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Post by Phantom Engineer on Mar 3, 2010 11:09:43 GMT -5
A strange thing happened to my computer last night. I was burning some back up files and the program was acting kind of odd, saying the drive wasn't ready when it had a blank disc, and suddenly every html file I have changed to a Firefox icon. When I try to open one I get a message that says "The file does not have a program associated with it for performing this function. Create an association in the Folder Options Control Panel." I've look at Folder Options under Tools but I don't know what to do.
Anyone have a clue what's up?
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Post by inlovewithcrow on Mar 3, 2010 14:14:30 GMT -5
so you go to folder options, select the File types tab, and scroll down to htm/html extensions. It says Firefox is the file type...and, you don't want it to be? Is that right?
You can change it to explorer or whatever else by hitting "change" then picking an alternative.
If it looks to be set up right and there's some silly glitch, I dunno. I'm not an expert to that extent. I guess I'd try deleting both htm and html and then re- adding them by clicking new and selecting firefox (or preferred browser). Or there could be something under "advanced" You can change the icon there, for instance.
Does that help not all all?
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Post by Phantom Engineer on Mar 3, 2010 19:29:08 GMT -5
Well, yes. In strange way. I changed it to Explore and it wouldn't let me hit the "Apply" button and it didn't change the icon but now I can open the files again. Computers is weird. Thanks inlovewithcrow.
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Post by Chuck on Mar 3, 2010 20:58:37 GMT -5
Phantom, just out of curiosity, what version of FireFox are you running?
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Post by Phantom Engineer on Mar 3, 2010 21:30:51 GMT -5
I'm not sure Chuck. Since I switched to Comcast internet it doesn't give me the Firefox start page that it used to. But it's probably the most recent.
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Post by Chuck on Mar 4, 2010 18:22:06 GMT -5
Go to the "Help" pull-down menu, highlight "About Mozilla Firefox" and click on it. That will give you the version.
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Post by Phantom Engineer on Mar 4, 2010 20:02:51 GMT -5
Version 3.58. And I still don't know why so may people think Firefox is so great.
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Post by Chuck on Mar 5, 2010 6:24:01 GMT -5
Phantom, there's another update you apparently didn't get. The latest version is 3.6. That might explain some things.
FireFox was the first browser to use tabbed browsing, something the people at Windows finally glommed onto and put into IE. FireFox was a memory hog. They've slimmed it down somewhat, but I don't feel it's better than IE8, which I find incredibly fast and much more secure.
It's probably a psychological thing: a lot of people have a deep distrust of Microsoft, for reasons that should be perfectly understandable by now.
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Post by Continuing Legend on Mar 5, 2010 14:28:41 GMT -5
Firefox crapped out on me a while back. I've been using Google Chrome and haven't had any problems.
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Post by Chuck on Mar 5, 2010 18:42:59 GMT -5
I neither like nor trust Google.
We had a trojan on a computer once, and the only way we could get rid of it, was to do it manually. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO, we downloaded the instructions from Norton, and went about it. Now, we found the bug right away and got rid of it. Then you had to go through the entire registry and check the values, and, if necessary, reset them. Towards the end of the list, it was nothing but Google registry values for the Google Tool Bar.
Which is one reason I will NEVER have a Google tool bar on any browser I use. They can be exploited easily. So, beware.
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Post by solgroupie on Apr 28, 2011 18:34:35 GMT -5
i bumped this thread to see if anyone can advise me of what to do about about my stupid computer. it's the one i use at work - in total, about four or maybe five people use it, but it's at my desk (lucky me). it's gotten one of those awful redirect viruses. commercial ads - some of them are more like infomercials by the way they go on and on - just start playing randomly - no video, just sound. sometimes two at once play at the same time. i keep getting script errors. the thing's a mess and i have spent the last two days trying to get rid of it, but nothing works.
we have spybot and avg on the computer - not much, but they aren't willing to pay for anything more. but i defrag it regularly and have always been careful about sites i visit, or avoiding opening files i don't know/trust. i downloaded malwarebytes and it cleaned out a dozen or so infected files yesterday, but did nothing for the redirect thing. when i run the scan now, it says there are no malicious files. but clearly, it's tanking.
i had the redirect on my home computer a year ago, and i found a download for a tdss removal thingy that actually fixed it, and i'm kicking myself now for not writing down what i used. i did a system restore too, but that didn't do anything to help.
before we give up and have a "professional" look at it, do any of you computer geniuses know what i should try?
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Post by BJ on Apr 28, 2011 20:45:04 GMT -5
I would try this first. It's a malware removal program that people seem to like when everything goes wrong. It's not necessary, but sometimes it's more effective to run a program like this in safe mode. download.cnet.com/Hitman-Pro-3-32-bit/3000-2239_4-10895604.htmlIf that doesn't work I found this how-to on something similar to your situation. This is one virus I've never had, so I'm not 100% sure what's going on. There are some comments suggesting this problem is happening at the router level, and simply restarting it and flushing the dns of your pc will solve the problem. www.ehow.com/how_5842581_remove-google-redirect-virus.htmlIf that doesn't work... When is this happening? If it's entirely random, it'll be harder to figure out. If it's happening only when you open a particular browser, you may want to uninstall it, run a registry cleaner, antivirus, etc. and then reinstall it. Some other stuff to think about: -Try a different browser and see if it still happens -see if it's happening only when java or flash are running -if it's a Microsoft computer, download Microsoft Security Essentials and run their scan. I hate Microsoft, but I've had better luck with that than any of the other free stuff -look at the task manager when you have the problem. check for any process running that looks sketchy. This can be time consuming, but google can give you quick answers to what each process is. |
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Post by solgroupie on Apr 28, 2011 21:02:13 GMT -5
thanks, plissken. i actually tried hitman pro today and it did not work, though i had read several good reviews of it. and that second link - i will definitely try that tomorrow, because i don't think i tried it yet.
redirect just takes you to an advertisement every time you try to search something. it's maddening. i always use google; i haven't tried searching through another browser. it started out as random, but now i can't search for anything.
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Post by BJ on Apr 28, 2011 23:28:55 GMT -5
That sounds maddening. From reading, it appears the virus digs deep into the registry in a number of places, which makes it difficult to remove. It also means most of my recommendations earlier are worthless. If that e-how article doesn't work, I would run all your anti-malware programs in safe mode one by one with no Internet access. Then reboot the computer and see how it's working. There's a program called TDSSKiller that might be what you need. It seems like there's a hundred solutions to this problem, but only one works for any specific computer. Anyway, report back when you've had a chance to try and fix it. Hopefully someone can point you in the right direction. |
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Post by solgroupie on Apr 29, 2011 10:57:09 GMT -5
i tried that one a couple of days ago, and though it seemed to download all right into my computer, it would not run. so i tried it again earlier - i downloaded it into a flash drive from an uninfected computer and then once i had it in my screwed up computer, i renamed the file - and for some reason that seemed to get it running. i tried googling something and it actually worked! i'm crossing my fingers it got it - i won't know for sure at first. i thought i had taken care of it the first day with the malwarebytes program, but it started back up to messing up in a few hours. but this is a good sign. thanks for your help, plissken. send the bill to captain hygiene.
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