Waiting for 7.7.7.0? Not Anymore!
Thursday, January 15, 2009
I had a bout with some magical spy ware recently that could not be tracked by three separate, and updated, virus protection and spy ware zapping programs.
The problems started a few days ago when using FireFox. When attempting to perform a Google search the search results would come up as usual, but the links to which the results took you were hi-jacked, taking you to advertisers for (ironically) anti-spy ware and virus removal programs, employment searching sites, and various other sites that had nothing to do with your search. For example, I did a Google search for "Phillies" and the links would take me to the various spy ware utility programs. Not helpful.
I noticed that the messages in the bottom of my window were somehow different. Instead of telling me the usual messages such as "Waiting for www.google.com" and "Transferring from www.google.com" etc., the messages were telling me "Waiting for 7.7.7.0" or something along those lines. Now I was on to something.
This hijacking problem was only taking place in FireFox, Google's Chrome and Internet Explorer. Luckily for me I use the Flock browser, which showed no signs of suffering the same problems the other browsers were experiencing. While in Flock I googled "Waiting for 7.7.7.0" and "hijacked links" and found my solution.
If you experience the same problem here is all you have to do. Locate the following file...
c://windows/system32/wdmaud.sys
...and delete it. Seriously, that is all you have to do. I sent the file to the recycling bin, emptied said bin, and tried searching "Phillies" on FireFox once more. Success! Just to make sure I checked in Chrome and Internet Explorer and experienced the same success in both browsers.
No matter which browser you use, if you have this problem, this should work!
The problems started a few days ago when using FireFox. When attempting to perform a Google search the search results would come up as usual, but the links to which the results took you were hi-jacked, taking you to advertisers for (ironically) anti-spy ware and virus removal programs, employment searching sites, and various other sites that had nothing to do with your search. For example, I did a Google search for "Phillies" and the links would take me to the various spy ware utility programs. Not helpful.
I noticed that the messages in the bottom of my window were somehow different. Instead of telling me the usual messages such as "Waiting for www.google.com" and "Transferring from www.google.com" etc., the messages were telling me "Waiting for 7.7.7.0" or something along those lines. Now I was on to something.
This hijacking problem was only taking place in FireFox, Google's Chrome and Internet Explorer. Luckily for me I use the Flock browser, which showed no signs of suffering the same problems the other browsers were experiencing. While in Flock I googled "Waiting for 7.7.7.0" and "hijacked links" and found my solution.
If you experience the same problem here is all you have to do. Locate the following file...
c://windows/system32/wdmaud.sys
...and delete it. Seriously, that is all you have to do. I sent the file to the recycling bin, emptied said bin, and tried searching "Phillies" on FireFox once more. Success! Just to make sure I checked in Chrome and Internet Explorer and experienced the same success in both browsers.
No matter which browser you use, if you have this problem, this should work!
