Well, this all traces back to some months ago when I got a really nasty trojan that posed as an antivirus. I finally got rid of it following some instructions I got in this forum, but ever since then I haven’t been able to even access avast homepage (or any other antivirus’ page, for that matter). When I try to do so, any browser I am using redirects me to a 404 page allegedly put there by Google, on this format:
Google
Error
Not Found
The requested URL /free-antivirus-download was not found on this server.
I got version 5.0.545 running on Windows XP and I wouldn’t mind too much about it (since I am not actually looking for changing antivirus) if it wasn’t for the fact that my registration is over and it won’t let me register again, no matter how I try, either by the application or via web.
This is a common malware trick to try and stop you accessing security sites to try and prevent you removing it.
HOSTS file redirect a common malware tactic to block AV sites making it difficult to remove malware - 127.0.0.1 check your HOSTS file using notepad or a text editor of your choice, C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts or do a search for HOSTS to find it if not there.
