Help with the "Google-redirect" rootkit

[Dancing David]

Does anybody know from which site(s) this stuff is coming from? I guess I am just lucky. My last virus was on a 633 MHz celeron if that gives you any idea how long ago that was.

They are legion, there are multiple ways people get them, the one that is hardest to follow is when you have inadvertently downloaded some piece of software, or deliberately downloaded some piece of software that makes your machine more vulnerable. So you download something that has a 'bundled' piece of malware, you download some piece of crapware or you download some malware.

Things like 'coupon' software, 'shop to win', 'deal's and 'free movies' are good examples, not including things that are 'search bars' which are just crapware. Then inadvertently you can go to a web page which has a Flash exploit, a Java exploit or a .pdf exploit that just loads malware onto your machine.

The more obvious ones will start to mess with you right away. the less obvious one will just create a hook somewhere that is an open exploit 'door' or vulnerability, this then will be sensed by other malware that grabs on and invades. Then there are those that once on your machine that make a 'remote call' to some other site and download crap. again the sneakier ones do not want to let you know they have done so.

So other than taking Rat's advice and running a browser that blocks all scripts you are going to be vulnerable to some extent, you can avoid the more obvious things, don't just open emails that are suspicious, don't download 'free' stuff unless it is from a very reputable site, avoid bit torrents and P2P unless you are very savvy, use a real time scanner, use a firewall, run all updates as needed:

But there are still going to be times that you get some form of crap and it boogers up your machine.

 

[a_unique_person]

I had this recently myself.

I searched everything to get rid of it and nothing.

I wasted more time on it than I should have. I think there is more than one version of it out there.

Learn from my mistake. Save time and just take off and nuke it from orbit.

When Windows gets beyond a certain point of instability, it's best just to reinstall. It's quick, easier, and you get a fresh Windows install that's a lot faster.

You should back up all your data first, of course!

 

[kookbreaker]

I got this on the old store computer. Never did get rid of it. Just moved on to a new computer. Kept the FireFox scriptblocker in place for the most part.