How do I get rid of default-search.net?

[Guest sbwald]

I clicked on a free dictionary download, and it turned out to be adware which embedded itself in my browsers (Internet Explorer 8 and Mozilla Firefox 29.1). Now every time I open a browser window, I see a search page that looks something like Google, but with no logo, just a graphic (today it's Stevie Wonder, because it's his 64th birthday), a search box and, at the bottom of the screen, a small square display ad urging me to download various programs, supposedly to make my computer run better. Importantly, in the search bar in the upper right-hand corner of the screen, to the right of the address bar, I see "default-search.net", and in the address bar, I see "http://www.default-search.net", followed by a string of characters. I can't uninstall this file. It doesn't appear in Add/Remove Programs. A technician who was assisting me remotely earlier today managed to locate and delete this file and associated files from the registry, but it remains embedded in my browser. I tried reinstalling IE, but that didn't help either: when I rebooted following the reinstall, I still saw the same page. System Restore doesn't work - there are no restore points prior to today. None, period. By the way, I am running Norton Internet Security. I update it four or five times a day. Even so, it did not block me from downloading this adware, virus or whatever it is.

 

 

Does anyone know how I can get rid of it? Norton wants $90-$100 bucks to try to remove it (may not work). Other than that, I've been told I can reinstall my operating system. I just did that (for the fourth or fifth time) a few months ago, and I'd rather not go through it again - I lost three days from work.

 

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