I wish it was a virus...

Since my last blog I discussed my computer problems. We thought I had some type of virus that was not detectable by ANY kind of virus software. So we formatted our computer back to brand new which of course is a very sad choice to have to make for anyone.

After it was done reformatting we thought it would be virus free. However, once we connected it to the internet we got the same problem again! Any website related to Google such as blogger.com, and YouTube was being redirected to various websites or advertisements that we simply did not search for to begin with. Even if I used our iPod or my phone it was getting redirected.

After days of research we came to this conclusion: Someone hacked into our internet server boxes or altered our IP address, kind of like putting a bot on our internet to redirect us to their advertisements so they could make money off from us.  Apparently this happens a lot and people who don't know much about computers do not even realize it.

My husband finally figured out how to log into our linksys wireless internet router and reset it. Also he fixed the fact that our internet server was being redirected so we had to look up the correct server name of our internet provider and change it back. As of right now we think we are ok.

We learned a big lesson- put a password on your internet and make it as hard and random as possible. We had no password on ours because it just made it easier to connect other devices to our WiFi without having to put the password in every time. Put a hard password because people also use programs that will guess passwords and every combination of characters until it gets the right one and they get into your internet.

Also do not get Embarq/Century Link as your internet service provider. They absolutely suck at anything and everything. They did not want to help us at all because they wanted us to buy a $14.99 a month tech support plan with a contract of one year. All I wanted them to do was reset my internet box or IP address. This is nothing difficult to do.

I figured I would post about this really quick because it took us days to find just the tiniest bit of information about this. If anyone knows anything about this kind of hacking please comment about it here. I hope this information will help others who have a similar problem and are having a hard time finding answers.