# Either Yahoo has been hacked or I have.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-yahoo-has-been-hacked-or-i-have/195212>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 14, 2003, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-yahoo-has-been-hacked-or-i-have/195212 "2003-08-14T19:22:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![robertliguori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/46a35a/32.png) [@robertliguori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robertliguori)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-yahoo-has-been-hacked-or-i-have/195212/1 "2003-08-14T19:22:51Z")

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I’m running XP Pro, first off.

Earlier today, I started to write a thread about www.unipages.cc. Oddly enough, a link to this page popped up whenever I performed a Yahoo search, and it had whatever I searched for in it. I started to ask about it while Ad-Aware 6 was running, but since Ad-Aware found some random malware and its removal stopped the problem, I didn’t. Since then, more bad things have been happening. System32.exe showed up out of nowhere in the task list and sucked up 99% of system resources. I killed it, moved it out of the windows directory, and Norton AV subsequently quarintined it. I downloaded Spybot and ZoneAlarm, figuring that I need the protection, but for some reason, the www.unipages.cc links have returned.

Is this symptomic of some specific virus or other nasty program, and if so, how can I kill it?

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**Author:** ![robertliguori](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/46a35a/32.png) [@robertliguori](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robertliguori)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2003, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-yahoo-has-been-hacked-or-i-have/195212/2 "2003-08-14T21:00:51Z")

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Update: it’s me. Norton found three more viruses hanging around. Argity.

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**Author:** ![Alereon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@Alereon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alereon)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2003, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-yahoo-has-been-hacked-or-i-have/195212/3 "2003-08-15T01:17:57Z")

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Note the sticky thread at the top of GQ. Unless you install the patch, more viruses are just going to keep popping up.

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**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2003, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/either-yahoo-has-been-hacked-or-i-have/195212/4 "2003-08-15T05:10:01Z")

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I had a thousand thousand Adware popup ads today; I almost never get them. Capitalizing on fear?

When I click on Windows Update, I get a Yahoo window. Earlier today it worked. Tonight it doesn’t. Earlier today, Microsoft thought I was 11 updates behind. Now it thinks I’m up to date. So perhaps cyberspace is a little screwy tonight.

Think the power grid failure in the US NE has anything to do with this?