'Asktofriends' website hijacks my browsing...

[Munty]

Ok so I'd not realised it was actually a problem up to now but over the last few weeks I've been seeing this page a lot. The website is www.asktofriends.com but I'm not going to include a link and DO NOT advise visiting it as I'm not sure how safe it is...

I started off getting redirected there a few times after clicking on search results from google. Nothing dirty or dodgy either before people ask (they're all bookmarked haha) but this is a common problem right? Pages disappear, links become invalid, other search engines use google to direct to their own clients to perform the same search with them etc.

So I didn't pay it any heed until now. Last few days I'm seeing it a lot and I can't understand why as the blurb for the sites I'm trying to access from Google sound like good informative sites (today it was an oxford university link!!!) so I don't understand why it's diverting me to a page with seemingly no options on the page.

It shows the 'asktofriends' name/banner/whatever across the top of the screen then the webpage is completely blank apart from an image of some guy holding a bunch of flowers (graphic image mostly in B&W, not even slightly photorealistic)

So I'm wondering if I should be worried that I'm seeing so much of this seemingly pointless website and if anyone else has come across it.

This is the Google result for it;

asktofriends
asktofriends.com is different. We offer a personalized exchange where you can get real information, real opinions and real feedback from real people. ...

When searching to provide that info I saw this one a few results down;

google hijacked!
4 posts - 3 authors - Last post: 28 Jun 2010
asktofriends. Google goes to SCOUR and AskToFriends when I us... asktofriends virus. remove asktofriends. From the Geek Dictionary ...
www.computing.net › Forums › Security and Virus › General - Cached
Why am I redirected instead of Google?‎ - 2 posts - 14 Dec 2010
HELP adware, spyware, malware‎ - 4 posts - 2 Aug 2010
Google Redirect Virus !!!‎ - 3 posts - 23 Dec 2008
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According to that post it seems to be a trojan but I think I'll see if anyone here has come across it before I start googling even more! I've got anti-virus running well now and the computer is healthier than it has been in a long time so don't get it. Will scan again tonight and see if anything is found...

[Drum Thumper]

download and run Malwarebytes. I'll bet it picks up something.

[x88x]

/\ What he said. The behaviour you're describing could only be being caused by either malware on your system or by someone actively performing a Man-In-The-Middle attack on you. The former is by far the most likely.

[CorsePerVita]

download and run Malwarebytes. I'll bet it picks up something.

That program is awesome! +1

[dr.walrus]

have you checked your hosts file?

[knowledgegranted]

Definitely follow the advice of the last posters. The website it's bringing you to may not be harmful, because sometimes these are just advertising malware bots that will repeatedly bring you to the same page.

In some countries this is a legitimate way of advertising.

[AmEv]

http://www.whois.net/whois/asktofriends.com
http://who.godaddy.com/whois.aspx?domain=asktofriends.com&prog_id=GoDaddy


Seems the site is Arizona-based.
So, is the site legit?
Did some fanboy for the site create the malware?
Or was it an admin?
File a complaint with some online police?

[x88x]

File a complaint with some online police?

lol. As scary as it sounds, I think /b/ is the closest thing we have to an online police. :P

[AmEv]

/b/?

[x88x]

/b/?

4chan? Anonymous?

[Diamon]

Dunno if I agree with /B/ being the closest thing to online police :D
But you could still ask them for /b/ackup.

[Munty]

Ok this is complete BS. I have Malwarebytes finding nothing, MSSE finding nothing and registry mechanic frequently finding loads but none of my other programs find any problems...

I'm now getting diverted to ebay, other search engines, absolutely everything except what I want to go to (and strangely enough asktofriends is now gone too!)

So wtf is wrong with this poxy computer and why is there not a single program that can track it down and KILL IT!!!

[Drum Thumper]

Start>Control Panel>Network and Internet>Internet Options>Connections>LAN Settings

If you see a checkmark in Use proxy servers, then uncheck it. Should solve the problem.

These steps are made under the assumption (yea yea yea I know) that you are running either Vista or 7. For XP, the steps are similar:

Start>Control Panel>Internet Options (if you are in classic view) or Start>Control Panel>Network and Internet Connections>Internet Options (if you are in category view).

[Munty]

Sadly no tick in the box so was unable to change anything there :( Thanks for the advice though DT! Please keep it coming lol