Hijack, Redirect, What do I call this?

[BlueCat57]

What is it called when you visit a web site and are then redirected to another site and a dialog box pops up and says something like "Your computer may be infected, click here for a free scan."? This only occurs on one specific web site. As far as I can tell my system is not infected.

I simply go to task manager and kill all the IE8 applications running. It has also be suggested to kill the processes.

I have been calling this a browser hijack, but when I search on that topic the solutions suggest that a browser hijack is something different. This only occurs on one web site, which is why I don't think browser hijack is the right word.

Is is a redirect?

I'm looking for the proper term to use so that I can tell the web master of the site what is happening. (Yes, they should know what it is from my description, but I would like to know the term for my own edification.)

Since the problem is coming from their web site, is there anything I can do to prevent this on my system? I have a variety of security software installed (OpenDNS, McAfee, SpyBot, MS Defender, pop ups blocked, etc.) but this still occurs. It occurs in both IE8 and Firefox 3.6.

I recently came across a BitDefender application for facebook called SafeGo which seems to be what I am looking for but I want it to run outside of facebook to protect me in my general browsing. Is there an IE8 or a FireFox add-on

 

[buwish]

It's called a hijacker. Try running "Hijackthis" to see if it gets rid of it:

http://free.antivirus.com/hijackthis/

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

Hijackthis is a pretty advanced program. If you do not know what you are doing, you could really hurt your pc. Download malware bytes and spybot search and destroy from a non infected pc, boot into safe mode with networking on your infected box, install, update and run both of those, remove all that they find. After that, I would probably see if you can install avast antivirus free. Boot to standard windows, and download and run superantispyware with the av running. Remove everything that finds. Then I would update avast, and it's got an option to do a boot time scan, run that, remove all it finds.

If the computer acts well, and still runs, go into control panel, system, advanced, turn off system restore to delete all old restore points. Then turn system restore back on. Deleting the old restore points AFTER you remove the infection is relevant because sometimes viruses hide in the restore points, so you do all the work to get the pc clean, and then viruses can come back.

After that, I'd run all the updates and defrag. Be sure to use an antivirus and hopefully none of the infections come back. I would say though, for what I've messed with, most of the time viruses I can remove about 95% of what I've seen using these methods, but not saying 100% this method will remove all viruses. but most of them, I can remove doing this. Also, if after this you still get redirects, the hosts file may be infected, let us know though. If so, someone on here might be kind enough to send you a clean hosts file depending on your OS.

 

[BlueCat57]

While I appreciate these replies, the problem is not that MY COMPUTER is hijacked, it is that the WEB SITE is hijacked. (I'm using caps for emphasis, I should probably learn how to use the highlight function.)

The issue is that one web site I visit redirects me shortly after arrival. This is the only site that behaves this way. I have no other problems on the system and anti-virus and two spyware programs find no infection.

I have run across this sort of thing before, but don't know what to call it since it applies to just one web site at a time, not my whole system.

Unless of course the hijacks you are describing act in this way. That they are only activated by specific web sites.

Again, thank you for your time. I really apprciate the help that I find at Tom's and try to do my part by answering when I have an answer.

 

[buwish]

It won't hurt to run hi-jack this to see if it can find anything. Just run a standard scan and see if it comes up with anything to make sure that it isn't the site.

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

It could be the hijack is on the website itself, in which case I don't believe you can control that. However, if you are getting these redirects on a regular basis, I would say it's definitely possible your computer is infected. Also, check your hosts file. Go to C:/Windows/system32/drivers/etc The hosts file should be in there, feel free to copy it's contents here so we can see if it looks clean or not.

 

[dEAne]

You said "I have a variety of security software installed (OpenDNS, McAfee, SpyBot, MS Defender, pop ups blocked, etc.) but this still occurs" It is not really a good idea to run several antivirus in one computer coz it will defeat its purpose. There are trojans in the wild with lots of variants with a purpose to open a hole into your system (computer) and once inside it can do lots of harm to your system.

 

[BlueCat57]

You said "I have a variety of security software installed (OpenDNS, McAfee, SpyBot, MS Defender, pop ups blocked, etc.) but this still occurs" It is not really a good idea to run several antivirus in one computer coz it will defeat its purpose. There are trojans in the wild with lots of variants with a purpose to open a hole into your system (computer) and once inside it can do lots of harm to your system.

You are correct about running more than one anti-virus program, but only McAfee is anti-virus. The others are anti-spy, pop-up blockers, etc.

OpenDNS runs on the router. I'm surprised that it didn't offer some protection from what is happening. I'll have to look into that. I have to learn about DNS servers and Host files. I know the words, but am not fully aware of what they do.

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

I would also add, mcafee is not that great. Honestly dude, you'd really be better running Avast or even AVG. But Mcafee, myself and most other techs I've talked to say essentially never to torture your pc by installing mcafee.

 

[aford10]

A browser can be hijacked, and redirect certain sites, but not others. Try running through the malware guide in my signature. If your system turns up clean, then there's not much you can do.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

http://www.malwarebytes.org/

install and run after updating!