore this for now. I'd just rather not have it escalate into a larger problem if left unchecked.

Thanks.

I tried the links with Firefox, and didn't have any problems.
Have you cleaned out your temporary internet files lately?
Open IE.
Click Tools.
Select Internet Options.
Click the General tab.
Click the Delete Files button.
When the box opens, put a check in Delete All Offline Content.
Click OK.

I have no problem doing this from my work computer either, only on my personal machine does it malfunction. This is what concerns me.

I have not done that method lately but use cleanmgr.exe instead. It was my understanding that this performed the same function (according to an IT guy). I will try this method as well to see if it makes a difference. Thanks for the advice.


Cheers,

DamonHill