Okay folks, here is a fix for this problem.
NOTE: This is not a fix for the trojan called DNSchanger, or its variant called zlob. (If you think you may have DNSchanger, you can download a scanning app here: »
www.dnschanger.com/)
This is a problem that appears to be isolated to SMC wireless modems and has nothing to do with DNSchanger. It seems some SMC modems, on various ISPs, are configured to redirect searches to wsearch.net pages. (DNSchanger will redirect you to all sorts of other pages.)
SYMPTOMS:
1) Links in Google search results randomly redirect to wsearch.net pages or 503 Error pages.
2) Hyperlinks in non-google web pages randomly redirect to wsearch.net pages or 503 Error pages.
3) Single-word entries, or other non-HTML entries, in the URL address bar redirect to wsearch.net pages or 503 Error pages.
(We think all the 503 Errors may be a result of overload on the wesearch.net server due to all the redirects.)
If you have an SMC wireless modem and are experiencing some or all of these problems, here is the fix.
In a browser window, visit the SMC modem page: »192.168.0.1/login.asp
Login as follows
Username: cusadmin
Password: password
From the sidebar menu, choose LAN.
Notice on the screen that appears that the "Domain Name" field has been preset with mygateway.com. Change this to one of the following OpenDNS IPs: 208.67.222.222 or 208.67.222.220
Click "APPLY" and you will see a prompt warning that your modem will have to reboot. Click "OK" on the prompt to reboot the modem.
When your modem reboots (about 30 to 40 secs) all the problems *should* be gone.
(NOTE: If you reset you modem, this will restore the wsearch.net Domain Name default. Something you probably don't want to do.)