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[Vibhor]

Exactly what it says on the title(it does not open tv tropes too)
Whenever I try opening these sites it in chrome it reads

Oops! Google Chrome could not find [sitenamehere]
Try reloading: [sitenamehere]

The same happens with internet explorer.
Anyone know how to fix this?

[Strife26]

Sounds hostile to me. Run a virus scan, delete history and cookies, ect.

Other than that, it might be some kind of firewall (I've heard about ways to prank someone by setting up a redirect like that, but I can't remember how), but I doubt it.

Try going to a scrubware site, like somewhere where you can download malwarebytes. If it doesn't go through, you've probably got problems.


Best of luck!

[G-Flex]

And other sites work fine?

Since you seem to be on Windows, try opening a command prompt and running "ipconfig /flushdns".

[Vibhor]

Sounds hostile to me. Run a virus scan, delete history and cookies, ect.

Other than that, it might be some kind of firewall (I've heard about ways to prank someone by setting up a redirect like that, but I can't remember how), but I doubt it.

Try going to a scrubware site, like somewhere where you can download malwarebytes. If it doesn't go through, you've probably got problems.


Best of luck!

Cannot load malwarebytes(the site). Does that means I am fucked?

[Starver]

Cannot load malwarebytes(the site). Does that means I am fucked?

Maybe, depends on whether the problem is maliciously caused, or even just accidental.  Go to Control Panel and Internet Options (under Classic View, on XP, right now I can't recall where that is under Category View or if it's different under Vista/7).  Among other things to check, there's the "Connection" tab and "Lan Settings".  Normally you shouldn't have any Proxy Settings set, although your ISP may disagree and have set up some proxies, so you can probably accept any that are "web.yourisp.com:8080" or along those lines.

You might also want to check your "C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts" file (note: no .txt or other extension; also, non-XP might have other locations, but it's been more or less the same since Win9x days, so I think it should still be there, or at least in equivalent %WINDIR% folder).  That's another place some 'tricks' can be played on your system.  By default there'll be a number of lines starting with "#" and a line for "127.0.0.1 localhost".  Anti-spyware/adware software will add their own things in, but if you find anything in referencing wikipedia it's probably an anomalous line inserted deliberately wrong and may be your problem.  A lot of lines like "127.0.0.1  www.obviousnastydomain.name" (perhaps 127.0.0.<something else>) are what the likes of Spybot S&D add (or did, been a while since I used it) and can be accepted as relevant.

Also try rebooting, hogging the F8 button and choosing the Safe Mode With Networking menu item.  It's possible that this might give you a valid connection, such that you can get mbam.exe, open it, update it then run a scan.

If it doesn't, there are a number of other things to check, but the next most obvious thing to rule out, to my mind, is that that your router or even ISP are doing strange things.  To check that, you could get a LiveCD version of a Linux distro, go through the minimal amount of configuration occasionally required to use your ethernet connection (wired or wireless) and see if you can browse from that.  This would bypassing any possible rootkitting that might be sat in the midst of your windows install.  If you still can't get there (but still access the sites that you know aren't beingblocked), your computer isn't the problem (or at least hasn't got the only one), but if you can you can connect, try connecting downloading the malwarebytes install program at this stage (or any one of a number of other solutions, to be honest, but I happen to like mbam) and saving it to your hard disk, then next time you start up you can F8 it, again, "...With Networking".  Even if you still don't have a connection through that, you can at least install the mbam executable that you downloaded there (assuming that doesn't fail, in which case you need to take more extreme measures) and run an unupdated scan which might identify and clean up whatever's even blocking in safe-mode.  If you end up with a connection, then you can update and re-do.

But I'm still betting there's a relatively minor configuration setting (maybe on your machine, but could be ISP-wards from it) which can be undone/circumvented.  Whether that's because of malware, someone else's joke, your accidental reconfiguration or "just one of those things" can be argued about, but sorting it out enough to run some form of decent AV to rule out (or remove from play) the malware angle might be considered your first priority.


Repairing Windows, using the install disc, might also work.  But you need to be happy with that.  As you most definitely would with completely reinstalling Windows (ideally removing the original partition before letting Windows recreate it), but if you have been actually rootkitted (still not a certainty) it has the best chance (as close to 100% as I care to enumerate it) of making sure your machine is completely safe, at the expense of totally destroying any data that you haven't backed up and needing you to reinstall all your favourite programmes.  Still, it'd be a spring clean that this machine in front of me is long overdue having.

[Krath]

Here's the Malwarebytes download link, directly.

It SHOULD work. I hope.

[Virex]

Have you tried another browser yet? At least, if that'd work you could get some malware killer...

[Vibhor]

Have you tried another browser yet? At least, if that'd work you could get some malware killer...

I've tried explorer and chrome, both give the same problem.
Also, it seems that there are heckloads of viruses in my computer.
Some win32/sality, win32/huer and win32/virut
Most of them reside on the corrupted restore checkpoint. I found them when I begun a scan on AVG.
Gonna see what malwarebytes is.

[ChairmanPoo]

win32/virut

I had that. It infects pretty much any file it comes into contact with. There are cleanup programs but are far from being 100% efficient, and lots of files remain infected. You might well have to delete a lot of stuff.

[Stargrasper]

Have you considered backing up everything important and just reinstalling the OS?  Updates could take an eternity depending on your internet, but the actual installation should only take 20 minutes or so on most systems.

Sometimes the fastest solution is to start over clean.

[Starver]

Yep, I think you do need to go down the route of a complete re-install.  Don't know how comfortable you are with that, but with proven infections also in your restore area you've got a long-term and/or deep infection and starting fresh would be the best idea.

(BTW, Malwarebytes is, in its free version, a very good on-demand scanner for which you also need to make on-demand updates.  Thus it doesn't replace regular AV (e.g. AVG that you mentioned... did you always have that, or manage to install it only after you had problems?) but is a useful "use once a week" (or more frequently, or usually less if you're not so regimented) secondary check.)

So, back up your currently wanted data and wipe/reinstall might be best idea, if you can.  But here's an idea...  Is your current hard disc a little... small?  What about getting a new one, installing from scratch on that, getting AV/other protections set up on it, then reconnect the original (either as a secondary storage or you can get cheap HDD->USB dongle/cable things, while you're splashing out on the new drive), give it a full scan then you can drag the data (not programs) from it.  And if within a month or so you find that there's things you need to check (e.g. settings in your original browser), swap the original disk back temporarily (machine disconnected from network, other disk removed, making any 'notes' into a file on the old drive), then back to your new setup rescan the old drive as you load it back up as an external/secondary device (purely precautionary, but if you had cleaned it up and things come back, it proves that it wasn't completely clean, at least) and then onwards.

When you're comfortable that you've got everything off of it that you might ever want, you could even wipe it all and use it as a backup store in preparation for future occasions like this.  And, hey! Free[1] hard drive!


Or just backup what you can and wipe/reinstall it.  But best if you wipe it rather than 'merely' attempt a repair install of Windows, in that case.


[1] FCVO 'free'...  i.e. not.

[Vibhor]

Actually, I have already changed my OS. It is now Vista instead of XP.

[Angel Of Death]

Actually, I have already changed my OS. It is now Vista instead of XP.

That's probably your problem.

Vista was always messing up for me.

[ChairmanPoo]

Have you considered backing up everything important

The problem is that, as I said, Virut infects several kinds of files. If you don't make sure your backupped files are clean, you're back to the beggining.

[Stargrasper]

Actually, I have already changed my OS. It is now Vista instead of XP.

That's probably your problem.

Vista was always messing up for me.

Vista isn't THAT bad of a system.  These days it's certainly useable.  It just has a bad reputation.

Have you considered backing up everything important

The problem is that, as I said, Virut infects several kinds of files. If you don't make sure your backupped files are clean, you're back to the beggining.

Exactly the point.  It's easier to clean a few dozen backed up files than the entire system.  Just make sure you actually clean them.

What exactly do you use your computer for, anyway?  Depending on your answer to that, it might be worthwhile for you to consider installing Linux, either alone or beside Windows in a dual boot setup.  Linux isn't immune to malware, but it's a whole heck of a lot more resistant to it.  You usually don't need antivirus software on Linux because updates get rolled out quickly enough to cover you.