Hi, can anybody suggest a free programme that will get rid of this 'searchnu/102' for me please. I've tried avast, AVG, spybot. Nothing seems to want to touch it. It's taken over my google search page, firefox page, and now its heading THIS wikiwirral page. HELP !!

THis might be worth a try Malwarebytes

Oh thanks! I'll give that a try (you were quick!)
I'm off to bed now but I'll have a go tomorrow. Thanks a lot.

I couldn't wait - so I just tried Malwarebytes. It found three nasties but I still have 'searchnu/102'
I'll keep trying. Thanks for your help.

I'm afraid it's manual removal for this one, follow the instructions (it includes screen shots) on this page and you should be rid.

Removal Instructions

http://www.surfright.nl hitman pro

or http://ninite.com/super/ super antispyware remover

TheDR already linked the removal (it's the same method I use for Searchnu as well) but that quote deserves a response. Here it is:

For future reference, avoid AVG and spybot. AVG is worse than Norton and Mcaffee and they are licking rock bottom when it comes to antiviruses. Spybot hasn't been good since like 2008...

exO - My AVG is due for renewal at the end of the month. I have not had any problems with it but am aware that new protection systems will have arrived whilst I have had AVG. What would you recommend instead?

If you're not having problems with it I'd hazard a guess that you're not the average 'click yes to everything that pops up' kind of user, in which case you don't need to pay for antivirus.

I'd switch over to MSE or Avira and use whichever you like more (bearing in mind you can only run one antivirus, you can't use two or they conflict). Both are free, there's not really any need to pay for antivirus nowadays. It's the illusion of security, free antivirus will do everything a paid for version will do. The problem is people don't know that. The advantage of free AV's is they tend to be very lightweight and won't eat up resources like AVG does.

MSE: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-GB/windows/products/security-essentials
Avira: http://www.avira.com/en/avira-free-antivirus

If you ever have a problem with some program showing up or things feeling slow or popups, first thing to run is Malwarebytes. It's hands down the best anti-malware program there is, fortunately it's free as well.

Malwarebytes: http://www.malwarebytes.org/products/malwarebytes_free

If you find something Malwarebytes won't get rid of, it'll be spyware. Use Superantispyware and that'll zap 99% of things that aren't 0day.

SAS: http://www.superantispyware.com/

I used to use Avira Home, which is free. I now use Microsoft one as its unobtrusive, free and doesnt use that much RAM.

Aviria is full of toolbars and adverts these days so avoid.

Thats antivirus though. For spyware Malwarebytes is the only one I trust.

Thanks exO and Deano - all advice soaked up and utilised.

I was only a few months into my Norton 360 AV. It kept crashing each time I tried to run a full system scan. Their mods gave me all sorts of advice but none of it made any difference. Eventually I got rid of it and installed Kaspersky. Kaspersky found all sorts of nasties. I only visit sites like this...but my grandsons had been visiting games sites. So I expect that's where my PC's problems originated. Last week I replaced my printer with an Epson. My Kaspersky has since discovered a Trojan that came with the Epson software. It deleted it...shows you can't trust anybody. Cheers and hope you sort your problem.

Mmm, which is why I don't recommend Kaspersky. It has a false positive rating that's through the roof

Oh well...at least it helps me feel safe when I'm surfing.

This is good:-
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/combofix/how-to-use-combofix

Try it !!!!

Thanks everybody for your suggestions. I've tried all those programmes you mention but nothing has worked so far. I'm hoping the Doc's manual attempt will work but I'm scared of trying it. It implies that if you're not familiar with the computer you shouldn't do it on your own. I'm going to have to wait until someone more knowledgeable than me is here to help. In the meantime I'll have to put up with it - but thank you for the info. (I'm chicken) ha ha

I hope you don't intend to use the machine in the meantime if following that simple guide is too much for you.

Can bet that if you have malware like that installed it'll have dropped other malware as well. Password stealers, keyloggers, bots, spam scripts ...