Does anyone here know anything about Wordpress?

[cambrensis]

There have been a few posts asking about "plain html" recently. If you are using an html generator, that might cause a problem with Wordpress..

Please look at Deanosaur's new thread: Does anyone else think that sending eBid buyers to Amazon is a good idea??....It is more than possible that I am seeing connections which are not there (I do it frequently) but I'm nearly 75 and been around programming since the 1960s and my sensors are flashing "danger"!

I am sure Support will have been checking all this. I am not stupid enough to claim that I am right (and I do believe the USA landed men on the moon!); there is no real evidence but it is possible that there are links. Those doing the programming should be able to check....and I am not so simple as to add "easily" - but worth watching.

[CopperLocker]

I use Wordpress and I've never had this problem. It sounds like the url shift is in your system end. Even with your virus software and I wouldn't recommend any freeware for full security, I think you should load Malwarebytes to see if you may have malware and other nastiness that may be corrupting your comp and laptop. For virus protection I would recommend Kaspersky.

[cambrensis]

I use Wordpress and I've never had this problem. It sounds like the url shift is in your system end. Even with your virus software and I wouldn't recommend any freeware for full security, I think you should load Malwarebytes to see if you may have malware and other nastiness that may be corrupting your comp and laptop. For virus protection I would recommend Kaspersky.

I did not see anybody suggest that Wordpress itself might be causing the problem. OP does not have Wordpress on the system. Unfortunately I am unable to run Wordpress as intended with the isp I use; I discovered that after ten minutes of the "5 minute quick install"!

I have noted in the past on several systems, however, that sometimes Windows (especially XP) seems to call for an installation file instead of starting a program, and has done so on systems which have just been cleanly installed. One that seems to cause problems here is Serif; the simple solution of reassigning shortcuts seems to work fine, however.

OP has not reported this as a continuing problem, so maybe we can put it down to a temporary glitch. Incidentally, I give all our machines the occasional flush with Malwarebytes - the free version of course.

[johnwash1]

...
OP has not reported this as a continuing problem, so maybe we can put it down to a temporary glitch. Incidentally, I give all our machines the occasional flush with Malwarebytes - the free version of course.

Actually Malwarebytes is so good that I would recommend sending them some dosh (e.g. buying the modestly priced premium version even if you don't then use it). If everyone uses the free version, how are they going to survive?

Malwarebytes does a different job from anti-virus. For some reason that eludes me, the AV makers just focus on viruses. I often encounter people with slow computers complaining of pop-ups and strange search results... when I get them to run Malwarebytes they find they've got dozens of all the usual suspects: Conduit, Trovi, FunWeb, etc etc. And none of them are shown up by their AV. These browser hijackers are such pests.

There's an easier solution, of course. Our house has been Windows-free for several years. As a result I make small donations to open source authors.