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In IE9 when I search for anything my ISP hijacks google search and I get this result.IE9 search ISP hijacked

To add complication to this I've already changed the default DNS servers (OpenDNS) months ago. This only happens in IE9; even after machine reboots and cache flushing.ipconfig info

I even have my router (dd-wrt) intercepting all requests for DNS and I am still getting this result.

I have all extensions disabled and there are no toolbars. This is IE9 from M$. This is not malware; it happens all machines with IE installed (even IE7/8).

6 Answers6

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If this only happens in IE, then it is likely something in IE that is making this happen.

Check the Manage Add-ons in Internet Explorer Tools, and remove any Toolbars or Extensions, and Search Providers that you do not want.

By default there are no extensions or toolbars installed, and the only search provider is Bing. So everything else can go to get it back to vanilla.

Paul
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2

My ISP was doing the hijacking even after all the precautions I had in-place because of a tool called PaxFire. This tool allows your ISP to intercept all of your traffic even your DNS traffic when you're not using your ISP's DNS servers. There are only two ways to disable it; contact your ISP and they'll disable it per your modem or; when you're greeted with the page scroll down to the bottom and click opt out.

1

I know this is my second answer, but it's a different theory.

It wouldn't be beyond possibility for the ISP to intercept port 53 traffic and re-route it to it's own DNS servers. There's not authentication performed with DNS.

Matthew Steeples
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1

Boot off of a Linux live CD and see if the issue persists. That will for sure eliminates the operating system entirely. You can use the nslookup command in Linux.

If you are indeed hijacked, try calling your ISP and see if you can opt-out of this in any way.

If you are stuck, you can access DNS over Tor. Works great (if but a little slow) but defintely not for the fainthearted. Not sure how to get it to work under Windows but if you have an old computer and can slap Linux on it that might be your best bet.

LawrenceC
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To check if this is a DNS issue or an IE issue you can run the following command in powershell:

nslookup asdf.

As you're using OpenDNS the result should be:

Non-authoritative answer:
Name:    asdf
Address:  67.215.77.132

For any other DNS server it should be 

*** dnsserver can't find asdf.: Non-existent domain

You could also try it in a different browser such as Portable Firefox (which won't have any add-ons by default)

Matthew Steeples
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If this only happens in IE9, why do you think it your ISP?

Can you check your search provider list? (ie Tools/Manage Addons/Search providers).

Each of them has a option 'Search in the address bar'. If this is ticked and you type adsf in the address, since it is not a valid website address, it will send this to the search engine and presumably go to the first search engine listed which (given your symptoms) is probably one provided/brand by your ISP

sgmoore
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