I could reset it, but next time I booted my machine it was back again. And often when I tried to leave Google or Yahoo Mail it would close IE.
I did a search on the web and found info on the Symantec site about "spyware" that it called "adware.searchCounter". This thing alters your Hosts file, Win.ini and according to Symantec, at least 17 values in the Windows Registry (among other things). Symantec had a three page list of removal instructions. I did all that, but on the next boot, everything was back again!
Finally I went back to the Symantec site and ran an online virus check. Right away it found a trojan called "trojan.startpage" in a file called "soundmx.exe". After I deleted the infected file and again made all the changes my computer was back to normal.
Please that my up-to-date AVG did NOT find the trojan!! I recommend that you do a virus scan on the Symantec site.
Go to: http://securityresponse.symantec.com/, click on "Check for Security Risks", click "Go", then
click the "Start" button in the "Virus Detection" box. Symantec will download a small file to your PC and then run the (free) scan online.
I hope you do NOT have the problem I described, as it it is no fun to fix. You can find removal instructions by doing a search on the Symantec site for "Adware.SearchCounter". There also appear to be other variations of this same type of attack under the "Trojan.Bookmarker" description...... Hope this helps, John.
*****
From: "Debbie & Brian" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: PCWorks: Home Page
Hi to all,
Can someone tell me why everytime I log on to the net my homepage has been taken over by other pages. Everytime I change it back through the options tab the next time I log on I have a different site. This is annoying and frustrating as some of the sites are lets say not for the eyes of my children.
Deb
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