I.E. 8 Redirect

After downloading a necessary file directly from a known source, my Internet Expolrer is redirected when I search for a sight. Also, when I do a Tracert to see if I have a good internet connection, I get several timeouts when it attempts to find the external ip address I am searching for. Sometimes after 10 timeouts, it might find a sight (good or bad, I am not sure). Sometimes it will use all 30, and not find anything, just time out. All of the Spyware / Malware programs I have, have not found anything. I'm currently in school to learn more about how computers work, but at this time I have taking it as far as my limited knowlwdge can take me. It has been suggested I back up my files and clean my hard drive. I am considering that, but before I do something that drastice, wanted to see if anyone could help me worj through this Redirect problem? Thanks!

Mike21477

Redirects are normally an indication of some sort of malware.

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Such as?

Are all critical updates installed?

Firewall being used?

Have you checked Event Viewer for errors, which might provide clues?

How To Use Event Viewer - http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/t/40108/how-to-use-event-viewer/

Louis

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By whom and why?

Edited by hamluis, 23 February 2010 - 06:28 AM.

Thanks for the fast reply. I'll try to answer your question 1 by 1.

First of all, who recommeded I back up and baciscall calean and reinstall my programs on my hard drive is the person in charge of the mentoed learning of the A+ class where I am going to school. He is a smart guy, but malware and such are not where his strong suite is. So he recommeded what he has done in the past and that was to wipe the hard drive and start again.

Spyware I have used:

Hitman 3.5 - found nothing
CClearner - has not stopp the redirect
Stopzilla - claims to have found 50 + hit, but wants money to clean up what it found... not prepared at this time to spend money
Spybot search and Destroy - Found nothing
HijackThis - not stopped the redirect (not real famialur with how this works)
Avast - found nothing
Spyware Doctor - Found 2 Host files 127.0.0.1 spywareinfo.com and www.spywareinfo.com - but could not clean them. I psyically deleted the files, but this did not fix the redirect. Now Spyware Doctor does not find anything.
Malwarebytes - finds nothing

Critical updates to what? If you mean I.E. 8, I just reloaded I.E. 8 recently so I would hope so. In Windows, I know I have service pack 2 loaded (this is on a laptops if that maked any difference)

Firewalls - Yes I have the one that came with Spyware Doctor (PC Tools) and the Windows Firewall running. (I know overkill probably)

Event Viewers - Yes I have looked there, but honestly, I am still learning/getting comfy what that is telling me (currently studying for my A+ cert.). If there are clues, I cant tell you what they are just yet. But have not look that hard either.

Hope that helps get started.

Mike