Browser Hijacking

I am not sure if this is a form of a browser hijacking or not but I have tried googling this and cant find a solution..

What happens is whenever I try to type a webpage name in my address bar without the www. or the .com and I hit enter this is what happens

address bar: google

I get http:///?%20google

before it would do a search and go to the default or best answer. now I get that http:///?%20 crap and then I get an error 404 page not found.. Has anyone ran into this before and what do you recommend to fix it

Thanks

%20 means the space character " "


so "i am cool" would equal "i%20am%20cool"

even if %20 means space then why would it do that if I completely highlight the address bar and type it with no spaces around it.... for some reason if I dont do the www. it defaults to that dang http:///%20 junk

any idea why it would be reading spaces?

Your address bar can default to search engines when you put in a url that is not correct(no www or .net|.com|.whatever). Usually when you install certain software like the google toolbar it sets your browser to use this functionality.

The ?%20google is most likely an attempt to post that information to the default search engine, but it seems as if the location of the post is missing. Could you have deleted a browser plugin recently or manually made some changes to your browser?

Not sure what browser you are using, but someplace in the preferences there is normally a place to tell the browser what to do on an invaild address ( ie no ending extension or if it needs to add www or whatever). Wherver that value is, it is probably set to send a search to google.com. For some reason, a space was added to that value at the start so instead of sending it to http://google.com, it is sending it to http:// google.com. Check your browser preferences and make sure you remove any leading space from that value.

I am using internet explorer v 6.0.2600
this is not necessarily going to google everytime, I think souleman is on the right track, i just cant find where it has this setting.. either way, it happens with every website

If I typed it antionline and hit enter it will bring me to (edited see below)

and so on and so forth any idea where in ie 6 i could change this

edit: I am sorry I do get the ? just like this

http:///?%20antionline

so you do not always get the '?' you showed in your first post?

I don't know if anybody else is noticing, but let me break down what Spyrus is getting.

http:// <- this is default
www. <- what he wants.
/?%20 <- what he's getting (notice the / before the question mark)


I just find that interesting that there are three backslashes, to make the address bar:

http:///?%20antionline.com


...I have no cure for this thus far :|

well i found half of the answer... it seems as if something has messed up my settings, but I found a cure on google's forums


You have to do the following:

Quote:

---

enter the following (NOT including the dashed lines) into Notepad and
save as: RestoreSearch.reg, then double click on the saved file to
restore your default search settings.

----------------------------

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main]
"Do404Search"=hex:01,00,00,00
"Search
Page"="http://www.microsoft.com/isapi/redir.dll?prd=ie&ar=iesearch"
"Search Bar"="http://search.msn.com/intl/searchpane/en-au/prov2.htm"
"Use Custom Search URL"= dword:00000000

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search]
"SearchAssistant"="http://ie.search.msn.com/{SUB_RFC1766}/srchasst/srcha
sst.htm"
"CustomizeSearch"="http://ie.search.msn.com/{SUB_RFC1766}/srchasst/srchc
ust.htm"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main]
"Default_Search_URL"="http://www.microsoft.com/isapi/redir.dll?prd=ie&ar
=iesearch"
"Search
Page"="http://www.microsoft.com/isapi/redir.dll?prd=ie&ar=iesearch"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\URLSearchHooks]
"{CFBFAE00-17A6-11D0-99CB-00C04FD64497}"=""

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchUrl]
""="http://home.microsoft.com/access/autosearch.asp?p=%s"
" "="+"
"&"="%26"
"+"="%2B"
"#"="%23"
"?"="%3F"
"="="%3D"

[HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main]
"Search
Page"="http://www.microsoft.com/isapi/redir.dll?prd=ie&ar=iesearch"
"Search Bar="http://search.msn.com/intl/searchpane/en-au/prov2.htm"


---------------------------

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I have tested this and it does work, if anyone knows enough about the registry to change this so I could have it auto go to the website or auto search google let me know...