HELP!! Homepage

[Tim]

Hello,
Every time I restart my computer IE brings up a homepage called
sexpatriot.net, a site I have never visited. It also adds two pornographic
sites to my favoites menu. Even though I continually change the homepage to
my desired
page it always reverts back to this unwanted homepage. Could this be some
sort of virus. Help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

TIM

 

[Ferdo]

Download and install a spyware utility like Spybot or
AdAware. This will remove the porn spyware in your
computer. Do a google search for sites to download these
free programs

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP]

Hello,
Every time I restart my computer IE brings up a homepage called
sexpatriot.net, a site I have never visited. It also adds two
pornographic sites to my favoites menu. Even though I continually
change the homepage to my desired
page it always reverts back to this unwanted homepage. Could this be
some sort of virus. Help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in
advance.

TIM

First eliminate any scumware.
See
Dealing with Unwanted Spyware, Parasites, Toolbars and Search Engines
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm

 

[Tim]

Both thanks for the ideas but neither have worked. Any more suggestions or
ideas I'll try anything?

TIM

 

[Guest]

when a popup appears asking to change your homepage
do not press the no button. press the x in corner.
if x is disabled (and probably is) use task manager to
end task this browser window. a new window can be opened.

these popups will appear usually when you press the
back button in toolbar. about 1 in 50 sites will popup
with this little item. popup blocker does not stop this
one.

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP]

Both thanks for the ideas but neither have worked. Any more
suggestions or ideas I'll try anything?

TIM

From http://www.fjsmjs.com/IE/homepage.htm

If you still have problems, some ISP's provide a customized version of IE.
Some Web pages will also reset your home page and do this. One of the
customizations they might make is to disable the ability to change the home
page, so that you are forced to use their home page. You can re-enable this
by making a small change in the Windows registry.

In Regedit, navigate to this key:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Control
Panel

In the right-hand pane, right-click the "HomePage" value, then select
Modify. Change it to: 00 00 00 00

Also change either or these to zero 0 instead of 1 if present:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explo
rer] - DWORD "NoSetHomePage"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet
Explorer\Restrictions] - DWORD "NoSetHomePage"=dword:00000001

If you don't have this key, browse to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main

and in the right hand pane, double click "Local Page" and set equal to
"C:\WINDOWS\System\blank.htm" (no quotes) which will hopefully set your Home
Page to blank and then allow you to subsequently modify it using Internet
Options.

Exit regedit and reboot.

When you reboot, you should be able to change the home page again.

Some pages will also download a program which keeps changing it back. Go to
Start | Run and type:
msconfig
and press <Enter> or click OK. Go to the Startup tab.
See if you can identify any suspicious programs. If you can, uncheck it, If
you can't, change the home page to what you want and then uncheck one and
then reboot. Try IE. If the Web page changed, change it back and then try
msconfig again, rechecking the last one and unchecking the next. Keep doing
this until you find the culprit.


You might also want to look at this little program. I haven't tried it, but
I've read encouraging reports:

http://www.pjwalczak.com/spguard/

 

[Brian]

I am having a similar problem as the one described below
and am also wondering how to correct this. I have tried
using antispyware products like "adaware" and "spybot"
but they don't work. Help would be appreciated.

Brian

 

[siljaline]

I am having a similar problem as the one described below
and am also wondering how to correct this. I have tried
using antispyware products like "adaware" and "spybot"
but they don't work. Help would be appreciated.

Brian

http://forums.spywareinfo.com/index.php?showtopic=17027&hl=sexpatriot
http://forums.spywareinfo.com/index.php?showtopic=17446&hl=sexpatriot
http://forums.spywareinfo.com/index.php?showtopic=17414&hl=sexpatriot
http://forums.spywareinfo.com/index.php?showtopic=17420&hl=sexpatriot

Download and run "Hijack This" - info and more at this link:
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm

HTH

--
siljaline

MS - MVP Windows IE/OE
______________________

(Please reply to group, as reply address is invalid,
so that we can all benefit)

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP]

I am having a similar problem as the one described below
and am also wondering how to correct this. I have tried
using antispyware products like "adaware" and "spybot"
but they don't work. Help would be appreciated.

Brian

Did you update them before scanning?

 

[H Leboeuf]

You may have been hacked by a new parasites. Check with the expert here.

Go to http://www.spywareinfo.com/downloads.php#det
Download "Hijack This!" [freeware] or download direct (below):
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/files/hijackthis.zip

If you get a 404 error or Access denied, try:
http://216.180.252.218/~spywareinfo.com/downloads/tools/hijackthis.zip

Unzip, double-click "HijackThis.exe" and Press "Scan".

When the scan is finished, the "Scan" button will change into a "Save Log"
button.
Click: "Save Log" (generates "hijackthis.log")

Next, HijackThis | Config [button] | Misc Tools [button]
Click: Generate StartupList log [button] (generates "startuplist.txt")

Next, go to the below location:
http://www.spywareinfo.com/forums/

Sign in, then copy and paste both files in your message.

HijackThis Quick Start Help
http://www.tomcoyote.org/hjt/

 

[tim]

use regedit to find msoffice.hta in hkey hardware -- run and delete
entry also find all sex patriot and royalsearch in registry and
delete. also find msoffice.hta in c:\windows\fonts and delete. reset
your ie home page.

tim

 

[siljaline]

Tim,
That's a negative, see my original response - below -

<snip>
Download and run "Hijack This" - info and more at this link:
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm
</snip>

--
siljaline

MS - MVP Windows IE/OE
______________________

(Reply to group, as return address
is invalid - that we may all benefit)