search engines

[ck]

I am unable to load any search engine page or even use IE
search. I have ad-aware and spybot installed and running
but this has not solved the problem. This has been going
on for several weeks

 

[H Leboeuf]

Probable cause.

Qhosts virus/trojan, ALERT!.

http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/trojan.qhosts.html
http://vil.nai.com/vil/content/v_100719.htm
http://www.sophos.com/virusinfo/analyses/trojqhosts1.html

Removal tools that have been used with success.
http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/CIS/Software_Services/virus/index.html
http://software.brown.edu/dist/w-cleanqhosts.html

Be sure that you install hotfix 828750 which fixes the exploit that this
virus uses:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/downloads/critical/828750/default.asp