I don't why but all the search engines (Google, Yahoo,MSN) on my computer are all gone. Instaed, I get redirected to some language website. I asked a friend of my dad's who works at computer services at the library I work at. He gave me a list anti-spyware websites which might solve the problem. However, the downloads disappeared. I really need those seach engines for college stuff , like research papers. Can someone please help me?
Sounds like Malware. If you know when it happened, you might want to try using system restore to roll back to a point before that, it should reverse changes to the registry. Otherwise, you are going to want some strong anti-malware tools. AVG is a good solid program: AVG Free | Antivirus Download | Free Virus Protection | UK If the downloaded EXEs are vanishing though what you need is to use an online scanner. Trend Micro runs one, I'm sure people can suggest others. HouseCall 7.1 - Free Online Virus and Spyware Scan
one thing on this, some malware will block running System Restore, so you'll have to load in Safe Mode (happened to me once a while back)
Sounds serious. Personally I would just nuke the machine and start over. Every year or so I redo my PC, I'm probably overdue right now. I actually have a CD wallet with all the 'relevant' software for me to reinstall my entire system. I can do it in a few hours now, whereas before it'd take a couple of days.
Other AP: This may not be so hard to fix, so don't get too worried yet. Download & run HijackThis. Click "Scan", observe results, but don't tell it to fix any problems yet(as the program will warn you, you can break things if you don't know what you're doing yet) Copy the log file and paste it here, and some of us might be able to tell you what looks ugly. This is a pretty useful tool for situations like this. You'll be looking for something like URLSearchHook in that list, IIRC. Trend Micro HijackThis - Free software downloads and software reviews - CNET Download.com
I agree - booting up in safe mode and doing a system restore should get your computer behaving itself until you can run some anti-malware software.
Had a similar issue on the wife's laptop. Eventually I started getting the pop ups that the pc was infected and linked to a piece of software to remove it (for $30), searching on a clean pc just brought back links to that piece of software. I downloaded McAfee through Comcast, I had to do it with USB drive on another comp though.
It's a DNS hijack. Look up how to delete your HOSTS file. )(edit, just use this: http://www.dslreports.com/faq/10131) After running an updated malware removal program first.
