Expert: Brian Benosky - 8/8/2008

Question
i wasnt sure who to ask so if you cannot help thank you anyways. when browsing the internet, (this website, myspace, etc.), a google web page pops up in the same window and will not let me use the internet. i have talked to my internet provider and they said there was nothing they can do. i talked to best buy and they said that we will need to bring the comp to them. they think its in the computer. i believe that their is some sort of 'tracking cookie' because everytime i do a scan with my norton internet security, it says there is a tracking cookie and i tell it to fix the problem and it comes back the next day. i do a regular scan once a day and a full system scan every week. i have windows vista from december last year. we (no knowingly) added avg a while back with norton and the problem was fixed and then we learned that it wasnt good for the computer so we deleted avg and we cannot get rid of norton because our internet provider wont let us. thank you.

Answer
Hi Myles

I have never heard of an ISP not allowing you to run the antivirus program of your choice.  They are correct in that you should not have more than one such program running on your machine.  I'd like to take a look at the processes you have running.  Please install HijackThis! by downloading Deckards System Scanner to your desktop from the following link:
http://www.techsupportforum.com/sectools/Deckard/dss.exe
Note: You must be logged onto a computer account with administrator privileges.
1. Close ALL applications and windows.
2. Double-click on dss.exe to run it, and follow the prompts.
3. When the scan is complete, two text files will open - main.txt and extra.txt (this one will be minimized)
4. Copy and paste the contents of main.txt into your question here.
5. Do not include the extra.txt to your post unless I ask for it.
What DSS will do:
* Create a new System Restore point in Windows XP and Vista.
* Clean your Temporary Files, Downloaded Program Files, and Internet Cache Files, and also empty the Recycle Bin on all drives.
* Check some important areas of your system and produce a report.  DSS automatically runs HijackThis for you, but it will also install and place a shortcut to HijackThis on your desktop if you do not already have HijackThis installed.

Post that HJT log here in a follow-up for me to analyze.  

Brian