Possible Browser Hijack

[frogsquad]

this report from Microsoft AntiSpyware
Possible Browser Hijack (BrowserModifyer) , Threat Level
High , View all detected
locations....InternetExplorerStartPage://xtramsn.co.nz/hom
e/
That is the name of the home Page I have chosen .
AntiSpyware is revealing it as a High Threat .
Why ? I chose it by Windows .
I did have Blank Page Home Page and ok'd the AntiSpyware
approval to make xtramsn my home page .
It couldn't be an elaborate hoax , could it ?
It is the xtramsn home page .

 

[Bill Sanderson]

This is an "issue" with Microsoft Antispyware. I won't quite call it a bug,
but it sure seems strange, simplistic, awkward, and downright maddening. In
fact, Microsoft was sued and settled a court case in the Netherlands over
precisely this issue.

The fix is to go to Tools, browser hijack restore settings, and put your
desired home page settings into the UI there. This will keep it from
alarming on it.

Here's hoping this will work better/differently in later versions.

 

[fr...fr...frogsqud]

I guess because the Windows XP Home Edition is listed
with the locale as United States in the Computer
Information in Windows IE tries to direct itself to the
USA MSN Home page which is what I saw it doing last
night . I forget what I did to see that happen last night
but it changed from the USA(I presumed) MSN Home page to
the NZ MSN Home page .
I will try the fix .
Thanks very much .

 

[Hagrinas Mivali]

this report from Microsoft AntiSpyware
Possible Browser Hijack (BrowserModifyer) , Threat Level
High , View all detected
locations....InternetExplorerStartPage://xtramsn.co.nz/hom
e/
That is the name of the home Page I have chosen .
AntiSpyware is revealing it as a High Threat .
Why ? I chose it by Windows .
I did have Blank Page Home Page and ok'd the AntiSpyware
approval to make xtramsn my home page .
It couldn't be an elaborate hoax , could it ?
It is the xtramsn home page .

When is a default home page a "hijack" and when is it not? I think that's
the real issue. For Microsoft to decide that they know what's best for my
home page is just as arrogant as the myriad ISPs and others who try to
change people's home pages for them.

If the home page was set by the user, it should be presumed legitimate.
Otherwise, it should not.

Recently, my ISP sent me a new router/gateway/switch/dsl modem. It came
with a CD, supposedly to configure it. Before it even got to the part where
I could agree to do anything, it tried to change my browser's home page.
Another leading anti-spyware package alerted me to this potential change,
and I got that CD out of my system as fast as I could. I can optimize my
computer for DSL just fine using regedit. I consider that disk a hijacker,
and I'd bet that most people have a home page that they did not pick.

What I'd like to see MAS do is notify me dynamically if any program tries to
change my browser's home page, or add anything to my quick launch bar, add
desktop icons, or add anything to my start menu outside of the "programs"
area. Some installation programs are well behaved and ask first. Others
are not.

 

[Bill Sanderson]

But how do you know whether the page was set by the user, or by a
virus/spyware/malware of some kind?

Another spyware vendor chose to set the defaults for browser hijack restore
to those in existence when the program was installed--with obvious
repercussions.

I don't like how this feature works, and agree with you that, for example,
if the user goes through the IE UI and changes the home page, Microsoft
Antispyware ought to record that change and acquiesce.

As it is, there are two processes: 1) the defaults are set to those from
the original OS installation. They are different, for example, on a DELL
OEM machine from a retail OS installation. 2) the user is prompted in every
installation I've done at some point early in program operation, with a list
of the URL's and given the chance to change them. This list is long, and
many users really only care about the two which specify home pages--there
may be a better way to do this--like "you current home page is.....do you
wish that set as the home page which will be restored when a Browser hijack
is repaired?"

Anyway--Microsoft has gotten a lot of flak over the choices here, including
the suit in the Netherlands, over what I think are pretty reasonable choices
about defaults. The feature has to work better than it does now, though.