I have this problem too. I've used Malwarebytes, Vipre Anti-Virus, and a Kapersky Rootkit detector; and none detected it. I've found no solutions researching online but others have claimed as far as May 2010 that this happened to them with Google Chrome.

The symptoms I've found: - Homepage is set to www.qooqlle.com. - A qooqlle search option has been added to mimic Google, but search results bring you to travel-related websites. - All Firefox settings on the browser and within the add-ons are reset to default or "first-time" use. Exception is if the settings are coming from a website such as Forecastfox Weather and WebMail Notifier. - Ad-blocker add-on is no longer functioning - Homepage on Internet Explorer 8 is set to www.qooqlle.com

hi,

a little about me:

==

i have been using and programming and hacking around on computers since the early 1980's. i do this for friends, family, and as a side job as i work on my electrical engineering degree. i would say that i have a very very high level of understanding of much of this kind of stuff.

with regards to this QOOQLLE browser homepage / search engine hijack:

===================================================

i found a more definitive fix. heres what i tried at first

i ran a bunch of scans (ms security essentials, adaware, spybot search & destroy, malware bytes anti-malware, comodo), deleted all of my temp files with cleanup 4.52, and reset my browsers pages (in chrome, firefox, and internet explorer).

it looked to be gone.

but i would reboot and it would return. qooqlle was my browser homepage and search engine again on all browsers.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

here is how i finally got rid of it

1) ran all the above scans. 2) deleted my temp files with cleanup 4.52

and what i believe to be the most important step:

3) i looked at all of the currently running programs with process explorer, and looked at all of the programs that run at computer startup with msconfig and also with chameleon startup manager. chameleon is like using msconfig, but easier to use

...i also ran hijack this again (i had done this before) everything seemed to be ok.

BUT... looking at everything CLOSELY i discovered

1) a registry entry (which i deleted) that started this program on reboot located here: hkey_local_machine\software\microsoft\windows\currentversion\run\igfxtraysound

and

2) an offending program called either IGFXTRAY.EXE or IGFXTRAYSOUND.EXE

there is supposedly a valid program named similarly, which is for intel chipset computers -- built in sound or video programs. googling it, it says its the "Intel Integrated Display Adapter component"

but i actually dont use my onboard graphics (intel chipset) and use an added pci express video card instead.

so look in the directory

C:\users\{my user name}\appdata\roaming\igfxtray.exe (for windows 7 / vista)

C:\documents and settings\{my user name}\application data\igfxtray.exe (for windows xp)

i made sure it wasnt currently running in the background (checked process explorer and stopped the running process), deleted it from my hard drive, restarted my pc, and the qooqle browser hijacker (hijacking my home page on all 3 browsers) did not return! ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

finally, i must make note of my favorite real time process monitoring tools that helped me figure this out. they dont use very much cpu power, dont slow the computer, and work very well. much less cpu intensive than symantec bloatware, mcafee, or especially avg !

try a combo of these two: 1) adaware. the component of adaware that monitors in realtime is called adwatch live. it works well and with minimal compute power 2) spybot search and destroy. make sure to enable "teatimer" ("protection of over-all system settings")

hope this helps. it defintely helped me.

cheers,

 kyle.
 

kyle-can-fix-it {at} att {dot} net kyle-can-fix-it {dot} does-it {dot} net / reviews

I tried all of the instructions you said, and everything was fine until I made it to step 3. The files you mentioned do not exist on my computer. I have it set to show hidden files, and I ran a search across my whole pc and in the registry. Any ideas?

Double post, sorry.

I think a solution I did worked for me. It's been 5 days now and it has not returned.

1. Uninstall Firefox and delete the folder it once was installed in.

2. Change IE's home page to something else.

3. Run HiJackThis and delete ("fix") anything with "qooqlle" shown.

4. Run CCleaner to remove all IE and Firefox junk files (history, cookies, temp, etc.). Then run the registry editor multiple times to remove all instances of registry that point to nothing (since Firefox is now gone).

5. Reboot PC, and run a startup scan (many anti-virus/anti-malware apps have this feature).

6. Check processes (many apps available) for anything unusual running. I found nothing unusual myself. And I ran HiJackThis again.

7. Reinstall Firefox to a different folder location/name. I did this incase qooqlle is still on my system looking for the Firefox folder.

I haven't been able to verify your fix, because something very odd happened. I booted up my computer yesterday, and for some reason, qooqlle was gone. I didn't do anything to get rid of it recently... it just went away on its own. Either that or it has decided to make itself hidden.

Any thoughts?

Kyle - thank you, thank you, thank you! Your solution was simple and straightforward, and it worked. It is so good to be rid of that annoying qooqlle.

Scratch that. IE is still coming up with www.qooqlle.com as the homepage. I read on another forum that AVG 2011 found it and cleaned it.

how about simply changing the homepage url?

i wrote " about:config " in the address..yes on the warning box and then i typed in the filter box qooqlle and it appeared as "browser.startup.homepage" then right click and changed the addres to the one i wanted . i made a restart and the home page was the one i wrote and not the qooqlle think