Google Redirect virus

Hey guys,

My home desktop has been infected with a google redirect virus in the last week or so that I can't seem to get rid of. The last 3 night's I've been trying to get rid of it and can't.

Essentially when I do a google search and click on the returned links, it re-directs me to random pages. Very annoying.

So far I've run:
AVG (My primary anti-virus)
CCleaner,
Adaware,
Spybot S&D,
Malwarebytes (3 times),
TDSS Killer (twice),
Combofix (twice),
Norton fixTDss,
Minitoolbox (I think that's the name),
and a few others..honestly, I've lost count at this point. None of them have fixed it.

I'm tempted to just dump my pictures and music on my networked external hard drive and go buy a new laptop tonight (I've been needing a new one anyways). Supposedly it doesn't affect pictures, documents, music, etc so I should be ok moving those. It only affects drivers and system files.

It's probably time to ditch the desktop anyways...it's an old Dell with a Pentium 4 processor, 1G ram, and a 60G hard drive, running XP. But it works great for what I use it for up until I got the virus. I only use it for the internet, listening to music, and excel spreadsheets for my business.

Any ideas on how to get rid of this thing before I give up? I've been reading posts on bleepingcomputer.com and various tutorials I've googled and nothing has worked yet. It keeps coming back. GRRRRRR It's so frustrating.

 

SuperAntiSpyware, but if those you already listed didn't clean it, I dont have high hopes in general.

 

You need to boot into safe mode and run these or boot up in diagnostic mode.

start-run-msconfig
choose diagnostic mode.. this will only load Microsoft services. Then do your run with antvirus.

People just run these which is great and all, but if its a service, it won't try and stop it to remove it. So you need to have all non-essential services stopped.

 

I don't use the desktop for that...

Either my sister or my girlfriend are probably the culprits. I am very very cautious about what I download and the links I click on. The is the first virus I've had on this computer.

 

I've tried that already though... I've run a few of them in Safe Mode (No networking)

 

slave the drive if you can to another computer and do a full scan using Malwarebytes

 

Malwarebytes is good.

I've had this same virus, and the ONLY thing that removed it was ComboFix...

 

Have you tried Googling the answer?

 

I don't have another computer to try that with other than my old laptop. Good idea though. Maybe my next door neighbor has one I can try that with. He's a computer programmer by profession.

 

I've run combofix twice now... No luck. Is it possible to run combofix in safe mode? When I booted in safe mode, I didn't see it.

 

Crap. I'll look around, I swear that was the way I fixed it.

I *think* you can run it in safe mode... make sure you do safe mode w/networking.

Edit - I forgot, this is a rootkit. You need something like TDSSKiller. IIRC, TDSSKiller got it no problemo. Either way, you might want to consider a complete wipe of the OS & restore of your OS and all your applications. A pain, but as with any virus/malware, there's always the question of "did I really get it all...?" - and unfortunately there's no way to know for sure.

http://pctechnotes.com/how-to-easily-remove-google-redirect-virus/

 

Did you try diagnostic mode? A lot of AV won't run right in safe mode.

 

Copy data off and boot from the Install/restore disk and start fresh and clean. Gotta be easier than loading and running a bunch of stuff that doesn't clean it up. You benefit from that too performance-wise.

After that, create users on the PC - yourself and Others. Give the Others piddly rights so they can't install crap.

 

Never a bad idea.

Or Linux - have a dual-boot setup just for stupid people that use your computer. This way, no chance of viruses when others are using it .

Seriously tho, rootkits are bad news. TDSSKiller should get rid of the actual Google redirect issue... but like I and others have said... pillaging and starting over is sometimes easier & quicker.

 

I don't know where my windows disk is lol. I think it's buried in a cabinet somewhere. But that was going to be my last resort.

 

Take this as a sign that the computer gods are telling you to ditch the dell

 

TDSS Killer didn't work It did find a few things but when I re-booted it was back.

 

This is a good plan.
Move your files to the old laptop and just restore the PC if you have the disk(or if it has the recovery partition)
you'll be up and running in a few hours

 

Dig that thing out! You'll have a fresh defragged HDD in 1 hr! Reinstall a couple of apps and reload your data - done!

 

or borrow or d/l the version of Windoze you need
just use your cd-key usually on the sticker on your PC