Virus? -_-

[Tobuoi]

So in the last few weeks, all of the computers have become infected with the same virus known as the "Google Redirect" or "Google Results" virus. As the name would suggest, it often redirects you to sites like "googleresults" or "googleanalytics" and other ad sites and occasionally prevents certain pages from loading (usually facebook, for me). All of our computers are acting the same despite having different OSs, and my mom's iPhone is acting up in similar ways if that's even possible.

Well, just a few hours ago, I reformatted. And it's still there/back, even though I haven't done much of anything on my computer yet. My dad said that he read that the virus can infect your router/travel through your connection, but I haven't read anything like that, personally. He's also known to exaggerate/make crap up when it comes to computers, so I guess my biggest question is: is that possible? Because while I originally thought he was crazy, I'm running out of ideas and getting more and more pissed.

So...help, pl0x?

[SirDumpling]

First off: If your parent doesn't work for a computer company or something of the like, don't listen to a word they say regarding technology. Unless it's someone like Hulk (not sure what he does for a living), odds are it's completely made up.

To be honest, I've never heard about a virus infecting a router/modem, but they can be hijacked. However, there are some yahoo answers saying to just do a hard reset of your router. http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index ... 727AAY95x3

If that doesn't work, just make a post on Bleeping Computer, which is by far the best malware/general computer problem forum there is.

[Stephen]

virus's can affect anything with firm ware if there good enough

list of places virsus will hide

1 - plain site (fix: format)
2 - hidden partition on hard drive (fix: ill post the program tomorrow i cant remember the name of it right now)
3 - home network (fix: format all computers and dont network them till they are done)
4 - External HDD or Flash drive (fix: locate the infected file and remove)
5 - bios (fix: clear bios, reflash, clear again. there trickery to get rid of and not always possible to)
6 - gpu firmware (fix: none besides trying to reflash if you can find a firmware for it but super rare to have that)


my guess would have to be its either on your network floating between computers, or its hidden on the hidden partition of your hard drive (used for master boot file and such)


so your dad is slightly correct, the router can be infected but mostly likly its not

[Tobuoi]

Thanks for the input. While I only comprehended so much of what you said, it'll be plenty for my boyfriend to work with tomorrow.

And yeah, Dragoon...parents (particularly fathers) and technology don't mix well. Also, I've reset the router back to factory default a couple of times, now. :/

[TheKeef]

Also dont forget that if you used a usb stick after formatting, that you may have reinfected yourself that way. You need to fully scan and clean (possibly even format ) any drives you are using.

Try malwarebytes, it's free and it's a malware asskicker in most cases, some of the really nasty critters get by it, but they update constantly. Download it and let it do a scan on any/all drives you have.

Also try Hijack This just to see what all the hell is running on your pc @ boot up and remove things you don't want similar to msconfig, but easier/better.

[Stephen]

http://www.hdat2.com/

heres the program that will unhide your hidden partition

[Marcus]

I'm not a computer genius, although I can like do a lot of computer stuff and fixing. Is there a remote possibility that your ISP is redirecting your requests to the wrong place (DNS servers are redirecting you to the wrong sites, not actually sure that is even possible)?

I've never heard of this type of virus before, but my guess that there is something that is spreading through your network and that it processes your internet requests and changes the result.