Hi there,

I recently started noticing that when I searched in google (and just about every other popular search engine) and clicked on one of the links, it would divert me to another website.

I continued to search the web for answers and read a few forums and found that I might be infected with a virus/malware. I tried running Spybot as well as Malwarebytes Anti MalWare and both gave me the error message "Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file. You may not have the appropriate permissons to access the item."

Further searches confirmed that this was a virus and I tried using the guide posted at http://forums.spybot.info/showthread.php?t=50194. This did not solve the problem.

I then tried to uninstall Spybot which it successfully did but the file SpybotSD.exe remained and I have not been able to delete the file, even though I have tried to force delete it using FileASSASSIN from MalwareBytes.

I finally resorted to posting a message on here. After reading the FAQ before posting this, I read that I needed to install HijackThis. I have attempted to do this and it installs and runs after it is installed and when I select "Do a system scan and create a log file, I see the scan taking place but the program then ends prematurely and no log file is saved. Then if I try run it again, I get the message "Windows cannot access the specified device, path, or file. You may not have the appropriate permissons to access the item.".

Can anyone please give me a hand with this problem. Thanks.

Please note: I have logged into Safe Mode with Networking and logged in as the Administrator.