Expert: Brian Benosky - 6/2/2008

Question
Hi Brian,

I am running WinXP with Nortons Antivirus software. A few days a go I've noticed that Norton's Live Update does not work.  The system would not allow Nortons to connect to the Internet.

When I go into explorer and type in www.symantec.com it says page cannot be found.  I've tried searching via Google to make sure the address was correct and still found no joy.

Whilst on google I've tried other antivirus websites and the same result appears. In fact I cannot access any sites from both Google and Yahoo.

I've used Altavista and can access normal websites as long as it's not an antivirus site.  

What do suggest this is?  I've tried to download registry cleaners and trojan removers but it blocks the download.

I've disconnected from my broadband connection and ran a Nortons system scan.  It said it detected and removed Trojan Peacomm.D
However when I run Nortons LiveUpdate or search Google and Yahoo, the problem still persists.
In some instances when I click on a search result in Google it redirects me to a domain name sort of site with all the similar names of my search criteria.

Any advice on how to resolve this would be appreciated.

Thanks
Jess

Answer
Hi Jess

First, let me see if there is any other malware present that may be causing this.  Please download TrendMicro HijackThis! from the following link:
http://www.trendsecure.com/portal/en-US/threat_analytics/HJTInstall.exe
* Save HJTInstall.exe to your desktop.
* Doubleclick on the HJTInstall.exe icon on your desktop.
* By default it will install to C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\HijackThis.
* Click on Install.
* It will create a HijackThis icon on the desktop.
* Once installed, it will launch Hijackthis.
* Click on the Do a system scan and save a logfile button. It will scan and the log should open in notepad.
* Click on "Edit > Select All" then click on "Edit > Copy" and Paste the entire contents of the log (no attachments) into a follow-up here.

Brian