[vsharma87]

Folks,

I have a peculiar problem. When I try to access www.bofa.com or www.bankofamerica.com, I get redirected to some set of sites shown by search.live.com, of which Bank of America is one.

When I click on a link displayed via search.live.com, I get an error -- unreachable.

Now I don't have this problem with other sites, my Comcast high-speed Internet is up, and my email works fine.

However, I have the same problem from my wife's laptop, and from my neighbor's laptop (who run IE7 and IE6, respectively. I also run IE6), when they try to use my Comcast Internet connection (albeit through a wireless router -- that's how their laptop is able to use my broadband connection). I just tried out a different laptop to ensure it wasn't a problem just with my laptop.

This problem has been getting progressively worse over the past month. There are other sites for which I also have this problem, but Bank of America seems to be the one which is "unreachable" most often.
(I verified that the site itself was NOT down, by asking two friends to access it -- one from within Cisco in San Jose, and the other using my neighbor's laptop on an ATT DSL broadband connection).

My questions are :

i) My Wi-Fi connection is "unsecured" and not protected by WEP etc. Does this present a problem when accessing sites with https (which is what BofA is) or accessing some sort of secure sites?
(This might explain why 3 laptops all failed to access the site, but when connected over a DSL
broadband connection, my neighbor's laptop was able to access the site.
Also, it might explain why the problem only occurs when accessing secure sites with https,
with some of them, not all of them though.)

ii) Does it mean I necessarily have to "secure" my Wi-Fi connection to solve this problem?
How may I do that?

iii) Finally, why am I stuck with this horrible beast search.live.com? And, how do I get rid of it?
(I have seen the single thread on this forum dealing with this issue, where the person upgraded
to IE7, is that the only solution?)
I am really tired of seeing this obnoxious site/software pop-up any time I am unable to reach a
website.

Any help from the famed gurus on this forum will be very deeply appreciated.

An HJT log is attached. Looking forward to your inputs.

Thanks,
-Vishal

PS: I cannot for the life of me understand why I have so many O8's from Adobe and so many
O23 from Panda Antivirus. Is this normal?? Thanks!

*************************************************************************** *******************************8
Logfile of HijackThis v1.99.1
Scan saved at 2:53:03 PM, on 5/8/2008
Platform: Windows XP SP1 (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP1 (6.00.2800.1106)

Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\winlogon.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\Program Files\Panda Software\TPSrv.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
C:\Program Files\Panda Software\PsCtrls.exe
C:\Program Files\Panda Software\PavFnSvr.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Panda Software\PavShld\pavprsrv.exe
C:\Program Files\Panda Software\pavsrv51.exe
C:\Program Files\Panda Software\AVENGINE.EXE
C:\Program Files\Panda Software\AntiSpam\pskmssvc.exe
c:\program files\panda software\firewall\PSHOST.EXE
C:\Program Files\Panda Software\PsImSvc.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\explorer.exe
C:\Program Files\Panda Software\APVXDWIN.EXE
C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\Toolbox\StatusClient\StatusClient.exe
C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\OrderReminder\OrderReminder\OrderReminder.exe
C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\HP Software Update\HPWuSchd2.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Real\Update_OB\realsched.exe
C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Distillr\Acrotray.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\wuauclt.exe
C:\Program Files\Panda Software\SRVLOAD.EXE
C:\Program Files\Panda Software\WebProxy.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Works Shared\wkcalrem.exe
C:\Program Files\Third Party Software\Hijackthis\HijackThis.exe
C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE
C:\Program Files\Third Party Software\Spybot - Search & Destroy\SpybotSD.exe

R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://www.lightreading.com/
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings,ProxyServer = localhost:8080
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings,ProxyOverride = *.iitb.ac.in;<local>
F2 - REG:system.ini: Shell=explorer.exe
N3 - Netscape 7: user_pref("browser.search.defaultengine", "engine://C%3A%5CProgram%20Files%5CNetscape%5CNetscape%5Csearchplugins%5CSBWeb_01.src "); (C:\Documents and Settings\Vishal Sharma (M)\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\default\mqrevx8n.slt\prefs.js)
O2 - BHO: AcroIEHlprObj Class - {06849E9F-C8D7-4D59-B87D-784B7D6BE0B3} - C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\ActiveX\AcroIEHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: RealPlayer Download and Record Plugin for Internet Explorer - {3049C3E9-B461-4BC5-8870-4C09146192CA} - C:\Program Files\Real\RealPlayer\rpbrowserrecordplugin.dll
O2 - BHO: AcroIEToolbarHelper Class - {AE7CD045-E861-484f-8273-0445EE161910} - C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll
O3 - Toolbar: &Radio - {8E718888-423F-11D2-876E-00A0C9082467} - C:\WINDOWS\System32\msdxm.ocx
O3 - Toolbar: Adobe PDF - {47833539-D0C5-4125-9FA8-0819E2EAAC93} - C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [APVXDWIN] "C:\Program Files\Panda Software\APVXDWIN.EXE" /s
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SCANINICIO] "C:\Program Files\Panda Software\Inicio.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [StatusClient 2.6] C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\Toolbox\StatusClient\StatusClient.exe /auto
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [OrderReminder] C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\OrderReminder\OrderReminder\OrderReminder.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [HP Software Update] C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\HP Software Update\HPWuSchd2.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [TkBellExe] "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Real\Update_OB\realsched.exe" -osboot
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Acrobat Assistant 7.0] "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Distillr\Acrotray.exe"
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [Startup Manager] "C:\Program Files\Advanced System Optimizer\startUp manager.exe"
O4 - Global Startup: Adobe Acrobat Speed Launcher.lnk = ?
O8 - Extra context menu item: Convert link target to Adobe PDF - res://C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll/AcroIECapture.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Convert link target to existing PDF - res://C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll/AcroIEAppend.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Convert selected links to Adobe PDF - res://C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll/AcroIECaptureSelLinks.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Convert selected links to existing PDF - res://C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll/AcroIEAppendSelLinks.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Convert selection to Adobe PDF - res://C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll/AcroIECapture.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Convert selection to existing PDF - res://C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll/AcroIEAppend.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Convert to Adobe PDF - res://C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll/AcroIECapture.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Convert to existing PDF - res://C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll/AcroIEAppend.html
O16 - DPF: {493ACF15-5CD9-4474-82A6-91670C3DD66E} (LinkedIn ContactFinderControl) - http://www.linkedin.com/cab/LinkedIn...derControl.cab
O16 - DPF: {E06E2E99-0AA1-11D4-ABA6-0060082AA75C} (GpcContainer Class) - https://aria-networks.webex.com/clie...ex/ieatgpc.cab
O20 - Winlogon Notify: avldr - C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\avldr.dll
O23 - Service: Adobe LM Service - Adobe Systems - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe Systems Shared\Service\Adobelmsvc.exe
O23 - Service: Panda Software Controller - Panda Software International - C:\Program Files\Panda Software\PsCtrls.exe
O23 - Service: Panda Function Service (PAVFNSVR) - Panda Software International - C:\Program Files\Panda Software\PavFnSvr.exe
O23 - Service: Panda Process Protection Service (PavPrSrv) - Panda Software - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Panda Software\PavShld\pavprsrv.exe
O23 - Service: Panda anti-virus service (PAVSRV) - Panda Software International - C:\Program Files\Panda Software\pavsrv51.exe
O23 - Service: Panda Antispam Engine (pmshellsrv) - Panda Software International - C:\Program Files\Panda Software\AntiSpam\pskmssvc.exe
O23 - Service: Panda Host Service (PSHost) - Panda Software International - c:\program files\panda software\firewall\PSHOST.EXE
O23 - Service: Panda IManager Service (PSIMSVC) - Panda Software International - C:\Program Files\Panda Software\PsImSvc.exe
O23 - Service: Panda TPSrv (TPSrv) - Panda Software International - C:\Program Files\Panda Software\TPSrv.exe