Solved Browser Hijack, redirects, pop-ups, etc on Windows 8.1

[smackerkracker]

Hi, I am having a lot of trouble on my Windows 8.1 machine and removing a bad malware infection. I performed system restores, installed and ran AVG and several malware tools which have all ultimately not resolved the issue of pop-ups and redirects in chrome and ie. Other things also seem very strange such as files saved to my desktop now have a location of "C:\Users\Janet\Cookies\Desktop"

 

[TwinHeadedEagle]

Hello,

Multiple Resident Protection warning!

Always have one (and no more than one!) AntiVirus program! In this case having more of them will not provide you with better protection - instead they may cause slowness, lock-ups and even mark another ones as harmful, leading to leave your system unstable and even damaged. Please choose only one from the listed below to stay with and uninstall the others:

• AVG AntiVirus Free Edition 2014
• Norton Internet Security

Uninstallation procedure:

• Press the
  
  + R on your keyboard at the same time. Type appwiz.cpl and click OK.
• Search for each uninstalled entry, right-click it and select Uninstall.

This should be done until any other steps will be taken.

Scan with ZOEK

Please download ZOEK by Smeenk and save it to your desktop.
Temporary disable your AntiVirus and AntiSpyware protection - instructions here.

• Right-click on
  
  icon and select
  
  Run as Administrator to start the tool.
• Wait patiently until the main console will appear, it may take a minute or two.
• In the main box please paste in the following script:
  

  createsrpoint;
  autoclean;
  emptyclsid;
  emptyalltemp;
  ipconfig /flushdns >>"%temp%\log.txt";b

• Make sure that Scan All Users option is checked.
• Push Run Script and wait patiently. The scan may take a couple of minutes.
• When the scan completes, a zoek-results logfile should open in notepad.
• If a reboot is needed, it will be opened after it. You may also find it at your main drive (usually C:\ drive)

Upload it in your next reply.

 

[smackerkracker]

TwinHeadedEagle, I attempted to launch AVG and Norton Internet Security but neither were showing any sign that they were functioning, and clicking on the executible from their install folders wouldn't launch their GUIs either. I wasn't able to uninstall from windows so I rebooted into safemode and downloaded AVG's AVG Remover Tool to remove AVG. Zoek didn't appear to run under windows normal start either, only in safemode as well. Here is the zoek-results log file attached. Thank you for your help!

 

[TwinHeadedEagle]

You should also download and run Norton cleaner if it is not functioning well. Then you can install antivirus again.

How is your PC behaving now?

 

[smackerkracker]

Fixed it! Thank you so much!