I have nortons and webroot but somehow I now have a virus and a browser hyjacker how can I get rid of it?

Question

Nortons is going to charge me $100.00 to fix the problem and I feel it is their fault, it should have caught this , why else do I have this on my pc, someone please help me. It is a browser hyjacker and virus.

Answer 1

download this for free and see if this does it



http://www.superantispyware.com/

then try this online scanner


http://www.bitdefender.com/scan8/ie.html

Answer 2

Never been keen on Norton, you're probably better off with a free anti virus software like Grisoft AVG, (free download), and a strong browser such as Mozilla Firefox or Opera, (or both). You also need free antispyware such as Spybot search and destroy and lavasoft adaware 6 as well as your webroot spyware. Between them, the above software programs should catch most malware. Be careful, however, that they don't start with windows.
In the mean time, if you can still get on the internet, browse to trend micro website and have a free online virus scan. This will probably take a couple of hours but it might just find your browser highjacker and virus and get rid of them for you.

Answer 3

I've seen cases where viruses slip by Norton, and Spysweeper seems to miss things too. If you are not technically inclined I would get a friend to help. I would get rid of Norton and Webroot by booting into "Safe Mode" and remove them via Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs. Then restart the computer normally download the Microsoft OneCare software (they have a 3 month trial version that includes anitvirus and antispyware). FYI: To boot in to safe mode, restart the computer and immediately press the F8 key once a second until you get a menu showing "Safe Mode" as an option. Use your arrow keys to select Safe Mode and press enter.

Answer 4

there are so many viruses made ever day that not every one can be detected by just one virus program. as for the hijacker those programs are not always considered a virus. most are malware. i never use any virus detection programs because they slow down you computer as the list of viruses get bigger and bigger as to what to look out for. i do use housecalls at www.trendmicro.com they check for viruses, malware, cookies, and security problems with your computer free of charge. maybe that may help. more then likely you will have to reformat (that's why i always have a system restore point ready in case this happens.) If you can remember when you got this virus and the hijacker started then you could always do a system restore to a date before that. you will still have the virus hidden somewhere in your computer since system restor only turns back the programing of you computer but you can then run a few different virus programs to find and delete it.

Answer 5

Norton is going to charge you $100? Well, that is generous of them! This is something you can remove on your own without spending anything ...

First, update your definitions for the Norton Antivirus (actually, I'd recommend you get rid of it totally...it really isn't the best on the market like it says it is. It is rivalled by free viral tools such as AVG...you might consider changing or at least adding to it with another good program) Some say it isn't recommended to have 2 viral programs on your system however if one is run at say 9 a.m. and the other is run at 9p.m. there really needn't be a problem...both hold their own definition listing and update from different sources so in my opinion, you are that much more protected. I've had two operating on my laptop for over a year now...no problems at all and I am totally virus, hijack and spy/malware and adware free.

Then update your definitions for Webroot ...then download the following and install:

http://www.ewido.net/en/ (Spyware cleaner)
http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/1/ (AVG Virus Scanner)
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/ (Adware scanner)
http://www.safer-networking.org/ (Spybot adware/malware/spyware cleaner)
http://www.noadware.net/?hop=teksol3 (Hijacker, worm, dialer scanner)

All the above are free and effective. The only additional one you might want to look into is the Registry Mechanic program, also free and fixes registry entries that are missing, not applicable etc. This program however is one that you should be familiar with the Registry in order to use it as you do not want it to fix something that really doesn't need fixing to begin with. If in doubt leave this one out.

Once everything is installed and updated, begin running the spyware, adware programs, depending on your system speed, you should be able to run at least a few of them at the same time...you'll be running these under safe mode as well shortly. Also run your virus scanner including the AVG one if you downloaded it.

If you are infected, the Adaware from Lavasoft should inform you that your browser was hijacked. If not, don't worry, the deeper scan should eradicate pretty well everything.

Once all of the programs are finished their scans and provide you with info of what they found and what you can safely remove...shut down your computer completely and wait for approx 3 seconds before turning it on again. While booting up, hit the F8 button which will take you to a boot up screen. Here choose Safemode only (You may have options to enter safemode with prompt and safemode with networking...Safemode is what you want)

Now, run each and every program again that you ran in normal running windows. If there is anything else hiding on your system these programs should find them for you and you can then remove them.

Once this is done, shut down again and then sign back onto Windows. Now, if you do not have a firewall installed and are running WinXP, enter Start/Control Panel/ Windows Firewall. Ensure that the Radio button under General is beside ON (Recommended).

Windows will intuitively adjust programs that need to access the net through the firewall but sometimes it might block something and stop it from running. If this happens, just go thru the same steps as above except choose the ADVANCED button. Here you can activate a program by checking the box beside it which allows the program to run and access the net.

Set each of the above programs to automatically run and update at scheduled times convenient for you. You should now be well protected and have eradicated any problems on your own...take the $100 you've saved and go have dinner!

Good luck

Add: Agree 100% with above answer...get yourself Firefox, use IE only if absolutely necessary and even then, be certain you are updated to IE 7. Don't dump IE off the system however, there are sites that will not recognize Firefox as a browser that can function within the site requirements and there are other sites made only for IE's eyes :) Excellent advise above.

Answer 6

If I were you i'd give up Norton. I had Norton for about a month and I got a Trojan and several viruses! I had to call my ISP to remove it which costs like $40. I do have a built in Anti-Virus now, but Ad-aware always seemed to catch what Norton didn't.

Answer 7

Webroot is anti secret agent ware, and Norton is anti virus. you want both. Norton is a terrible product in that it eats united statestoo a lot of your memory and device aspects. you're extra perfect off with a loose anti virus like Avast.

Answer 8

Do what everyone else is doing. Download a torrent client, search for the latest cracked version of Symantec Client Security Corporate Edition, install, run the keygen, and enjoy your hack free PC!

Answer 9

just to let you no nortons isnt that good get mccafee they work alot better also go to your exploer and click the target and click run anti spy at the end it will ask you if you want to delete it
also there is a program out there that kills your nortons program so change from nortons to something else

hope this helps

Answer 10

Do you have any "sharing" programs on your computer like Bearshare? That could be where you caught your virus. I would do a full system restore with backup. that should take care of your problem.

Answer 11

download system mechanic and use it as a free trial. if you like it after the trial expires, you can purchase it. it cleans up all your spyware and stuff like that. it even find key loggers. as for virus scanners, i use the the free one... avast. it does a complete scan of your computer. free stuff is always good!