Can't search Google

[IKnowNothing]

Bit of history
I ran SuperAntiSpyware yesterday and it found I had adware.Vundo-Variant infecting my system which SAS duly removed and rebooted my system.
After a myriad of reboots I finally got the machine running by starting it in safe mode and then rebooting (again)

What I then found was that Firefox woud start but would crash at the end of loading the homepage
I uninstalled/reinstalled the latest Firefox (twice) and finally got Firefox stable(ish).

The only problem I have left is that I cannot search on google.
I get google up and enter my search, press return and the page just sits there waiting for a response from google.
It's the same with IE

I've tried stopping my firewall, no change - Antivirus ditto - even java
and I'm completely stumped

Anyone have any ideas/suggestion - before I drop the drive and start again from scratch and lose months worth of work :-<

[lordsmurf]

SuperAntiSpyware isn't a popular product that I've heard of before. It may have been the one to do the damage, not a virus.

[IKnowNothing]

That had occurred to me - but I thought the removal had screwed things up.

I've used SUPERAntiSpyware for a few years with no problems - but equally I've only had 2 or 3 malware attacks so my experience is not extensive.

I'm assuming the problem is at O/S level 'cos it's BOTH IE and Firefox but I could well be looking in the wrong place

[Poppa_Meth]

SAS is one of the best free anti-spyware programs on the market today. I wouldn't worry about it having caused any damage. More likely the infections had done some modifications to your system and removing the infections caused some of the stuff they had modified to break.

[AlanHK]

Look for a file called "hosts" in the Windows folder, or a subfolder of that.

You can open it with a text editor.

Delete everything in it and put in the single line:

127.0.0.1       localhost

Some spyware may have altered it to make calls to google.com go to another server.

Otherwise your DNS servers may have been changed.
Control Panel:Internet Options
Connections -- select your usual connection
Settings
Properties
Networking: select TCP/IP
Properties
General
Now (finally) you should see a radio button.
One setting is "Obtain DNS server address automatically". That is the normal setting. Otherwise it may use another server -- this could be a Trojan directing you to the wrong site. If so, change this to "automatically".

[thecoalman]

Bit of history
After a myriad of reboots I finally got the machine running by starting it in safe mode and then rebooting (again)<

Assuming your machine wasn't having that problem before as LS suggested it may have been the program to cause the problem. A search says its a legitimate product, they have a forum. You should post your question there.

[Poppa_Meth]

I'd also ask at www.wilderssecurity.com since SAS is widely used there and they have a lot of knowledgeable people there on these issues.

[IKnowNothing]

After a lot of head scratching and the computer stuffed for most of today I have finally fixed the problem

Turns out that SAS hadn't found everything and needed to be run again (twice) both complete scans before the last instances were removed. I've then needed to clean the registry of a couple of rundll entries (pointing to nonexistant files) and (so far) everything is back to normal and running fine.

Thanks for the links - interesting reading and some stuff to try

Now all I need to do is find some way of trapping spyware earlier - or in a utopian world - irradiating it altogether!

Thanks guys!

[thecoalman]

Now all I need to do is find some way of trapping spyware earlier -

To the best of my knowledge I haven't had anything on my computer in 5 years and that was installed by a teenager i let use my computer, that's not to say I'm immune because that's not the case. However the best defense against any malware lies between the chair and the keyboard. Stay out of the bad neighborhoods, don't click on suspicious links, don't install anything you haven't researched and keep an updated active firewall and updated anti-virus program running.

[Poppa_Meth]

Use Firefox as your browser. Install the AdBlock Plus and NoScript extensions for Firefox. NoScript will take some getting use to when you use it but it'll severely restrict the main avenues of spyware invasion.