What's Going On With Google?

[AetherFox]

As some of you may or may not have noticed, recently some links from a google search are being redirected. For instance, when I tried to go to Oots, after clicking on the first google result, I was instead redirected to "WorldFinance.com" Of course I know this is just an ad site, but I'm very frustrated. I'm wondering if this is going to be a reocurring thing with google. The only way I can actually get to Oots now is by copying the url into the address bar. The main reason I'm mad, though, is that "WorldFinance.com" could just has easily been a virus site, as far as I know.

Is anyone else having this problem? (It's not just with Oots, either.)

[warty goblin]

This is a very, very good sign you have some variety of virus or other. I googled Order of the Stick, and the link worked just fine.

[kpenguin]

I as well have googled OotS and come here just fine.

You, my friend, have been virus-ed

[Evil DM Mark3]

Either that or it was a miss-spelling taking advantage of the GiantITP or OotS name to get traffic.

[AetherFox]

Well... that is just great.... $%#&!

I don't know if any of you are virus experts, but how would you suggest going about removing it/ do you know if something like this has any worse side effects?

Sigh... how quickly this went from "Something's wrong with google" to "Help me with my virus"

[Zeta Kai]

I concur; thou art virused! Yeah, I had no problems either, so I think that it's your system. Go check it out ASAP, for your own sake.

[Surfing HalfOrc]

If possible, download avast! antivirus http://www.avast.com/ and then download Spybot Search and Destroy http://www.safer-networking.org/en/home/index.html and if you want, Ad Aware http://www.lavasoft.com/
I also HIGHLY recommend Malware Bytes anti-malware tool at http://www.malwarebytes.org/

If you can't download these programs, you definitely have a virus. But don't panic. You can download avast on a different computer and load it onto a thumb drive. Then run them one at a time, starting with the Malware Bytes.

If that doesn't help, check back here and someone far smarter than me will be along shortly.

[leafman]

Get some antivirus software and clean it up.

I recommend Norton. I've had it on my computers for several years and never had a problem.

You can try it for free and get rid of that virus (http://shop.symantecstore.com/store/symnahho/en_US/ContentTheme/ThemeID.106300/pbPage.Trialware_en_US)

[AetherFox]

Get some antivirus software and clean it up.

I recommend Norton. I've had it on my computers for several years and never had a problem.

You can try it for free and get rid of that virus (http://shop.symantecstore.com/store/symnahho/en_US/ContentTheme/ThemeID.106300/pbPage.Trialware_en_US)

Unfortunately, I have Norton 360, and it never said there was a problem. I blame this on my mom giving her email out to every "online shopping" site under the sun, and opening/click on the links in all the emails they sent her. I'm running a scan now, and praying it does something.

[afroakuma]

Go for a combination of Avira Antivir and Malwarebytes.

[AetherFox]

Good News! I restarted my computer, and googel works just fine now, so that either means a) I'm good to go, or more likely, b) the virus is somewhere deep in my hard drive, waiting to strike in a horrible, fiery vengence. :smallsmile:

Needless to say, I'm gonna keep an eye out and scan a little more often. Thanks to everyone who helped!

[Jack Squat]

If that doesn't help, check back here and someone far smarter than me will be along shortly.

Well, I recently got rid of a virus that couldn't be removed via Avast or Malwarebytes. (don't remember what it was called)

I was able to delete the temporary files associated with it that were stuffed in the system 32 folder, then had to reboot in safe mode to remove the program itself, as it wouldn't allow itself to be deleted (in use), and couldn't be shut down once started.

This only works if you know the files on your computer. It's easier to scan the files first, but I suppose you could compare what's in safe mode vs. any unknown things running in the task manager. I don't recommend that unless you're one step away from nuking your computer.

Worst case should be that you borrow a friend's computer to download Avast to a flash drive and go from there.

[ColonelFuster]

Just so you know... messing around in your system32 folder can do irreversable damage to your OS. Don't do it unless, as previously stated, you are one step away from nuking your computer.

[Jack Squat]

Just so you know... messing around in your system32 folder can do irreversable damage to your OS. Don't do it unless, as previously stated, you are one step away from nuking your computer.

Yeah, that's why I mentioned knowing which files to take care of to start with. Thanks for adding that warning though, I guess that is an important point to make clear.

[GolemsVoice]

Talking about google and things that are wrong with it, is anybody else annoyed about how they now display popular entries beginning with your letters, instead of those you searched last? Sometimes, I'm to lazy to memorize a certain address, or I lose it. So there are terms I google quite regularly, and before they changed it, I only had to enter a few letters. Now, if the word I'm searching is a bit obscurer than the most popular sites, which they tend to be, otherwise I would hardly be searching them, Ialways have to enter more or less the whole word. I know it's pretty trivial, but it annoys me.
Though, if you are the kind to search for exotic pron sites, you won't have to fear that others discover your fascinating hobby. :smallwink:

[Zeta Kai]

Good News! I restarted my computer, and googel works just fine now, so that either means a) I'm good to go, or more likely, b) the virus is somewhere deep in my hard drive, waiting to strike in a horrible, fiery vengence. :smallsmile:

Needless to say, I'm gonna keep an eye out and scan a little more often. Thanks to everyone who helped!

In my experience, most computer viruses make your computer behave like it either has:

A) been poisoned (slow, twitchy, prone to collapse), or...

B) multiple sclerosis (random senseless loss of function).

Either way, if you suspect that your system is infected, then the best thing you can do is back up everything you care about, & then go crazy on your system with everything you got. No one antivirus program or service is gonna catch everything, so don't be hesitant to double up. Norton/McAfee are resource hogs, but they're good. ESET NOD32 is good too, & does chew up RAM to do its job. Also, if you can, there's nothing like formatting your hard drive to clear out the viral nasties. Various nuclear options can be explored once you back up your precious data. Good luck, & godspeed, soldier.