tough spyware or virus or... ??? help!!
 

I just got back from a vacation, and my computer has been infected by a particularily nasty peice of spyware/adware or something...

Every time i attempt to open up internet explorer, it tries to link to a site "www3.bigtrafficnetwork.com", sometimes opening dozens of windows linking to the same site. i cannot stop it without opening taskmanager and shutting down IE. This has effectivly blocked all of my access to the internet- my poker and casino sites programs are also unable to connect, and i can only assume that it's the same problem. The program appears to attempt to open IE and connect on it's own at times as well, so i have kept my internet disconnected.

What's my play? Spybot has not been able to catch this one yet, perhaps because i'm unable to go online to get updates. I am sick of Norton, and have been considering purchasing the ZoneAlarm security suite. what are the chances that this would help solve my problem? should i hire a professional to come in and take care of it? (i have some other little problems that i'd like to get solved at the same time, too...)

thoughts? i'd like to take care of this as quickly as possible. TYIA.

Re: tough spyware or virus or... ??? help!!
 

I think running the "hijackthis" utility would be a start.
The thing is if you can not get to the Internet to download it it might be tough. I could email you a copy - or - since you are posting here you have access to the Internet somehow to download it. Just google for hijackthis.
If you are not comfortable with running the utility you might want to get a professional or geek type neighbor to do it.
If you have any particular questions post here
Run hijackthis
Then do a scan and look through the list of items and select what to get rid of.

Re: tough spyware or virus or... ??? help!!
 

You may have to burn a fresh backup of Norton from another computer, then install and run on yours.

Barring that, google the hijack site from another computer and see if there are alternatives. Sometimes you can manually expunge hijacks without in-depth knowledge. You can go to Norton's site then search the site for the hijack address.

Barring that, copy all the data off of your system and reinstall XP. Make sure you can retrieve the data from the disk you burned before you reinstall, as reinstalling will wipe your disk. Best to upload the data to another computer before reinstalling. Next connect to microsoft.com to get Service Pack 2 and MicrosoftAntiSpyware. Then get Norton or a freeware antivirus program (www.majorgeeks.com has it all). Configure the internet settings. Then get Mozilla's Firefox browser so you don't have to deal with most hijackers. Then get Spybot Search and Destroy, SpywareBlaster, ewido security suite and blacklight, all freeware. I like BHODemon too.

They can still get you pretty easily, but your house isn't safe either.

Matt