firefox spyware, please help?

Question

One day i opened up firefox and my homepage was changed to MSN, and my searchbar to bing. Knowing what I do about computers I immediately thought spyware, and ran a full systems scan with Norton Security Suit. It reported that everything was fine and dandy. This concerned me even more so I contacted Norton, they sent me a link to their Norton Power Eraser tool. This yielded the same results as the system scan. Now on the verge of crisis I remember a program that my father used to use called Spybot Search and destroy, so I downloaded/installed that. I thought for sure I'd get it this time, but I was given the same "Good for you, absolutely nothing is wrong with your computer!" message that I got from the rest of the programs. So If anyone could help me it would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Browser hi-jack will cause this...but in this case...you made the change...unknowingly....MSN and searchbar bing are coupled in alot of the download software packages and if your not careful they will change it ....just use this freeware program...and change everything back to the way it was...homepage and everything...and get rid of bing toolbar also.........



http://download.cnet.com/SuperAntiSpyware-Free-Edition/3000-8022_4-10523889.html



Once you reset your Firefox to the home page you want...then add it to the anti-hijack settings in Super anti-spyware...it will protect it from changing in the future..............

Answer 2

2

Answer 3

If you had any spyware I think Norton or Spybot would have caught it. Some installations of programs have check boxes to change your search bar to bing or to change the homepage to msn. So if you are one of those people that click next through installations without reading the windows this could be the cause. If you are really worried you have spyware you could try another free scanner like malware bytes!

Answer 4

You've been hijacked, an upgrade of firefox should cure it, make sure you have ccleaner and use it everytime you come off the net. Its most likely a bho problem programs like hijack this, security task manager or bho scanner can help you track down the culprit as long as know what your doing. if you can do system restore to before it happened n reinstall latest firefox or comet bird. My advise is really to research browser hi-jacking plenty of excellent advice and info out there n figure it out yourself no better way of learning.

Answer 5

Try "MalwareBytes" to start cleaning up your system:

http://www.malwarebytes.org/

(free version has no "real-time" shield)

You may have to re-set your homepage, and remove the Bing engine (done from the drop menu in the "Search"slot> manage search engines> highlite Bing> Remove> OK.



The following tips help, but methods ("vectors") are dynamic.

FIREFOX: Tools> Options> Privacy> top drop menu set to "Firefox will use custom settings..."> Check 'Accept Cookies from sites'

►Un-Check 'Accept 3rd Party cookies'.



A good collection of effective add-on's (Official Mozilla) is here:

https://addons.mozilla.org/collections/dunbar-pappy/dunbarpappy/

AdBlock Plus (with 'subscription' added) & "Better Privacy" also help defray rubbish.

►► At minimum, get the #1 item for malware prevention: NoScript, which constrains automagically fetching & deployment of tainted assets.

[see this page for how it works, and how to use it...very simple; http://noscript.net/features#contentblocking