HELP! computer's been hijacked...?
397198
Do not reformatt!\n\n\nI would reccomend getting , AdawareSE \nhttp://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/Using_Ad_Aware_SE_to_remove_Spyware_&_Hijackers_from_Your_Computer-tut48.html\n\nSpybot (s&d)\nhttp://www.safer-networking.org/\n\nA good firewall is vital and this explains about them and offers a list\nhttp://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/Understanding_and_Using_Firewalls-tut60.html\n\nSpywareblaster will prevent many attacks.\nhttp://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html\nSpywareguard too.\nhttp://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareguard.html\n\n\nBe careful with the cleaners, if in doubt, don’t delete, check first!!\nCrapcleaner....\nhttp://www.ccleaner.com/\nEasyCleaner.....\nhttp://personal.inet.fi/business/toniarts/ecleane.htm\n\n\nThen you have to choose an Anti-virus\nAVG....\nhttp://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php\nOr AVAST....\nhttp://www.avast.com/eng/avast_4_home.html\nOr a-squared.....\nhttp://www.emsisoft.com/en/software/free/\nOr Computer Associates.....\nhttp://www.my-etrust.com/microsoft/\n\nFor Trojans try these ( free to try),\nhttp://www.ewido.net/en/\nOr\nhttp://www.misec.net/trojanhunter/\nOr\nhttp://www.agnitum.com/products/tauscan/index.php\n\n\nAnti-spy\nhttp://www.trendmicro.com/spyware-scan/\n\n\n\nAnd always scan once a week with these free and trusted scanners as well if you go to gaming sites and porn and etc.\nhttp://housecall.trendmicro.com/\nhttp://www.webroot.com/land/freescan.php\nhttp://www.kaspersky.com/virusscanner\nhttp://www.pandasoftware.com/products/activescan/com/activescan_principal.htm\nhttp://www3.ca.com/securityadvisor/virusinfo/scan.aspx\nhttp://www.bitdefender.com/
1025018
read the following. but you'll need someone there that can change your computer's registry. don't do it yourself unless you absolutely know what you are doing. you could stop windows from working.\n\nhttp://www.spywareinfo.com/articles/hijacked/
425101
I don't know for sure but one possibility would be that you might have been a victim of some sort of hacking!!\nGood Luck
941254
sounds like you have been violated by a hacker. a keyloger or trojen virus.
952976
I just spent the last 20 some hours (little sleep & lots of coffee) to remove this hijacker.\n\nAfter trying a half dozen programs, I finally found one that worked. It's free, has no spyware / garbage, and there are no hooks.\n\nhttp://www.internetinspiration.co.uk/roguefix.htm#uninstall\n\nIt's not too bad of a process, but it is a bit time consuming, It'll take about 2-3 hours of scanning, etc. to clear out the crap.\n\nFor a good read on safe surfing, try this site:\nhttp://surfthenetsafely.com/\n\nIt tells you what bogus Spyware / Adware removal programs are out there to avoid.\n\nHope this helps.
548817
download SPYBOT and also ADAWARE - run them, and they'll tell you what's on your system\n\nYou also NEED a firewall and an ANTI VIRUS !!!!\n\n\nGood luck          ;^)
17672
You "dought" incorrectly.\n\nYou got hijacked.\n\nRun Norton Antiviurs, Hijack This, Lavasoft Adaware, and Spyware Blaster.\n\nhttp://www.symantec.com\nhttp://www.shareware.com   (for the others)\n\nGood luck.
522006
Sounds like you have already been compromised. Try running scanner specifically targeting spyware while in safe mode.
928227
Ouch, I have had this same exact thing happen to me...a few years ago.  That is definitely a virus.  My guess is that your machine was already infected, and when you restored your computer, you either brought the virus bought or you never got rid of it in the first place.  The only thing I can recommend is to find a geek friend of yours (someone who can do it for free otherwise go to circuit city or best buy and pay them like $60) to actually hook your hard drive to another computer and salvage the data...assuming that it is that important to you.  If you can get the virus cleaned out, that is the best option.  Otherwise, salvage the data.  Start from scratch and before you do anything else, get this antivirus, AVG\n\nhttp://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/2/\n\nand then get this firewall\n\nhttp://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/products/znalm/freeDownload.jsp\n\nboth of which are completely free and much better than anything McAfee or Norton have to offer.  Update and use them regularly to scan for viruses.  Also keep backups and update them regularly.  Obviously, don't forget to scan your backups for viruses also because you don't want the virus back.
428689
A tricky problem, to be sure. Someone breaks in, you know they're smart, but you don't what they did. Can you clean up, and how do you keep it from happening again?\n\nThere's a school of thought that says if your computer has been compromised, you have really only one option: reformat. That's a drastic step, but if your intruder is as adept as you indicate, it may be the best approach. If they're really good, they could leave hooks that you could never find.\n\nIn your shoes, I'd do the following:\n\ndisconnect from the net \nreformat/rebuild the machine \nrename the administrator account and give it a strong password \nget thee behind a firewall, and avoid opening any incoming ports you don't absolutely have to. \nmake sure to get ALL the latest security patches. \nUSE the administrator account as little as possible. Create user level accounts for actual day-to-day usage. Again, strong passwords all around. \nTurn off all unnecessary services ... remote desktop being the most obvious. \nConsider an outgoing firewall (something like Zone Alarm) to trap and/or monitor outgoing traffic. \nLastly: remember physical security. Another old adage is that if it's not physically secure, it's not secure. If someone can walk up to it, insert a floppy and reboot ... all the other security is for naught.
159957
Start Menu/Control Panel/Add and Remove Programs would be where I would start.  Maybe get a virus scanner McAfee works quite well.  and get the updates.
291410
Best i can do.\n\nhttp://www.hijackremote.com/RecentSpywareDetail47.aspx\n\nHope this helps good luck.
44157
Get your IP address of the computer you are on, and contact someone to find out where you are. Then you can be rescued.
743770
It was a piece of malware you had installed. Odds are something cleaned it up for you. Go to Tools, Manage Add-ons, and find any reference to it and set it to "disable". Also, Start - Run - msconfig - OK, go to Startup tab, look for anything else in there and uncheck it. When you reboot check the box that comes up and hit OK so you won't see it again.
574381
Use a different computer to get a boot disk to clean the virus. That way you don't have to lose anything.
949672
I try not to do things I would mind seeing played back to me.  But I would strongly urge you to inform the police, this is called extortion and is a federal offence.  They may be able to help you and perhaps save some other fool from this humiliating experience.  That is, if this is for real.  Usually hard for a stranger to install hardware on a home computor without someone letting them in isn't it?  Hmmmmmmmmmmm?
1101025
It sounds like his computer was infected with something and it only reacted when the password was changed.\n\nYou may try reaching Safe mode to remove the password and see if that helps. (tap/hold F8 at boot to reach safe mode)\n\nI would also recommend that the person attach their drive to another computer and remove any files they want to keep as he/she may need to reformat the drive (as a last resort).