Have anyone experienced Web Hajacking problems? I've heard that
your Web Browser can be hijacked,especially if you have broadband?

I have a firewall and its working just fine.But at times my browser
slows to a crawl.Does Web Hijacking happen often and is it something
I should be concerned about.I build and repair computers but web
hijacking has escaped my knowledge.

Any information will be helpful.

Well, I wouldn't say I'm an expert in this area. I wouldn't say that my browser was hijacked, though I have used IE to access websites plagued with trojans and malware, my computer was affected, and settings in IE changed. But I would say this was more a problem with using IE and not using a good antivirus or firewall at the time--it was at least three years ago. After the visit to the website, browsers would open to sites when IE wasn't supposed to be running, and the computer got bogged down--perhaps this is the perfect definition of a hijacked browser?

When you say that your browser slows to a crawl, what exactly is going on? Is your computer bogged down, or is the internet traffic slow? Do you use a detailed hosts file? If you're using Windows, I'd check out Task Manager when this happens to see what might be eating up system resources and causing the slowdown. Check your startup folder to see if anything suspicious showed up there. Also, what browser do you use? If it's IE, try switching to Firefox--I'd say it's definitely more secure, and a much better browser in my opinion, but everyone's different.

If you use Firefox, do you tend to never close the browser regardless of how long it's been running? Because I've seen people who leave their computer running all the time and never close their browser, and it has taken, sometimes, over 1 GB of physical memory, which can definitely cause a slowdown.

What antivirus and firewall do you use? Just out of curiosity. Windows firewall has done nothing, in my humble opinion, to prevent browser hijacks of IE because Explorer is an intimate component of Windows (obviously), that preventing traffic to or from the internet to Explorer doesn't always work out too well, so the built-in windows firewall doesn't work too well... Perhaps I could have said that better...

I'm not sure if any of what I said really cleared things up. Here's a nice little article about browser hijacking. SpywareInfo :· Browser Hijacking

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The most common way of your browser becoming hijacked is through bad software - for example, when you MUST install an ActiveX control to use a certain website or play a certain video. As soon as you install it all sorts of problems will start.

You can stop all of this from using Firefox - as it is much more secure and safe against these sorts of attacks.
Firefox - Rediscover the Web

However having Firefox won't protect you from computer hackers who attempt to break into your computer. For that you need a good firewall - the Windows Firewall isn't good enough unless the whole network is firewalled. That's the setup I have here - my wireless router also has a strong firewall - I've tested it using various security probes and I'm satisfied with it. If you have a router router between your internet connection it probably has a firewall - check in the manual.

Of course, no computer is safe unless it is switched off - so if you have really sensitive data, then only use it on a non-networked computer or encrypt it well.

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Browser hijacking is one of the most common problems I deal with my customers on a daily bases. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't have to address the issue in one way or other.

One of the most common symptoms of a Browser Hijack is when someone searches Google, clicks on a results link, and the URL is redirected to what appears to be another search engine (which isn't a search engine at all -- but rather a list of advertisements). If this symptom occurs 95% of the time, then I can assure you your browser has been hijacked.

The hijack is a result of 2 to 4 virus' in the C:\Windows\system32 folder. The virus's can be safely deleted by using a quality anti-virus or anti-spyware program (such as AVG anti-spyware) in addition to SpyBot S&D.

A slow browser, or slow Internet connection, is generally not the result of a virus, but rather the need to clean up your cache, temp files, cookies, etc.