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Centurylink.net Webhelper Safari Redirect Bot-How Do I Remove it? I have completely reformatted my computer, and it is still there

Hello. For a few months now I have had a redirect bot on my computer (Safari Redirect). I got it after I downloaded Maverick. I have been in touch with Apple Support and have done several things to try and remove it. I have reset Safari. I have deleted all extentions and add ons. I deleted Safari and reinstalled it. I erased all free space using Disk Utility. Finally, I reformatted my disk drive completely using Disk Utility and reinstalled OS X Moutntain Lion from the computer. We also attempted to reset the DNS cache, but I am not sure that was successful because I coul not see whether it accepted my password or not.


The redirect is an address bar redirect and it used to redirect me to a fake Centurylink.net webhelper page. It does this at first by adding 20's and percents between my search words. Like this: lexeon%20titan%2010000%20gpd%20commercial%20ro%20reverse%20osmosis%20whole%20hou se%20water%20filter



Before I reformatted my computer, it was taking me to a fake Centurylink.net Webhelper Page or a fake GoDaddy Page. Since I have reformatted my computer, Safari cannot find the server it used to be redirected too.


Now I get a message like this:


Safari Can't Find the Server


Safari Can't Open the Page "French%20Huguenot" because Safari can't find the

server "french huguenot"



I put Java on the highest security setting possible and that seemed to take care of the problem for awhile. However, it is now back. I just ordered a Mountain Lion OS X disk from Apple.com and I am going to reformat my computer again and reinstall with that disk because I cannot figure out what else to do.


HELP PLEASE?! DOES ANYBODY ELSE HAVE ANY IDEA HOW TO FINALLY GET THIS THING COMPLETELY OFF MY COMPUTER?!

MacBook Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.5), Happened after I upgraded to Maveri

Posted on Dec 1, 2013 12:57 PM

Reply
20 replies

Dec 5, 2013 6:35 PM in response to tiggerkenwood

Can you tell me why it worked?


It worked because your ISP is run by scumbags who are doing something that either is, or should be, illegal. I strongly suggest you switch, if you have a choice. If not, you may be able to request that they stop hijacking DNS queries for search engines. Otherwise you'll have to stick with Google DNS or one of the other public DNS services, none of which I particularly recommend.


If you choose the latter option, you should change the DNS settings on your router, and then delete the server addresses on the Mac. That way all your devices on the network will use the same name servers, and any future change will only have to made on the router.


It's possible to run your own name server without depending on either Google or your scumbag ISP, but there are issues with that and I don't recommend it to non-technical users.

Centurylink.net Webhelper Safari Redirect Bot-How Do I Remove it? I have completely reformatted my computer, and it is still there

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