I'm Missing Out!!!! (on PPC Thoughts)

[cyclwestks]

Really, I am. At work, for some reason, I can't reach the PocketPC Thoughts website. I type in the url, & it takes me to some other website (I failed to write it down), this started happening a few months ago.

The thing that really bites, is that I go to my secretary's computer (same network), & it's fine. I can only think of one other site this happens with, & that is my.yahoo.com. I asked the company that installed our SonicWall & he says nothing is being restricted. I've tried several things, but this really gets me, because usually things like this, I can eventually solve. I run the Norton antivirus software, & keep it updated, & occasionally run adaware.

[mberry]

Sounds like your computer was "hijacked". Even with AV software and adware, you can still get hijacked. Wabu.com and lop.com are notorious for doing this...

If when you connect you are redirected through to another website, or even directed to PPCT, yet "by-way-of" another website, your internet activity is being tracked and lots of marketing information about you and your computer are being recorded.

Firewalls dont block code like this, most are installed by activex controls exploiting lapses in patch management on desktop workstations.

First, figure out what website your going to... if its wabu or lop, dont go to that site for help (they are not going to openly give you the correct method of removing their tracking software)... instead... go to http://groups.google.com/ and do a search in the discussion groups... there are lots of valuable fixes there (most free)

Hope that helps

[cyclwestks]

Thanks, I had thought about the hijacked idea, I'll research it on the google groups tomorrow, gonna be kind of a slow Friday anyway. It wasn't either of those 2 sites though. My secretary is gone on vacation, so I can post what I find out from her computer tomorrow.

[Janak Parekh]

Ooh, mberry makes some great points. In particular, spyware/adware might be causing this. Download a copy of Ad-Aware from Lavasoft (www.lavasoftusa.com) and see if it finds anything. (The basic version is free, and that's sufficient to do what you need. Make sure to run the built-in updater before running a scan.)

--janak

[cyclwestks]

mberry, you were exactly right, I was hijacked bad. Used a site I found on the google groups & found a freeware utility called "Hijack this". Spyware found a few questionable, but "Hijack this" end up being the one that helped me return to normal. Thanks again!