Solved Chrome hijacked by Yahoo

[SweetJimmy]

Some sort of malware has attached itself to my browser and now redirects any and all searches to Yahoo.

I see others have had this issue and I've followed a few different tutorials to try and remove it with no luck. I've tried Spybot, AdwCleaner, MalwareBytes, HitmanPro, and Zoek - they found and removed a few things, but whatever this thing is it's tenacious.

Any help would be appreciated!

 

[TwinHeadedEagle]

Hello,



They call me TwinHeadedEagle around here, and I'll be working with you.



Before we start please read and note the following:

• At the top of your post, please click on the "Watch thread" button and make sure to check Watch this thread...and receive email notifications. This will send an email to you as soon as I reply to your topic, allowing me to solve your problem faster.
• Please do not install any new software during the cleaning process other than the tools I provide for you. This can hinder the cleaning process. Please do not perform System Restore or any other restore.
• Instructions I give to you are very simple and made for complete beginner to follow. That's why you need to read through my instructions carefully and completely before executing them.
• Please do not run any tools other than the ones I ask you to, when I ask you to. Some of these tools can be very dangerous if used improperly. Also, if you use a tool that I have not requested you use, it can cause false positives, thereby delaying the complete cleaning of your machine.
  
• All tools we use here are completely clean and do not contain any malware. If your antivirus detects them as malicious, please disable your antivirus and then continue.
• If during the process you run across anything that is not in my instructions, please stop and ask. If any tool is running too much time (few hours), please stop and inform me.
• I visit forum several times at day, making sure to respond to everyone's topic as fast as possible. But bear in mind that I have private life like everyone and I cannot be here 24/7. So please be patient with me. Also, some infections require less, and some more time to be removed completely, so bear this in mind and be patient.
• Please stay with me until the end of all steps and procedures and I declare your system clean. Just because there is a lack of symptoms does not indicate a clean machine. If you solved your problem yourself, set aside two minutes to let me know.
  
• Please attach all report using
  
  button below. Doing this, you make it easier for me to analyze and fix your problem.
  
• Do not ask for help for your business PC. Companies are making revenue via computers, so it is good thing to pay for the repair.
• If I don't hear from you within 3 days from this initial or any subsequent post, then this thread will be closed.

Rules and policies

We won't support any piracy.
That being told, if any evidence of illegal OS, software, cracks/keygens or any other will be revealed, any further assistance will be suspended. If you are aware that there is this kind of stuff on your machine, remove it before proceeding!
The same applies to any use of P2P software: uTorrent, BitTorrent, Vuze, Kazaa, Ares... We don't provide any help for P2P, except for their removal. All P2P software has to be uninstalled or at least fully disabled before proceeding!

Failure to follow these guidelines will result with closing your topic and withdrawning any assistance.

Scan with Farbar Recovery Scan Tool

Please download Farbar Recovery Scan Tool and save it to your desktop.

Note: You need to run the version compatibale with your system. If you are not sure which version applies to your system download both of them and try to run them.
Only one of them will run on your system, that will be the right version.

• Double-click to run it. When the tool opens click Yes to disclaimer.
• Press Scan button.
• It will make a log (FRST.txt) in the same directory the tool is run. Please attach it to your reply.
• The first time the tool is run, it makes also another log (Addition.txt). Please attach it to your reply.

 

[SweetJimmy]

Hi TwinHeadedEagle, and thanks for the response - I downloaded and ran the FarBar recovery tool, and have attached the log files it created.

 

[TwinHeadedEagle]

Fix with Junkware Removal Tool

Please download JRT by Thisisu and save the file 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.
• Follow the prompts and let this process run uninterrupted.
• This scan can take a while, depending on your System specs.
• Upon completion, a log (JRT.txt) will open on your desktop.

Please include the contents of that file in your reply.

Do not forget to re-enable your previously switched off protection software!
Please also manually reboot your machine after this procedure.

Scan with ZOEK

Please download ZOEK by Smeenk and save it to your desktop (preferred version is the *.exe one)
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;
  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)

Post its content into your next reply.

 

[SweetJimmy]

Okay, got them:

 

[SweetJimmy]

Sorry, I realized after I posted the first logs that I forgot to do the manual reboot after running the first tool - not sure how much that matters but to be on the safe side, here are the new logs.

 

[TwinHeadedEagle]

How is your PC behaving now?

 

[SweetJimmy]

It's still having the issue - I don't know if it will help but here's a new things I've noticed:

1. When Chrome launches and restores the tabs, the first tab always gets redirected to the Yahoo homepage
2. If you open a New Tab, it gets redirected to a Yahoo search page (instead of the defined homepage of Google)
3. However, if you click the Home button on the browser, it does correctly bring up the Google homepage
4. If you highlight text and then right click and 'search Google for...' it gets redirected to a Yahoo search
5. If you click on a bookmark of a Google search, the search gets redirected to Yahoo *unless* you click the Home button first to bring you to the Google homepage. If you're already on the Google homepage then it doesn't get redirected to Yahoo.

 

[TwinHeadedEagle]

Can you reset Google Chrome settings?

 

[SweetJimmy]

I reset the Chrome settings, but it doesn't seem to have helped. It looks like this time it didn't redirect the first tap when I launched the browser, but everything else is the same.

 

[TwinHeadedEagle]

Did you try to reinstall Google Chrome?

 

[SweetJimmy]

Reinstalling seemed to do the trick (I guess if it happens again I should try that first, I might have saved you some trouble). Anyway, thanks for the help!