Closed Bug 362481 Opened 19 years ago Closed 19 years ago

Internet Browser hijacked

Categories

(Firefox :: Security, defect)

Product:
Firefox
Component:
Security
Platform:
x86
Windows XP
Type:
defect
Priority:
Not set
Severity:
major

Tracking

()

Status:
RESOLVED INVALID

People

(Reporter: johnandca, Unassigned)

Details

User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-GB; rv:1.8.0.8) Gecko/20061025 Firefox/1.5.0.8 Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-GB; rv:1.8.0.8) Gecko/20061025 Firefox/1.5.0.8 Sorry if this has already been reported but I couldn't find it doing the search. Sorry also for not knowing all the "teccy" words for the problem that follows. I use Firefox as my internet browser which connects to google automatically. After I've clicked on the firefox icon on my desktop it goes straight to JUPK. COM or Skenzo.com (dubious adult/gambling type websites)even though it has Googles URL Address in the web search bar at the top. I've run my AVG virus checker, Skybot, Ad -aware etc. but they are not picking anything up i.e. no viruses etc. I've also been on the Microsoft website, tried system restore etc. Can you help? Regards, John Reproducible: Always
Does it work if you start Firefox in Safe Mode? (it temporarily disables plugins and extensions, this test will help narrow down the cause of the problem) http://kb.mozillazine.org/Safe_Mode
Sorry Mats this didn't work. I managed to get into safe mode (eventually) but it just redirects to the suspect websites - including 2 other websites now: BXNU.COM and Eurosamp.COM. I even tried to use yahoo instead of google as a search engine but the same thing happens. I'm also having trouble getting into EBAY now also even if I get into it from an e-mail link (MSN hotmail.) Regards, John
Does "Properties" on the desktop shortcut look ok? Did you try re-installing Firefox? http://releases.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/firefox/releases/1.5.0.8/win32/en-GB/ Other than that, I think you would be better helped in the MozillaZine forums: http://forums.mozillazine.org/
John, would you mind looking in the Tools->Add ons menu and tell us exactly what extensions you have installed? Thanks.
Hi. Is it Tools/Extensions? Can't find add ons - might be looking in the wrong place? If it is the former, the only extension is "Google toolbar for firefox" which I downloaded this afternoon thinking it might sort the problem. If I'm looking in the wrong place please can you tell me where to look. Everytime I try to access a website now it seems to get highjacked. Thinking back to yesterday when the problem first ocurred my wife said she was on a website and was asked if she would accept cookies and clicked yes but surely this wouldn't cause all this? By the way, really appreciate all your help, thanks for taking the time.
does she remember what web site this was?
discogs
This is a nightmare for a person like me with only a basic knowledge on computers.Since we've had the problem - a few days- AVG doesn't run for more than a few minutes and a supposedly "Deep scan" in A-squared lasts only a few minutes so is obviously blocked in some way. My son needs to be able to get on with his GCSE homework for an urgent project! Help . . . Tony Page
(In reply to comment #7) > discogs > John, I looked around the site (www.discogs.com) and it is a legitimate long term site. The only thing that jumps out to me is if they have a cross site vulnerability where malicious people could inject html into their forums which fooled your wife into downloading and executing a malicious program or took advantage of an exploitable flaw. The problem may not be related to that site at all however since there are many ways to get infected by viruses and spyware. I can't help you with cleaning up your system as its probably too involved to do remotely and this isn't the place for it although you might be able to get help in the support forums at <http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewforum.php?f=38&sid=d31dde386d01fe6c6e3fe896f3a0f49b>. If you haven't kept your Windows XP installation fully patched and up to date, do so now. You can find some helpful information that you can trust by searching for remove spyware site:microsoft.com in google which will only return results from microsoft.com. Don't trust third party sites you might find unless microsoft pointed to them, since the third party sites may be providing spyware bundled in with so call spyware removing tools. (In reply to comment #8) > Tony Page And what relation are you to John and this bug?
Hi. My problem has now been resolved! One of my friends who is much better on the I.T. side of things helped but your link to mozillazine forums was invaluable as this is where he found the solution. Basically my DNS had been changed to 85.255.113.203 or 201. I had to download Hijack This to delete these from the key registry as well. Hopefully the demon won't return. Some people need to get a life!
Sorry forgot to say: Many, many thanks for your help. I'd rather my telly blew up than not have my computer. Have a nice Christmas! John
Thanks John, you too. I'm resolving this as invalid to reflect that it wasn't an error in the Firefox code base.
Status: UNCONFIRMED → RESOLVED
Closed: 19 years ago
Resolution: --- → INVALID
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