My computer is behaving strangely tonight. Firefox is going to the wrong URLs and Internet Explorer will not open, or closes immediately.

The computer I use is wired to the router for our home network. It is an older Dell that runs Windows XP Professional. My McAfee antivirus subscription ran out 2 weeks ago, but I hadn't renewed it yet because I am trying not to spend money. Both my husband and I use this computer to access the Internet. My husband prefers Firefox, I prefer IE, except my LnC shortcut is saved in Firefox.

This afternoon I was in Firefox and I googled an item I needed to buy. The first link that came up on the screen was an Amazon URL, but when I clicked on it, a bunch of strange URLs started loading, and the browser went to a non-Amazon URL that had nothing to do with what I was searching for. I tried a second time and the computer loaded a bunch more strange URLs and the browser went to a second site that I did not want. I closed Firefox and tried to open IE. It opened but closed immediately the first time, then would not open the next 3 times I tried. When it finally did open, I got a message that Internet Explorer had encountered a problem and needed to close. I got that response the next 3 times I tried to open it.

Using a third browser (AOL), I went to the McAfee site and renewed and upgraded my antivirus subscription. It automatically turned on the McAfee firewall, but since I already had the Microsoft firewall turned on, that made it impossible to open anything. I turned off the McAfee firewall, but now the computer is still slow and I still can't open Internet Explorer without an immediate message that it needs to close.

Has anyone ever run into anything like this before? Could it be a virus? AOL did pop up and say it had found adware. However, when I told it to remove it, it did not show anything in the "removed" listing. I have not yet run a complete McAfee scan but I will be doing so later this evening. Is there anything else you would suggest? I don't have the free week I would need to remove and reinstall everything on this computer.

Thanks in advance for any answers.

While it could be DNS poisoning, the crashing of your browsers does make think of viruses or malware. You can also try running the scan at http://housecall.trendmicro.com/ and also check out Spybot S&D for spyware removal.

Thanks, I ran the scan and reinstalled IE8 but still can't access IE. Apparently the problem is google. In firefox links found in google take me to other sites and porn. In IE google is the home page so maybe that is why it crashes. What is DNS poisoning? Also Aol says it found kollah virus and is blocking it. McAfee found two viruses & quarantined them but did not say anything about kollah. I downloaded trend micro but it did not find anything for the short time I ran it. (McAfee scan took 10 hours so I am holding off on running another. ). Sorry my typing stinks, I am using an ipod instead of the computer.

Update: It is apparently dns poisoning, a site called triplexfeed.com has substituted its dns address for google. I have blocked it in firefox using the blocksite addon but I don't know what else to do. But your answer has helped me get this far. Thanks.

It seems it IS a sort of virus. See this page . It mentions, at the end, the use of some software Hitman Pro 3 (with 30-day free trial) that removes the problem.

Hope it helps.

malu

Thank you! Thank you ! Thank you!

I had checked the Microsoft support files and they gave me some info for other operating systems that involved editing the registry and MIGHT have worked, but there was nothing for this problem specifically or for XP. McAfee also had nothing about it on its support page.

I will try Hitman Pro.

I actually downloaded and ran it on my computer just a few minutes ago...

Here's the direct link to the 32-bit version and the direct link to the 64-bit version , if it helps. The main website is here .

A few things that I noticed: it detects some files that it says "might" be dangerous. It gives the option of deleting, not deleting, reporting as safe, or quarantine. If you encounter any such case, I would suggest that you "quarantine" the unknown files, in case they are needed by your programs. Also, after you install the program, restart your computer, and only then run the program. I think it helps in "cleaning" as much as possible the files open in the background.

According to what I understood, it searches your computer, and if it finds suspicious files, it uploads the files to a "Scan Cloud" where it uses several other softwares to scan the file(s). Don't know how safe that is, but I won't complain (for now) if it helps clean a system without causing any other trouble.

malu

Well, Hitman Pro got stuck and, like the author of the web page, I am now dealing with Windows crashing. I am going to try system restore. If that doesn't work, well, I needed to reformat my hard drive anyway.

It's not easy typing this on an iPod. So I won't be leaving much fdk for a while.

When you say "Hitman Pro got stuck", you mean while running (after installation), or during downloading?

I'm sorry you're having so much trouble with your computer...

malu

Hitman pro says it takes 5 min to check your computer. While running on mine it got to a particular dll and sat there for over an hour doing nothing. It looks like a good program, it just didn't work here.

I decided to reformat because Windows kept crashing and my FAT table was hopelessly corrupted. Each time I started Windows it would load then crash then restart and chkdsk would find more errors, mostly in my browser and antivirus programs.

Thanks very much for your help.

I hope your computer improves with the reformatting, then...

Make sure you have a good firewall installed on your computer. It helps in reducing the amount of malware that can infect your computer. I, personally, have free ZoneAlarm on mine, and haven't had many problems since I installed it.

malu

I strongly recommend using a hardware firewall as well as software - most routers have one built in, and it's a big improvement on security without impacting computer speed or memory at all.

Firewalls are meant to protect outsiders from attacking your computer directly, such as hacking attempts or network viruses like Nimba and Code Red a few years ago. They aren't meant for malware or viruses. I'd recommend a full security suite that has firewall, antivirus, and anti-malware protection. Norton makes a decent product, but I've had customers run into email issues with it. Trend Micro also makes a decent product, as does MacAfee.

I've had issues with Norton but I've always been happy with McAfee. An expired subscription should still be able to scan but just would not have the latest updates. However it did not catch this one. Anyway, my subscription is current now. It is about the only thing that is current because this computer has been upgraded so many times. I am still loading software updates, drivers, etc.

If you don't want to spend money on antivirus program, there are some good free programs you can use. I personally use AVG and know a number of techies who do likewise. (I realize that I may be answering this too late for you, but I just read the thread just now.)

cheers,
Lynn S. M.