Esplorer Start / Home page

[Cooter]

Just finished reinstalling Win XP Home SP-2. When I run IE, the start / home
page defaults to MSN.com. It WILL NOT allow me to permanently change it (IE

Tools > Internet Options) to my normal start / home page, which is a

series of links. I can type in the URL (on local disk) of my page and it
will be displayed, then tell IE to use "Current Page", but when I hit home
again it reverts to MSN.com. Anyone have a solution to this? Is there a
registry key that controls it? I have searched for "msn.com" with no
results. Also for "startpage", but nothing there looks useful. Any help
appreciated.

 

[Wesley Vogel]

IE Home page grayed locked.

If you are using Spybot - Search & Destroy

Spybot - S & D
[+] Tools
IE Tweaks
Miscellaneous locks
UNCheck: Lock IE start page setting against user changes (current user)
---

If have Ad-Aware...

1. Open Ad-Aware
2. Click the gear at the top (opens the Ad-Aware Configuration window)
3. Click on Defaults on the left
4. Default Settings opens
5. Default homepage defaults to: http://www.msn.com
6. Default searchpage defaults to: http://ie.search.msn.com
7. If you click on Read current settings from system, nothing happens. Hmm.
8. I had to manually change to about:mozilla for Default homepage.

From Ad-Aware SE Manual (C:\Program Files\Lavasoft\Ad-Aware SE
Personal\manual.chm)

[[Default IE Pages
Default homepage: Ad-Aware SE uses the defined homepage when recovering from
a browser hijack

Default Search Engine: Ad-Aware SE uses the defined search engine when
recovering from a browser hijack

Read current settings from system: Changes the default homepage and default
search engine entries above to the current settings on your computer. This
option is an easy way for you to reset your defaults without having to enter
the paths manually ]]
-----

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

Read the instructions at the top.
Scroll down to...
63. Home Page Lock - Home Page Unlock
Click on Home Page Unlock
---

If you have XP Pro, check this setting in Group Policy.

Disable changing home page settings
http://www.boyce.us/gp/gpcontent.asp?ID=700

---

Or check these registry settings...

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\
Internet Explorer\Control Panel
and
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\
Internet Explorer\Control Panel

Value Name: HomePage
Value Type: REG_DWORD
Value Data: 0 or 1
0 = Not locked
1 = Locked

Home page setting changes unexpectedly, or you cannot change your home page
setting
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=320159

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[Cooter]

Thanks for the reply. I have both Ad-Aware and Spybot, so used both methods.
MSN still takes over whenever I click the "Home" icon. Makes no sense at all
to me.

 

[NewScience]

Try this (to not have IE or Windows Explorer open):

1. Open Regedit from Start Menu | Run
2. Open key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main
3. Change the Start Page value in right pane.
4. Close Regedit

 

[Cooter]

I have already worked at this registry edit for a couple of hours and it
refuses to let me edit the Start Page entry (there are 5 or 6 of them). I
changed permissions and it still refuses to let me make a change on any of
them. For what it's worth, I re-installed Windows XP for a friend and ran
into exactly the same thing, but later did a fresh install on a replacement
machine (same CD) and did not have the problem. Can't figure this thing
out - it's like MS hijacked the home page.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Wesley Vogel]

check these registry settings...

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\
Internet Explorer\Control Panel
and
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\
Internet Explorer\Control Panel

Value Name: HomePage
Value Type: REG_DWORD
Value Data: 0 or 1
0 = Not locked
1 = Locked

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[Cooter]

Thanks for the reply. That particular value was already set to 0. I tried
using IE > Tools > Internet Options (as usual) to set my home page, then
went back to regedit and changed the value to 1. No joy. As much as I hate
to, I'm going to reinstall Win again just to see if I get the same problem.
Two days work down the drain!

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE]

I have already worked at this registry edit for a couple of hours and it
refuses to let me edit the Start Page entry (there are 5 or 6 of them). I
changed permissions and it still refuses to let me make a change on any of
them. For what it's worth, I re-installed Windows XP for a friend and ran
into exactly the same thing, but later did a fresh install on a replacement
machine (same CD) and did not have the problem. Can't figure this thing
out - it's like MS hijacked the home page.

Thanks for your help.

What firewall and anti-virus programs?
Make sure they aren't locking the home page.

 

[Wesley Vogel]

Reinstalling may not fix your problem. Especially if you reinstall whatever
is locking your Home Page.

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[Cooter]

I reformatted and reinstalled, then copied my home page to drive C
immediately. Then double-clicked the homepage to start IE. It came up on my
home page and has worked correctly since.

As for AV and firewall, Norton Systemworks 2003 and ZoneAlarm (latest). Also
Ad-Aware and Spybot.

After installing the above, IE still appears to use my home page and shows
no signs of jumping over to MSN.

Thanks for all the replies. I wish I had some idea of what caused the
problem, but as I said, it has happened twice on two different computers.
Maybe I'm jinxed?

 

[Wesley Vogel]

SWAG: Did you have any MSN toolbars or Windows Desktop Search installed?

--
Hope this helps. Let us know.

Wes
MS-MVP Windows Shell/User

In

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE]

I reformatted and reinstalled, then copied my home page to drive C
immediately. Then double-clicked the homepage to start IE. It came up on my
home page and has worked correctly since.

As for AV and firewall, Norton Systemworks 2003 and ZoneAlarm (latest).
Also Ad-Aware and Spybot.

After installing the above, IE still appears to use my home page and shows
no signs of jumping over to MSN.

Thanks for all the replies. I wish I had some idea of what caused the
problem, but as I said, it has happened twice on two different computers.
Maybe I'm jinxed?

ZA 6.5 blocks changes to home page. 6.5.731 fixes that.