Internet Wizards: Search Engines have Stopped Working for Me

[Kamunt]

I'm not even joking. Google, AOL, Yahoo!, MSN, Ask.com, even Dogpile, none of them will ever load a thing anymore when I try to search. Metacrawler works, apparently, but it doesn't come up with any results ever... When I say that they "don't work," I mean this quite literally. They'll start to load, but they'll stay forever stuck on the page I was just on. I'm at a loss. I did manage to download a horrid virus AND give it permission to go through my firewall about a month ago, but this is a new development.

[sumzup]

Does the rest of the internet work? Also, is this specific to one browser?

[MixMasterLar]

Also what comp/Windows version/ etc. The more you tell us the better

[rzr]

Try the usual stuff, clear the cache/cookies etc. If you don't have any spyware get some and see if the virus is still screwing with your computer. The only thing I can recommend would be to go to another computer and do a search for search engines, print them out, and try ALL of them until you have one that works fine.

[Zageron]

I'm having this issue. But with more than the search engines.

Go into Task Manager / process list /
right click explorer and end process tree

find alg process and kill that one as well. They should work now.

Edit: When you've done this. Go back to Tasks tab and click new tab, then type explorer

[Kamunt]

...Holy crap, Zageron, that scared the CRAP out of me! x.x; Also, it didn't work.

I'm running Windows XP, with Windows Defender and general McAfee VirusScan and Firewall installed. However, our subscription expired and my dad's a lazy-arse, so it hasn't been renewed yet. Most the rest of the internet works, yes....except for just my e-mail on AOL, and FurAffinity, for some reason. Oh...and Gmail, I just found out. Grrrr. This is really frustrating. Also, some .DLL file or another will randomly try to download to my HDD through Download Accelerator Plus (DAP), and also, every time I start up Windows, Defender tells me that some stupid .DLLs are trying to modify my "Run Keys" or something like that. No matter how many times I block/deny them, delete them, they keep coming back... Should I provide the names of the files or something? I remember very clearly that the first .DLL that it ever tried to download was "drugs.dll"...

EDIT: Oh yeah, Profile Chat never loads for me, either.

[Izzy]

I remember along time my computer did this. I had this program called hijackthis.exe and it searches your computer for strange programs or obvious spy ware and unwanted registry entry's. Long story short i found something that was blocking google and i got rid of it.

[ddr_f4n]

Sounds like a virus. Try to delete with some kind of anti-virus or such. If anything is downloading without you're confirmation, then it's 90% a virus.

[Kamunt]

Well, see because I actually was stupid enough to allow it through my firewall, my anti-virus/firewall thinks that I want it to do what it does. Therein lies my predicament. Should I try downloading AVG Free or something?.

[Relambrien]

Your firewall should have an "allowed/blocked programs" list somewhere where you can see all the files or programs you've allowed or blocked. If you can find that and identify the virus file, then you can block it.

Otherwise, just download another free antivirus program and use it to scan. It should catch whatever's causing your problem.

[infinity.]

Originally Posted by Kamunt

Well, see because I actually was stupid enough to allow it through my firewall, my anti-virus/firewall thinks that I want it to do what it does. Therein lies my predicament. Should I try downloading AVG Free or something?.

Get iolo antivirus. (free.)

It worked for me, and I had this problem as well.

[Zageron]

There IS actually a virus going around causing this problem. No one has found a cure as of yet, kinda weird, but hey.

The Ending the process tree works well for me. It's just irritating, but yeah you COULD try SMITFRAUDFIX. Excellent program.
You run it in safe mode, and all viruses are erased.

Edit: lol Smitfraud is a virus, your looking for sff

[Kamunt]

Originally Posted by Zageron

The Ending the process tree works well for me. It's just irritating, but yeah you COULD try SMITFRAUDFIX. Excellent program.
You run it in safe mode, and all viruses are erased.

Edit: lol Smitfraud is a virus, your looking for sff

*blinks* ...Huh?

[Kamunt]

...Okay...I'm really freaked out now. This was the first chance I've had to get onto FFR since the last time I posted, but....wooww. I swear to God, just three days ago, search engines and FA decided to all simultaneously fix themselves. I have no idea what's going on, but whatever is making this happen sure enjoys seeing my head spin. x.x The annoying ad still inserts itself into Firefox every time I open it up, but the good news (LOL) is that it's still just that once. The .DLL download pop-ups keep happening, but fortunately they're never automatic, due to DAP. If anyone has any updates on this virus, or if anyone wants more information from me about the virus, feel free to reply here with whatever. Thanks to everyone for their help so far...

[Zageron]

All my search engines fixed themselves :3
I wiped my computer.

[Kamunt]

...And now search engines aren't working again. Fantastic. *sighs* I really don't know what to do now. This virus will be the death of what little remains of my sanity.