Posted on 11/23/2011 10:58:54 PM PST by Lmo56
When I perform a search [Google, Bing, etc.], I get the search list.
BUT, when I click on an URL in the list - its NOT taking me to the desired page.
It takes me somewhere else [various other web pages, including ASK.com] - WHAT KIND OF HIJACK IS THIS?
That is strange.
Are you doing this on their homepage or on your browser?
From my IE browser - just started happening ...
Sounds like spyware. Happened to my wife. She had to copy/paste the link every time she wanted to do a search.
Run malware bytes or a good av
go to www.mybleepingcomputer.com the forums there will help you fix it.
If you are clicking on an advertisement in the list, you may be redirected to a different link than the one listed. Kind of a bait and switch by some companies.
Starting with something simple, did you or anyone else click something that said “Make Ask.com My Default Search Engine”?
Tha search bar on the browser, if there is one, would use that. If you are searching at google.com when this happens then you have definitely been hijacked.
that maybe used to be a help forum web site, but now it’s some isp’s reserved page
Ugh. I had a virus that did that among other things. It didn’t do it all the time, but sometimes it did it. It was taken into the computer shop where they repaired it.
Recent versions of ask.com are tricky! They come up with stuff formatted just like Google, except there will be an Ask.com logo at the top left. Does it actually say Google like a Google search? (The Thanksgiving logo is being used right now.)
I had this problem. At the top of your browser, go to ‘Tools’, go to Manage Add-ons, and disable anything you don’t need.
Sometimes I click on what looks like info I’m after only to find it’s a portal, a list of links related to the original search but sometimes straying off-topic as you go down the list.
I can’t believe this but I have a problem too. I can’t do searches on the browser or any search link on my desktop.
I assume one of the Windows updates messed it up. They always seem to mess up something. It somehow disappeared. Hopefully someone here can solve it.
Ask.com purchases ads tuned to appear for certain searches. If you click on one of their ads, you get hijacked to their search engine, where you will hopefully discover its greatness. Or not.
Of course, nothing wrong with contributing a little spare change to keep the server farm nourished ...
Sounds like that damn Google Redirect Virus. I had it on my laptop a few months ago and it is a pain in the a$$ to wipe off.
I used an updated version of Spybot Search & Destroy, which it was able to locate the Trojan, but I remember still having to change some setting in the IE Tools menu to get the redirects to stop. If you’re expereinced in running Hijack This (I’m not), that’s probably the best way to go.
Use Firefox and do a Google Search on Google Redirect Virus. There’s some step-by-steps in various forums on how to deal with it. I can’t remember exactly what I did, but all I know is that it was a major pain.
I still have never been able to figure out how this virus spreads. People just perform regular Google searches, then when they click on one of the search results, or even a news story or image, it takes them to a bogus search engine website set up by hackers looking to make money for every click on the page they get. It’s very annoying.
bump for later perusal
There are a lot of perfectly nice programs that you might install but that take a lot of clicking “next” to get to each page for the next step of the install. You have to be careful, because there is often a page slipped in there that asks, “Do you want to add the Ask (or whatever) toolbar and make Ask (or whatever) your default search engine?”. Stuff like that. If you don’t unclick some buttons on that page, you end up with extra toolbars and other crap you didn’t expect. So before clicking “next” on a program install, quickly peruse each page to make sure it’s a necessary part of the actual install.
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