Expert: Carolyn Meinel - 7/29/2011

Question
I have a virus that causes anything i search on google to direct me to a different website. Is there anything to repair or save my laptop? Antimalware program or anything?
Thank you for your time. :)

Answer
You could try running an antimalware program such as the free version of Malwarebytes at http://www.malwarebytes.org/ or Spybot S&D, free version from http://www.safer-networking.org/index2.html. I've used both of them and they work well.

If this doesn't work, then try this:

In My Computer, search for all files named "hosts." You will find more than one and where it is will depend upon your operating system. You can ignore any file named "hosts" if it is in a directory named "drivers."

Next, open each one in Notepad. It should look something like this:

# Copyright (c) 1993-1999 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
#      102.54.94.97     rhino.acme.com          # source server
#       38.25.63.10     x.acme.com              # x client host

127.0.0.1       localhost

The only things you need to examine are the line or lines that do NOT begin with "#"

It is OK to have a line reading "127.0.0.1       localhost"

It is NOT OK to have any other lines that do not begin with "#" because these could redirect your browser to the wrong website! The hosts file is a mostly obsolete holdover from the early days of the Internet. Only expert users in rare circumstances use this file, for example expert computer criminals!

If this is the problem, you can fix it by deleting the extra lines and clicking "save."

If this does not work, the next thing to try is to install a better web browser and see if it can reach Google OK. The Chrome browser is free from Google, http://www.google.com/chrome

If you can reach Google OK from Chrome, then the infection is in your old browser. If you are using Internet Explorer, go to http://update.microsoft.com, and check for updates. Installing updates might solve the problem.

Please let me know if none of this works and we can try some other solutions.