# Virus that redirects when a link is used?



## Common Tator (Feb 19, 2008)

Hi, I think I have a virus. When I do a search (google yahoo, ask.com, etc).

It started yesterday. when I search, and try to click on a link, I am redirected to another page. One of the more common pages is Asktofriends.com. Sometimes it takes me to a completely unrelated advertisement page. If I want to look at a page from a search, I need to copy and paste the URL. Clicking the link doesn't work.

I tried resetting my computer to a previous good configuration, and that didn't work. I am really upset, and don't know what to do.

Does anyone have any suggestions?


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## WhyNot (Jun 21, 2011)

That is not good dude.

The manual fix for it is very involved. I realize you cannot search (duh) so here is a link to a place that talks about a removal tool. You'll have to run it in safe mode after you have downloaded in from a clean pc.

**Nixed Link**

From what I have experienced with this hijacker is that it is basically a browser hijacker/ rootkit. If you have never had the experience of dealing with these, be very careful. Plus...the longer you have it the more you will get infected. The more you restart it, the deeper it gets.

Your best bet is to research how to remove it and download whatever you may need from a clean computer. Bleeping Computer - Computer Help and Discussion is an excellent place to get one on one help regarding which tools to use.

I'm sorry...but I have dinner ready right now....and honestly, I'm not comfortable walking someone through a manual removal of this.


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## mekasmom (Jan 19, 2010)

When all else fails I just reload the thing. I do save my documents to a disk, but other than that I just reformat and reload.


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## WhyNot (Jun 21, 2011)

Depending on your experience and patience reinstalling might be your option.

The problem with these hijacker/trojan/rootkits is that most of the work should be done in safe mode, you need the microsoft recovery console and a pack of tools and the ability to interpret what those tools find ..which means reading the logs they generate. Because the tools to fix can break other things. It can be an extremely frustrating thing for a person with limited experience to tackle. Not impossible...but..very frustrating.

This is something that the people at bleepingcomputers .com do...but it will take time.

I've never walked someone through it on the phone or on the net and I'm not about to either.

The tools used to help get rid of it often get rid of it, but it's done its damage and then sometimes other things don't work. If you go to bleeping computer you can read some of the posts concerning this hijacker and see how involved it gets and what programs they use. However, I would recommend starting your own thread over there and let one of them walk you through it.


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## Common Tator (Feb 19, 2008)

I will reload. 

Thank you for your help!


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## Kung (Jan 19, 2004)

Agree with others. Basically, whenever I encounter something like this, I'll ask myself how long it takes to remove the virus, contrasted with how long it takes to reload the computer.

If they're anywhere even close to each other, I will ALWAYS opt to reload the computer, for one simple reason: Once the computer is reloaded, the virus WILL be gone. (Assuming you formatted the drive, and didn't just overwrite.) However, given the constantly changing state of viruses and the like, you can never be sure it's completely removed.

The only downside is yeah, you have to backup your data; but that's not terribly hard (assuming you have backup CDs and/or a backup hard drive), and it's a LOT easier to walk someone through that, than it is to walk them through some of these virus removals.


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

Common Tator said:


> I tried resetting my computer to a previous good configuration, and that didn't work. I am really upset, and don't know what to do.
> 
> Does anyone have any suggestions?


Reverting to a restore point seldom gets rid of a virus. That's not what it was intended to help.

There is a lot of help available for this particular virus. Unfortunately it imbeds itself into the registry, so removal is an advanced task. Editing the registry is not, in itself, a difficult thing to do, but it you foul-up the registry you have really screwed-up your Windows installation. Still, you might review the help files for the asktofriends virus.

Browser is Redirected to Asktofriends.com Randomly? Asktofriends.com Virus Removal - Security Encyclopedia

If you aren't up for that, I think the first thing I would do is download Spybot Search & Destroy and let it scan your computer. There's a chance that will get it. If that fails to get it I would setup a complete system scan with your antivirus software for overnight running (it usually takes that long these days). I suggest you do it in Safe Mode as administrator.

If none of that works, you might consider an operating system reload, but consider the inconvenience of losing all of your user files. It may be worth it to you to pay someone $50 or so to remove the virus for you.


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