Can't change home page, read others post

J

Jeremy

removethis said:
WOOOOPPPYYYYY. I removed AVG, Ewido, SpyBot S&D, Ad-Aware, CWShredder and
Zone Alarm. I feel like I'm on a naked computer. I started with either the
add-remove program or if the software had a uninstall option I used it. Then
I started trying to remove any leftovers in the registry, but that got scarry
quick, so I opted to do a 'search' from the START menu on the 'C' drive for
all files and folders for each piece of software and deleted anything the
search found. Unfortunantly, I'm not sure which piece of was the culprit
because I did a simple uninstall of all of them yesterday, without result,
and was sceptical todays result would be any differant. But today, WOOHOO!!!
After all were uninstalled, I went to the registry first to see if I could
change the 'Start Page' there and when it didn't give me the error message,
my pulse quickined. I opened IE and sure enough, the home page was rest to
the new page. I then went to Google and reset it to the home page and that
took. So now I can set it to any website I like. Needless to say, as I
re-install the anti software, I'll be checking after each install to see that
the home page still resets.
By the way, I uninstalled:
AVG anti virus free edition
Lavasoft Ad-Aware free (personal) edition anti spyware
Ewido free edition anti spyware
Zone Alarm free edition
CWShredder anti browser hijack freeware
Spybot S&D free edition
AGAIN, THANKS TO ONE AND ALLLL!!!!!
and I'll post 1 more time after the software is reinstalled.
Tom



All you had to do was turn off Zone Alarm lol. So in the future if you
want to change your home page, just turn off Zone Alarm, change the
home page, and turn it on again. Unbelievably simple solution for the
amount of troubleshooting you've been doing isn't it? :)
 
G

Guest

Glad turning it off worked for you. Wgen I tried that, no good. I had to
completely uninstall it. As long as I don't have ZA installed, I can go willy
nilly changing my home page. And the odd part is, I've used ZA for 5 years
and never had this trouble until now.Oh well. I don't really need it. I have
the Windows firewall turned on, and since Im going through a router, I'll be
good.
Again, thanks to ALL who helped!!!!
Tom
 
R

rican

Try to do a clean boot and change the page. I do have the latest
ZoneAlarm on my Dell computer but I think the problem stems from
Windows Updates. I would do a clean install of Windows Xp and before
anything else, install an antivirus program when you connect to the
net. Next, do a System Restore. After that, do a Windows Update and
go from there. Do not install Zone Alarm for now. I don't have Zone
Alarm on my other computer because I had the same home page problem. I
think it is a combination of Windows Update and Zone Alarm. If you
want, you can do all the updates except those for Internet Explorer and
see what happens. I hope this helps.

Eliot

Are you running Zone Alarm as your firewall? There is a big problem with
that progam locking the homepage. I'm dealing with it as well. There is
still no solution that I know of, but I understand that Zone Labs is aware of
the problem.

nass said:
Tom, did you Right Click on the folder *Main* and look for the drop down
menu/list and select Permission, if you can't get that, what happen if you
right click Local Page do you see Permissions if yes get full contrl to it.
I don't like the sound of *Reset web settings* not allowed, as Don and Frank
said you have Anti-Virus/Anti-spyware blocking you from changing the settings.
Uninstall them and then try to set the home page to a safer website that you
will not be get infected and then Reinstall your Software and set it so you
can Overrride any settings as you wish not as they wish.
My worry is you may infected and the Virus is playing about and locking you
out of any changes! that is a doubt not certain only you know the A.
Good luck
nass


thbjr(removethis)@hotmail.com said:
Nass, In the resistry MAIN folder there is no PERMISSIONS line, only P's are
PLACEHOLDERS. I did check under accounts and yes, I am Administrator.
I want into IE internet options, Manage add-ons abd that was set to ADD ON
THAT HAVE BEEN USED BY IE. I can not find Browser Helper Objects or Toolbars
for NON-MS to disable, but I ONLY use the IE toolbar, no Google or Yahoo, etc.
I'll be out for a couple hours , but when I return, I'll delete all
anti-virus/spyware as you suggest. Also, while in IE internet options,
Programs tab, there is an option to RESET WEB SETTING (to default). I tried
that button and got a UNABLE TO RESET WEB SETTINGS message.
Thanks again and I'll check back in a few hours.
Tom

:



:

Nass,
sorry to report that didn't work. Here are the specifics. I changed
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main as you suggested
on 'local page' but when I tried to change the 'start page', I got this
"ERROR EDITING VALUE" message "Cannot Edit Start Page: Error Writing The
Value's New Content". The entry in the registry did change to the new
website, so I continued with the other 2 registry entries in the
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main and reset the
homepage on the IE internet options window. Rebooted and no good. The 'START
PAGE' entry went back to the old homepage entry. I next did a system restore
and that rest all the registry values to where they were originaly.
Here are what each was originally:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main
local page, from C:\WINDOWS\system32\blank.htm
to C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\blank.htm
start page, from http://www.egwhite.org/
to http://www.whiteestate.org/ (when entered, got
error message)
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main
local page, from %SystemRoot%\system32\blank.htm
to C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\blank.htm
start page, was exactly the same as you wrote except that the
...\reddir.dll?... only had 1 d in \redir.dll?, so I left that entry alone.

Did I do anything wrong, or do you know why I got the error message when I
tried to change the START PAGE entry?

Thanks so much for all your help!!!!!!
Tom




:



:

Nass, thanks for the step by step on SpyBot S&D. I had gotten as far as the
IE tweaks, but when I double clicked that, it opened into the Lock IE Start
Page option. Unfortunantly, all boxes were unchecked and Current User fields
were empty. I also tried the link you supplied, still no good. This computer
is still unable to change the home page.
thanks for trying ... anyone else with an idea?
Tom

:

Hi Thbjr,
In the S&D click on Tools >> IE Tweaks >> Miscellaneous Locks
[ ] Lock IE Start Page Settings in front of the current user. uncheck
this option

Try this from kelly:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

Hope this helps
Regards
nass



:

FYI, I went ahead and unchecked every porgram in the cmsconfig/startup tab,
still no good. This is starting to get down right agravating!
tom

:

I've read many post from folks that can't change their IE home page. The
general 'cure' is dealing with anti spyware and anti virus software. So I
removed all my anti spyware and virus software, ad-aware, spybot s&d, windows
defender and AVG. Still, the home page won't reset from when I did a files
and settings transfer to set it origonally when I bought the computer. I even
changed the homepage on another computer, did a settings transfer to cd and
tried to install those setting with the new home page to this computer, all
without success. I'm open to suggestions, ... this side of firefox.
Thanks, Tom

Hi, (back up your registry first)
Try this it mentioned by Frank, Open the RUN command and type regedit32.exe
or regedit.exe and Click OK.

In the registry Editor click on this KEY:
[+] HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main.
Loook in the Right Pane/Window for Local Page Right click on it and select
Modify.
In the new window Input the Data C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\blank.htm and click OK.
Then Locate *Start Page* and there put the New Home page you want, Right
Click on it and select Modify and in the Data: http://www.bbc.co.uk for Ex
and click OK.

The same on this KEY:
[+] HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main.
Local Page change to C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\blank.htm.

Start Page
:http://www.microsoft.com/isapi/reddir.dll?prd={SUB_PRD}&clcid={SUB_CLSID}&pver={SUB_PVER}&ar=home
click Ok and Exit the Registry Editor change the home page on the IE
Properties also and Reboot and see if the issue resolved.
HTH
nass


Hi Tom,
Are you the Admin of the computer, if not Asign yourself as the admin or in
the admin group, to that go to the Control Panel and Accounts and do the
appropriate changes.
Then in the Registry Right click:
[+] HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main
and select Permession and see if you have Full Control on the Key (Main).
and if you do not have then asign yourself Full control, if you have and
still can't change the Value then proceed to this step;
In the IE Properties Click on Programs and Click on Manage Add-Ons in the
Add-Ons window click on the Drop down and select : The Add-Ons that being
used by Interent Explorer.
and disable Browser Helper Objects or Toolbars for Non-MS (i.e.
Anti-Spyware, AV, Spybot...etc).
Then on General Change the Home Page and click Apply/OK and then Reboot and
see if you will have the new Page.
If no joy Uninstall Spybot, spy shierf or whatever Anti-Spyware or
Anti-Virus you have from the Contrl Panel or if they have Uninstall Utility
came with them.
Delete the left Folder behind in the Windows Explorer by locate or search
for them by name.
In the Registry Right click on the KEYs and Select Find and Delete any left
over from these Apps ( be careful to not delete Sys Folder, always backup
before delete in the Regs).
Reboot and Do the changes for the Home page in either Reg or IE Window.
HTH
Regards
nass
 

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