Computer Issue Help, please!

[moira finnie]

I'm hoping that someone with a lot of tech savvy might be able to help me.

I currently have a desktop WindowsXP OS with a broadband connection from Time-Warner. I have Antivirus software and Spybot Adware as well as an active Firewall on my computer. Over the weekend the computer began to be very slow, and now Google appears in German and anytime I do a search on there or on Yahoo I see links to German based sites or receive the message:
403 Not Found

The requested URL /accounts/Login was not found on this server.

Apache/2.2.3 (CentOS) Server at http: //www. google.com Port 443

I have also been redirected to the following ad sites while searching on IE or on Mozilla Firefox, (the latter is my preferred browser). Since I have Google accounts for various online uses, this has been quite annoying. When I try to visit the Preferences link on the main Google page nothing happens! Here are some of the ad sites that have popped up (I've added spaces to these links to make them inactive links):

www. coupon mountain . com/search.php?

Copyright © 2009 MeziMedia. All Rights Reserved

// www. google.com/webhp ?hl=en

http : // www. bizrate. com

What puzzles me is that I really don't buy stuff online nor do I keep any important personal info there. Why me? There sure isn't any money in it for these guys!

I have taken the following steps to correct this:
Emptied cache, cleaned out history, etc.
1. Run a complete scan for viruses and spyware
2. Updated my Microsoft software
3. Defragmented the Hard disk
4. Uninstalled IE and downloaded most recent version
5. Uninstalled Firefox and downloaded most recent version

Results: 2 infections were found but are quarantined.
The system characterizes them as "still active but blocked"
There is no info given me regarding getting rid of this software
Searches of any kind are still not working properly.

Any thoughts?
Am I totally out of luck here?
Has my online identity been taken over forever? Why would anyone want it--I don't even want to be me, most days!?
Do I have to but another computer now? Thanks for any thoughts you might have on this topic.

[Professional Tourist]

Well, I'm primarily a Mac technician and so am not too well-versed in Windows or its viruses, but based on the information you've posted, if your issues and slowness are primarily when surfing the web, and not during other functions such as word processing, then your DNS settings may have got changed so that you're being redirected to some foreign DNS servers whenever you try to connect to web sites, in order to resolve the names.

One way you can test for this is to try to connect to web sites by IP address rather than by name. For example, the IP address for the U.S. English Google page should be 74.125.65.147. The IP address for the New York Times home page should be 170.149.173.130. The IP address for CNN should be 157.166.224.25. The IP address for Amazon.com should be 72.21.207.65. [I've converted and tested these four addresses just now.] Just paste these addresses into your browser's address field (one at a time) and press 'enter' on the keyboard -- the sites should then load.

If you can load these sites normally using their IP addresses, then the issue is may be your DNS settings. The DNS settings are what tell your computer which server(s) to access in order to translate web site names into web site IP addresses, and once your computer has the numeric addresses then it can load the sites (web site names are a convenience for us; it's really the IP address that is used to access and load a site). You should be able to find out what your DNS settings should be and how to enter/correct those settings from your internet service provider, either from their online support web site (if you can load it) or by telephoning their tech support.

Good luck!

[moira finnie]

Thanks, Pro Tourist. I have been able to directly access Google if I use the DNS or if I type in http://www.google.com but doing a search there still leads to the foreign and biz sites I mentioned. I can go directly to sites such as The New York Times and IMDb if I type in their exact address and then search those sites internally without any issues. I have a feeling this is going to take awhile to correct.

I really appreciate your help, though.

[Professional Tourist]

Yes, it sounds like a DNS/redirection issue. It could be the DNS settings themselves were changed, some entries made/changed in the Windows registry, or some kind of worm or other malware. Have a look through these pages:

http://www.google.com/support/websearch ... nswer=8091

http://www.computing.net/answers/securi ... 23849.html

http://groups.google.com/group/Google_W ... 0062d20c97

http://groups.google.com/group/Google_W ... c4e66f1cc9

It looks like you will probably want to download and run Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware to clean up the infection:
http://www.malwarebytes.org/

[knitwit45]

Hey, thanks, PT. I downloaded the malware software at work (we're not too busy....) and it found 21 infections! Guess I'd better clean all the computers...

Nancy

[moira finnie]

As I tried to straighten out my computer issues, thanks to the kind guidance of Prof Tourist, I've learned that there is a huge rise in Malware and Trojan viruses just this last weekend over the 4th of July worldwide, (which is when the detectable problems began on my computer at home). You can read more about it here in a PCAdvisor article and in a Google news roundup of items about this, found here.

I had a Firewall, VirusScan etc. all installed on my computer and up to date when this occurred. It is becoming increasingly difficult to post on my home computer, so I am writing this from the public library, where computer access is limited.

FOR THE TIME BEING:
IF YOU HAVE ANY TECHNICAL ISSUES RE: THIS WEBSITE AT THIS TIME, PLEASE SEND JON AN EMAIL IMMEDIATELY.

PLEASE REFER ANY ISSUES REGARDING ALL EDITORIAL COMMENTS TO MOVIEMAN1957, LZCUTTER AND KLONDIKE AT THIS TIME.

[jdb1]

Looks like it would also be a bad move to open anything with a North Korea extension on the web address -- is it ".kp?" I frankly wouldn't have thought they had the technology to disrupt the Internet, although according to the news, that's where IT fingers are now pointing (they probably bought the program from some other Axis of Evil participant).

What gives? Their country is starving, and the Dear Leader is paying computer geeks to throw stones at Facebook. There's a priority-setting problem in there somewhere.

[moira finnie]

Judith,
I never ever open emails from anyone I don't know. This still has happened to me.