Anti Virus/Worm Crisis - Can someone help?

Been running AVG 7.5 then 8.0 for a long time. Never any issues. The other day I discovered that I had not received an update since April 1. Short story - I could not get it to update. Tried uninstalling then reinstalling (Had the exe saved in my downloads) but cannot get it to update. I believe that I have a worm but dont know how to find it. When all else failed I installed AVG 8.5 (free) but the same thing happended.
When ever I attempt to connect to a site that contains an update or antivirus file I get either a Google Broken link message or IE (7.0) page not found message. I ran vcleaner.exe which found nothing. (It took me a long time to fool my system into letting me save it as "nicecleaner.exe)

Tried McAfee figuring that I would get a 30 day trial but whenever I try to download I get an IE7.0 page not found message.

Other symptom. I can be in IE and click a normal link but IE sends me to a google search result giving me many pages/links to unrelated to the link that I clicked. The links I get are all over the map ranging from shemale anal sex to baby booties to golf balls for sale. (I am a normal person and do not surf for shemales or baby booties lol)

Any suggestions as to how I can remove this suppossed worm from my system.

Thanks Buck

Hey Buck,

I am actually quite familiar with worms and viruses. I've had to clean many infected client computers from viruses such as the Win32/FakeAlert trojan.

This is the best comprehensive guide I've found (and it works excellently). I typically only run Malwarebyte's AntiMalware and Combofix. But do it all if you aren't sure what to do - make sure you follow it correctly as well. Here's the link:

Vista Cleaning Procedure - MajorGeeks Support Forums


Regards,
Jonathan

bsalt said:

..I typically only run Malwarebyte's AntiMalware and Combofix.

Click to expand...

That may a bad Idea, Here is why...

malwarebytes is not a standalone all-inclusive Antimalware. it is a specialty scanner tageted specifically at polymorphic malware, and is not very effective against other threats
"Malwarebytes and antivirus are not the same thing-Our biggest priority is always to detect what common anti-virus software fails miserably to detect -- these are usually the polymorphic Trojans that are a pain to pick apart. We then focus on samples that are less of a priority because of their large detection rates ... "
Malwarebytes Antimalware (MBAM) is a specialised removal tool to deal with approximately 1600 of the latest...and toughest to remove threats:
http://www.malwarebytes.org/malwarenet.p...


Although ComboFix is very useful for the removal of spyware infections, it has limited functions. This is since it was only designed for specific infections, thus making it incapable of eradicating other computer viruses.
It was designed to specifically target SurfSideKick, QooLogic, and Look2Me as well as any other combination of the mentioned spyware applications. With its built-in engine that removes Vundo infections, it can also take charge of the latter but not all of them.
Aside from this, ComboFix has other built-in utilities that make it capable of unhooking any .dll file within the Windows System 32 folder. This enables the user to achieve personal access to the folder.
Source: http://www.tech-faq.com/combofix.shtml

It is suggested to run these with a Advanced+ Lab Certified Antivirus program for best results, and Windows Defender Antimalware on full scan.

The Best in 2008-2009 (3 star certification- Advanced+)
Eset NOD32
Symantec Norton
Kaspersky
Mcafee (with Artemis)

For free scanner/cleaners and futher certification info seee:
http://www.vistax64.com/system-security/162362-antivirus-scanners-internet-security-tools.html
http://www.vistax64.com/system-security/172321-vista-sp1-antivirus-performance.html
http://www.vistax64.com/system-secu...-antimalware-program-currently-available.html

Thanks very much Jonathan. I followed the procedure that you referred me to and it appears that it resolved my issues. I am now running an AVG scan on my system. (I couldn't before.) Each of the programs within the procedures found issues and resolved them.

Thanks to you also for your feedback rive0108. I had started Jonathan's recommendation but was considering your suggestion if I ran into any additional issues.

I'm new to this forum but the feedback really saved my (_|_). Thanks again