As an instructor in Cyber Security, I was a little disappointed -- although not surprised -- that I caught a virus on my home computer. What was disappointing is that I downloaded it myself. The truth is, I wanted to watch streaming video of the San Jose Sharks game and the only free streams were coming out of Europe, and... you can guess the rest.
The net result was that I downloaded a nasty little PUP ("Potentially Unwanted Program", technically NOT a virus but sure does act like one) that hijacked every one of my browsers and some shortcuts, and redirects me to their search engine at DoSearches.com which in turn displays a Google knock-off home page but with advertisements. And, it is a rootkit so it dig deep into your operating system.
After some quick research, I located this web site (http://malwaretips.com/blogs/dosearches-com-virus/#adwcleaner) by Steven Pilici posted in September of this year. On this page, he discusses the dosearches.com PUP and provides a 5-step approach to getting it off.
I did the 5-steps and not only did it remove the dosearches, it found and removed a whole lot more. Naturally, you are always responsible for your own computer. And, if you think you have some viruses (and you probably do), here are some nice, free apps which can help you out.
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