Hijacked Internet Explorer Homepage

[John]

After browsing the Internet with Internet Explorer 6.0,
I was directed to a site (searchdirs.com) ... bad. It is
an unmaintained site that somehow inserts code to overide
my IE Home Page. I can reset the Home Page using the
Tool, Preferences screen. The reset will hold if I
Hibernate the computer. However, if I SHUTDOWN the
computer, my Home Page is overwritten again. This tells
me my shutdown process has been compromised and this
reset is buried somewhere as XP saves my settings. I've
used regedit, but can't find anything there.

I'd appreciate any thoughts on where else to look to kill
this thing.

Thank you,

John

 

[Wesley Vogel]

John;

First.
Right click the IE icon | Properties | Advanced tab |
Make sure both of these are NOT checked.

 Enable Install On Demand (Internet Explorer)
[[Specifies to automatically download and install Internet Explorer
components if a Web page needs them in order to display the page properly or
perform a particular task.]]
 Enable Install On Demand (Other)
[[Specifies to automatically download and install Web components if a Web
page needs them in order to display the page properly or perform a
particular task.]]

Apply | OK
=================================

Second.
It is known as Scumware. Visit these sites. 1, 2, 3 and 4 are really good.
Download, install, run, update and run again; one or all. They are all
good, FREE utilities.
The first site gives some recommendations.
http://www.spywareinfo.com/downloads.php?cat=all#s-p

1) Spybot S & D
http://www.safer-networking.org/index.php?lang=en&page=download
or
http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads31.html

2) SpywareBlaster
SpywareBlaster doesn't scan and clean for spyware - it prevents it from ever
being installed.
The most important step you can take is to secure your system. And
SpywareBlaster is the most powerful protection program available.
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html

3) HijackThis (some other stuff that may be of interest also)
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html

4) CWShredder direct download:
http://216.180.233.163/~merijn/files/CWShredder.exe

4½) CWShredder
http://majorgeeks.com/download4086.html

5) Bazooka Adware and Spyware Scanner v1.13
http://www.kephyr.com/spywarescanner/index.html?source=appvisit

6) ToolbarCop
http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k/toolbarcop.htm

7) AdAware
http://www.lavasoft.de/support/download/
===============

Additional information & instructions.
A wealth of information here, boys and girls.

THE PARASITE FIGHT QUICK FIX PROTOCOL
http://aumha.org/a/quickfix.htm

THE PARASITE FIGHT
Finding, Removing & Protecting Yourself From Scumware
http://aumha.org/a/parasite.htm

Bugs, Glitches & Stuffups
http://www.mvps.org/inetexplorer/Darnit.htm

Dealing with Unwanted Spyware and Parasites
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm

Unexplained computer behavior may be caused by deceptive software
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;827315#appliesto

Spyware and Deceptive Software
http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/twc/privacy/spyware.mspx?gssnb=1

What you should know about spyware
http://www.microsoft.com/security/articles/spyware.asp

 

[Guest]

download Spybot