Foo - google search hijacker

guys:

my boss's machine has some sort of hijacker on it, that affects google. If he searches with google for say "honda lawnmowers" he gets a normal looking response. However, when he cliclks on the honda site, he is taken somewhere completely different, like James River Insurance.

What is the best free tool to download to find out what this is?

First time I heard of this one. :( Think I'd start by sending an e-mail to Google 'bout it.

http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html

There's no single best tool, they all miss some things. Spybot - Search & Destroy and Ad-Aware are two standards.

Sounds like it might be a simple HOSTS file hijack.

First time I heard of this one. :( Think I'd start by sending an e-mail to Google 'bout it.

It is not google doing it. It is spyware, that got on the machine and taking him to other sites . Probably pay per click advertising scheme. Some hacker is getting money off this, I know, I just want it gone off his machine.

<running spybot and ad-aware as I type - haven't done this in a while...>

Seconding Spybot and Ad-Aware for spyware removal, and probably add an up-to-date virus scanner like AVG and/or... there's another good free one that came out after I migrated from Windows, but I can't recall its name. In any case, yeah, spyware and virus scans are your first line of action here.

hijackthis (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HijackThis)

Stop looking at lawnmower porn on google.

Stop looking at lawnmower porn on google.

not gonna happen.

Thanks all. Just got done helping him download Spybot and it has already found a COOLWWW that I bet is doing this.

I run lavasoft on this machine and am trouble free. He was unprotected on his machine and is not as hip and savvy as me.

He's less hip and savvy than even you? Oh dear!

Your company doesn't have security measures on it's computers? :eek: That's inconceivable.

He's less hip and savvy than even you? Oh dear!

?
http://www1.istockphoto.com/file_thumbview_approve/2156982/2/istockphoto_2156982_pile_of_dirt.jpg

Your company doesn't have security measures on it's computers? :eek: That's inconceivable.

We have two stand alone PC's. I have security on mine. He does not pay attention to where he goes on the interwebs.

We have two stand alone PC's. I have security on mine. He does not pay attention to where he goes on the interwebs.

Good luck with that :D

I'd also suggest another good one is Trend Micro's free scanner.

Your company doesn't have security measures on it's computers? :eek: That's inconceivable.

http://i238.photobucket.com/albums/ff289/bluebottle1/inconceivable-1.jpg

good points I have not dealt with them much. So far as it goes I keep my computer secure in the way I can. Will have to check out some of the programs mentioned. AVG I have heard before, Lavasoft I have not heard of any clues as to what to expect?
I also use trendmicro regularly.

I personally use two utilities: Symantec Antivirus corporate edition, and PC Tools Threatfire. Threatfire is a utility that is designed primarly against keyloggers and zombie bot threats, but the registered version gives generic antivirus protection.

Eventually, I may replace SAV with Symantec Endpoint Manager, but for now, it does a good job and is lightweight.

Thanks all. SpyBot got him back to normal, except for a RegSrv32 error message at startup. Will look into that one today when he has time to let me on his machine.