Firefox keeps getting hijacked

Discussion of general topics about Mozilla Firefox
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KUweatherman
Posts: 23
Joined: July 22nd, 2004, 5:15 pm

Firefox keeps getting hijacked

Post by KUweatherman »

WTF? It's about a once a week occurance right now. I'll load up firefox and my homepage is set as some gobblygoop crap website and there are all kinds of new bookmarks in my bookmark folder. Even worse is that it resets the bookmarks back to when i first imported them from Explorer when i installed Firefox. I've run Ad-Aware and Spybot and they find nothing. I also run Spyware Blaster. Nothing.


Anyone know how I can get control of MY computer back? grrr
Kylotan
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Location: Nottingham, UK
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Post by Kylotan »

What's in your extensions list (Tools -> Extensions)? What is the gobblygoop crap website' and what are the 'all kinds of new bookmarks'?
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redhair
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Post by redhair »

I suspect this post to be some sort of propaganda...
Don't let it be so....
..please...
Slap me in the face, and tell me this is an extention job, or just a lie.
dave bra
Posts: 139
Joined: September 6th, 2003, 2:05 pm

Post by dave bra »

Ask your wife to KTF away from your computer.
KUweatherman
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Joined: July 22nd, 2004, 5:15 pm

Post by KUweatherman »

Kylotan wrote:What's in your extensions list (Tools -> Extensions)? What is the gobblygoop crap website' and what are the 'all kinds of new bookmarks'?

The website literally is just a bunch of crap thrown together with a www and .com in front and behind it. It doesnt load a page; I just get a timeout error. Some of the bookmarks are for dating, instant messenger, computers and a few other things. It adds folders in addition to the bookmarks that arent sorted. I've been having a god awful time getting Lop uninstalled off my computer recently so this may be a carry over problem with that. I don't know. That's why I turned to this forum. List of my extensions are below. Nothing looked out of the ordinary.

Extensions:

DOM Inspector
ChromEdit_0.0.5.1.1.xpi
Add_Bookmark_Here
All-In-One Gestures
ieview
Windows Update
ChromEdit
BB Code
Allow Right Click
BGSOUND to EMBED
Sort Bookmarks
Titlebar Tweaks
Translate
Toolbar Enhancements
GMail Compose
GMail Notifier
Kylotan
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Post by Kylotan »

I assume you've used the most up-to-date versions of Spybot S+D and Ad-Aware? If it is Lop then I have no idea; all the searches imply that it's not that big a problem. Are you running Internet Explorer or Internet Explorer-based programs in the meantime? It could be that you're reinfecting yourself with something.
KUweatherman
Posts: 23
Joined: July 22nd, 2004, 5:15 pm

Post by KUweatherman »

Kylotan wrote:Are you running Internet Explorer or Internet Explorer-based programs in the meantime? It could be that you're reinfecting yourself with something.

Nope, I soley use Firefox for everything right now. I do, however, get an occasional Internet Explorer error for no reason. After I get that error is when the Lop stuff gets installed on my computer (the icons on the desktop and w/e else it installs). I then promptly run my ad-aware and spybot. It's not like I'm going to porn sites or anything; I'm too busy for that, heh. Most of my surfing is confined to ESPN.com, KCSR.org and my school's website.

The thing that angers me the most is the resetting of my bookmarks in Firefox.
Kylotan
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Post by Kylotan »

Sounds like something else is running Internet Explorer. I'm on Windows 98 SE and don't have anything like that so I don't know what the issue might be there. But I doubt that the hijacking is coming through Firefox itself. Once something's installed on your Windows system, it can pretty much do whatever it likes to any program.
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the-edmeister
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Post by the-edmeister »

KUweatherman wrote:
Kylotan wrote:Are you running Internet Explorer or Internet Explorer-based programs in the meantime? It could be that you're reinfecting yourself with something.

Nope, I soley use Firefox for everything right now. I do, however, get an occasional Internet Explorer error for no reason. After I get that error is when the Lop stuff gets installed on my computer (the icons on the desktop and w/e else it installs). I then promptly run my ad-aware and spybot. It's not like I'm going to porn sites or anything; I'm too busy for that, heh. Most of my surfing is confined to ESPN.com, KCSR.org and my school's website.

The thing that angers me the most is the resetting of my bookmarks in Firefox.


1) Does anyone else use you computer or have access to it?

2) Have you checked you HOSTS file for any entries that match the 'gobblygook' websites you mention? While Firefox won't allow access to the HOSTS file; the HOSTS file can affect Firefox much the same as it affects IE. Unless you have allowed entries or made entries to HOSTS yourself, really the only thing residing there should be "localhost:127.0.0.1" which is th loopback into your computer.

Something real strange is going on and I'm very sure Firefox isn't creating your problems!

Have you tried making your Bookmarks.html file 'read only'?
A mind is a terrible thing to waste. Mine has wandered off and I'm out looking for it.
shaiwill
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Post by shaiwill »

redhair ditto on your comment :)
KUweatherman
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Joined: July 22nd, 2004, 5:15 pm

Post by KUweatherman »

shaiwill wrote:redhair ditto on your comment :)

you and I both, you and I both...


I'll look further into it tomorrow. Done with it for the night.
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MechR
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Post by MechR »

Could it be a virus? I'm seeing suggestions of spyware/adware scanning, but not virus scanning.

Incidentally, according to Antivir, on my comp Java's somehow letting virii in (ver. 1.4.2_05). I've thus disabled it for now; the long-ass JRE loadtime was always annoying anyway...
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Hawk
Posts: 56
Joined: December 8th, 2002, 6:18 am

Post by Hawk »

Go here: http://www.spychecker.com/program/hijackthis.html

and install Hijackthis. With this program you can see what files are giving you what startup options.
You can delete those files that are hijacking your browser.

Good luck and let me know if this was helpfull.
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