Hijacked browser

[Rocky]

I always set my browser homepage on the about:blank
setting. Suddenly instead I get this "web site directory"
every time I click on my IE. In the address field it
still says "about:blank." I go under tools/internet
options/home page and it still says "about:blank". I try
to change it to any other home page -- for example, my
ISP's home page -- and it automatically defaults back to
this unwanted "web site directory" and "about:blank."
what I want is a blank page. I do NOT want this website
directory, or anything else either. My ISP said it it was
a browser hijack and may be a program running in
background and suggested I look in add/remove programs
for a suspicious stranger, but I saw none. I just ran all
my diagnosics -- Norton AntiVirus, Ad-Aware, WinDoctor,
Disk Doctor, Speed Disk -- cleaned out a lot of junk but
this "web site directory" is still there. There is
nothing on this page that indicates source. Right-click
does nothing. How do I get rid of this thing???

 

[Jan Il]

Hi Rocky

ABOUT BLANK

What is About Blank?
http://snipurl.com/6yuj


Courtesy of Mike Maltby:

You've been hijacked, quite possibly by a variant of the CoolWebSearch
parasite. Possibly the CWS.Aboutblank variant
(http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/cwschronicles.html#aboutblank)

Download and run CWShredder
(http://www.zerosrealm.com/downloads/CWShredder.zip or
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/files/cwshredder.zip) which is the best
way
of getting rid of the many forms of the CoolWebSearch hijacker details of
which can be found at http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/cwschronicles.html
and also http://www.pestpatrol.com/pestinfo/c/cws.asp..

This would be a good time to download yourself a copy of the free Ad-Aware
6.0from Lavasoft (http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/) and also
SpyBot Search & Destroy (http://www.safer-networking.org/) and use them to
check
your system for other commercial parasites remembering that they are only as
good as when you last updated their reference files. I also use a program
called
BHODemon (http://www.definitivesolutions.com/bhodemon.htm that checks for
unwanted Browser Help Objects and SpywareBlaster
(http://www.wilderssecurity.net/spywareblaster.html) which can help prevent
some parasites getting a grip on your PC.

Hope this helps.

Jan

 

[Rocky]

About:blank is one of three IE options in Tools/Internet
Options/Home Page to choose what you want for a home page
when you open IE -- the other two being to use a default
page or to use the current page you are viewing.
About:blank gives you a plain blank page -- that is, no
download time.

Now ... I found my own answer. I cleared out my cookies
in Cocuments and Settings/Owner/Local
Settings/Temporary Internat Files. Then I opened the
browser and the unwanted page appeared. A cookie appeared
in the Temporary Internet Files and in the cookie was an
internet address (195.190.118.131). I put that address
into the browser and what came up was a page that had
only an "uninstal software." Clicked it and the offending
page was gone (and still no clue who the website belonged
to -- imho very underhanded).

--Rocky

-----Original Message-----
Hi Rocky

ABOUT BLANK

What is About Blank?
http://snipurl.com/6yuj


Courtesy of Mike Maltby:

You've been hijacked, quite possibly by a variant of the CoolWebSearch
parasite. Possibly the CWS.Aboutblank variant
(http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/cwschronicles.html#abo
utblank)

Download and run CWShredder
(http://www.zerosrealm.com/downloads/CWShredder.zip or
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/files/cwshredder.zip) which is the best
way
of getting rid of the many forms of the CoolWebSearch hijacker details of
which can be found at http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/cwschronicles.html
and also http://www.pestpatrol.com/pestinfo/c/cws.asp..

This would be a good time to download yourself a copy of the free Ad-Aware
6.0from Lavasoft

(http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/) and also

SpyBot Search & Destroy (http://www.safer-

networking.org/) and use them to

check
your system for other commercial parasites remembering that they are only as
good as when you last updated their reference files. I also use a program
called
BHODemon

(http://www.definitivesolutions.com/bhodemon.htm that
checks for

 

[Jan Il]

Hi Rocky

About:blank is one of three IE options in Tools/Internet
Options/Home Page to choose what you want for a home page
when you open IE -- the other two being to use a default
page or to use the current page you are viewing.
About:blank gives you a plain blank page -- that is, no
download time.

Now ... I found my own answer. I cleared out my cookies
in Cocuments and Settings/Owner/Local
Settings/Temporary Internat Files. Then I opened the
browser and the unwanted page appeared. A cookie appeared
in the Temporary Internet Files and in the cookie was an
internet address (195.190.118.131). I put that address
into the browser and what came up was a page that had
only an "uninstal software." Clicked it and the offending
page was gone (and still no clue who the website belonged
to -- imho very underhanded).

Good work! Glad to hear you got the problem resolved. Underhanded is the
way the types who create this kind of garbage play. Sneaky and dirty pool.
It's a good idea to keep your pest eradication arsenal well stocked.

Thank you for posting back with the solution that resolved the problem so
other readers will benefit.

Jan