How do I get this off my computer???

[SpazAttak]

I am so frustrated right now. The other morning I turn my computer on only to find that my homepage has been reset. It's been BBS for a couple years now and I didn't change anything on my computer. Instead it's set to hugesearch.net. I have no idea how this happened cuz I sure didn't do it and my son wouldn't have done it either. So I change it back to BBS and think that's the end of it. Nope. Everytime I try to access the internet either thru AOL or IE it takes me right back to hugesearch.net. No matter what I type in there it takes me back to the same damn webpage. And once I shut my computer down again my homepage gets switched back from BBS to hugesearch.net. So I call AOL tech support and they tell me to run my anti-virus software. I've had Adaware on here and thought that was doing a good enough job but they have me uninstall it, download McAfee and run it. It finds some viruses. I delete what I can and try to quarantine or clean the others. I'm unable to do that. So I download Stinger and run it. It doesn't find anything. So I run McAfee again and it says my computer is clean. But I still cant access the internet without going to hugesearch.net. 7 phone calls to AOL later things are still the same and they're not helping me at all. I called 7 different times and got 7 differents answers with 7 different people telling me that what they do will solve the problem. NOT! I'm at my wits end. I don't know how to get rid of this damn hugesearch.net. I was so pissed last night that I called to cancel my AOL and all they did was give me free service for the trouble I had to go thru. And still nothings fixed! I come home tonight and turn the computer on and yep there it is...hugesearch.net as my homepage. Anybody got any ideas...aside from taking a bat to my computer? :mad:

[Donnagg123]

someone else posted this and it has helped me before:
http://www.spywareguide.com/txt_onlinescan.html

hth & gl :):)

[iluvmybaby]

I use this

http://www.webattack.com/get/spybot.html




SpyBot-S&D is an adware and spyware detection and removal tool. This includes removal of certain advertising components, that may gather statistics as well as detection of various keylogging and other spy utilities. In addition, it also securely removes PC and Internet usage tracks, including browser history, temporary pages, cookies (with option to keep selected) and more. The program offers an attractive outlook-style interface that is easy to use and multi-lingual. SpyBot-S&D allows you to exclude selected cookies, programs or extensions from being reported, allowing you to prevent false positive messages for items that you dont want to be alerted of every time. It can even scan your download directory for files that have been downloaded, but not yet installed, allowing you to detect unwanted programs before you even install them. SpyBot produces a detailed and easy to understand report before it deletes any files and allows you to deselect any item that you do not want to be processed. In addition, a recovery feature allows you to restore your settings if needed. Very nice tool, that exceeds the capabilities of the popular Ad-Aware application.

http://images.webattack.com/screenfiles/thumbs/t_spybot.gif

[missymommy]

Originally posted by Donnagg123
someone else posted this and it has helped me before:
http://www.spywareguide.com/txt_onlinescan.html

hth & gl :):)


Thank you, i just used this and found a keylogger on my computer.

[SpazAttak]

I just ran both of these and it didn't help. I still can't access the internet thru AOL or IE without having it go to hugesearch.net. I don't know what else to do. I'm at my wits end. I guess I'll just have to take my computer in and have someone look at it.

[Donnagg123]

I found some things:
HugeSearch.net is spyware/scumware/adware that infects your computer when you click on a link that comes through email spam.

The usual anti-adware antivirus software doesn't seem to work.

The problem stems from an HTML application file that is installed in your Fonts folder. This file has a .hta file extension and is responsible for resetting all your registry settings after you've re-booted your computer. The file is written in VB-Script.

Steps to fix Hugesearch.net infestation:
1. Find "fonts.hta". Do a search on all files that have that have a ".hta" extension or look in your Fonts folder in your Windows folder or Control Panel for a font called "fonts.hta".
2) Delete "fonts.hta" file
3) Do an entire search of your registry by using this string:
"http://www.hugesearch.net/"
You can search your registry by downloading software from download.com
4) Delete every registry key value you find that contains this string. You can edit your registry by downloading demo software such Registry Replacer 1.23 or others at download.com
5) Reboot your computer.
6) In some cases you may have to repeat the process to remove other problematic url prefixes.

[silvermist]

ah it's not aol's fault so I wouldn't take it out on them... It has nothing to do with their isp service itself. More like some scummy people who make websites that infest your comp with problems.

It happens if you go to some website and well there ya go. I still don't really know what web page I went to when I had a problem like that (just different search site). I had a problem like this a couple days ago where it changed my webpage and kept popping junk out. Instead of ad aware I used Spybot Search and Destroy and that took it right out and I changed my homepage. I usually use botha s they both discover different spy and malware. I don't think it's worth the money to bring it in when you could probably just as easy fix it yourself.

[SpazAttak]

Donnagg123,

How do I search my registry for "http://www.hugesearch.net/" ? I was able to find and delete the font.hta file, so that's gone and now my McAfee is happy because it kept popping up telling me about that one. But I don't know how to search my registry.

[Quaker_Parrots]

http://doxdesk.com/parasite/

it will search for browser bugs, and once you so that, you can search on the site to see what you need to do to remove them

[mesue]

I had this problem too long ago, exact same thing, change it in under tools offline, then I went though find files and found the ones related to this or you could do add/remove program and remove it that way too. Also look in the drop down box for setting homepage and delete the address there as well if it is there. Also get rid of it from your trash bin in recycle bin as well, its very hard to get rid of. Good Luck! Also forgot to tell you to empty it out of cache and cookies too, I would do this one first otherwise its just going to keep reinstalling itself as you remove it.

[delSol]

nothing else could find the bugger


http://www.definitivesolutions.com/bhodemon.htm

[delSol]

nothing else could find the bugger


http://www.definitivesolutions.com/bhodemon.htm

[SpazAttak]

I did it! It's gone! :) Jeez I think I've downloaded no less than 4 spyware programs and just kept running them over and over til it came back clean. Deleted the font thingy and that helped, but still couldn't get my AOL to work properly so I just kept running my spyware programs and it's finally gone. Thank you everyone for all your help :)

[Donnagg123]

Sorry I did not get back to you quick enough, but I am glad that you got it off of your computer :)

To find a string, value, or key
Open Registry Editor.
To open Registry Editor, click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
You can speed up the search by looking through only one type of information; for example, if you know that you are looking for a entry, you can clear the Keys and Data check boxes, so that you will not search through those objects.
To repeat the search, press F3.
In Find what, type the string, value, or key you want to find.
Select the Keys, Values, Data, and Match whole string only check boxes to match the type of search you want, and then click Find Next.

Caution

Incorrectly editing the registry may severely damage your system. Before making changes to the registry, you should back up any valued data on your computer.
Notes

[MamaFairal]

All fixed and you got a couple months free AOL right :)
COOL!

[SpazAttak]

Originally posted by Donnagg123
Sorry I did not get back to you quick enough, but I am glad that you got it off of your computer :)

Oh gosh, you don't have to apologize. You were of tremendous help and I never would've figured out the font thingy if it hadn't been for you. I'm gonna sound really stupid for saying this but I'm going to in case there's someone else out there like me. I'm not computer savvy at all; I use it for shopping and that's about it. So when my McAfee kept popping up and warning me about the font thing I thought "Oh great, my virus program has gone wacky because what could possibly be wrong with a font?". Well, now I know. So I thank you for letting me know about that.

MamaFairal: I hadn't thought of that! You're right :)