This week was a tough week thanks to the “go.google hooligans”. That virus, spyware, whatever…is a pickle. It’s definitely one of the tougher ones that I have had to deal with in a while. I’ve seen lots of different viruses, Trojans, worms, etc…but this one definitely gave me a run for my money. In the case of a recent family member, you might not even know that you have it...in that case, let me make you familiar.

What it is…

It’s called the go.google, go.msn, go.yahoo, etc. virus. When you first pull up your desired search engine everything looks normal. Your search will eventually land you to your list of possible links… However, you might notice some physical appearance differences. I did…while most people won’t. When you click on any given link, you will be immediately redirected to other sites. The virus also has done its homework on what it will allow you to reach direct…for example it will not allow you to visit antivirus and anti-spyware websites. Nor will you be allowed to download anything. It’s even smart enough to stop or slow down you from running any executables from your very own desktop as well.

What you will need…

What I had to do was visit another computer that wasn’t infected. From there I downloaded antivirus software, AVG 8.0 + definition updates, and a new software that I was only a little familiar with called Malwarebytes. Also here is one more tool I like to have around for just such occasions… “HiJackThis” – This software is invaluable. I can’t tell you how many times I have used this gem. It basically allows you to see what is running at startup. This should be in every “IT” persons arsenal.

How to fix it…

This part is tricky…here is what I suggest…First thing I would do is run HiJackThis. If you don’t know what you are looking at…then you have no business trying to fix your system. Sorry if that sounds rude, but it’s true. It took me a long time to learn what files were necessary for my system to run smooth. Once you have run the software…locate anything that seems out of the norm and remove it…then reboot.Immediately on rebooting, hit the “F8” key and boot up in the safe mode. In safe mode install AVG 8.0. Manually install the added update definitions that you grabbed earlier. You can do that by utilizing the menu at top left of the window. Look for “Tools”, then “manual update”. It will allow you to search for where you have the updates at. It will update itself from there. Allow AVG to run a complete full system scan. It takes about 30 minutes or so. After the scan is done, reboot the system.After system has rebooted, install Malwarebytes. Allow it to do a quick scan. It should find anything left over. After that, reboot your system is clean.

Other hacks… (Should things not go accordingly)

Sometimes the virus is smart and recognizes the executables that you are trying to run and won’t allow it. Should that be the case, try changing the names of the .exe files. I had to do this on the Malwarebytes program. You can name the mbam-setup.exe file to whatever.exe and it will work.

If you still can’t get it to work…consult someone.