Home Page Setting and Desk Top Additions

[david]

While browsing the internet I was alerted bt McAfee virus
scan that it detected and eliminated a virus. I ran a
complete virus scan and it says none are currently present.
However my home page defauly has been changed and I cannot
get it back via Tools, Internet Options. I also have three
new icons added to my desktop that I cannot get rid of by
deeting them and clearing the recycle bin. They go away
but come back when I restart. I read Knowledge Base
Article 310353 but I'm getting confused following it. I
tried the clean boot but I'm not sure if I actually did a
clean boot or not. After clearing the boxes as intructed
and restarting all the boxes remained clear and the
problem is still there. What do I need to do? How can I
determine what the problem is? Thanks.

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP]

While browsing the internet I was alerted bt McAfee virus
scan that it detected and eliminated a virus. I ran a
complete virus scan and it says none are currently present.
However my home page defauly has been changed and I cannot
get it back via Tools, Internet Options. I also have three
new icons added to my desktop that I cannot get rid of by
deeting them and clearing the recycle bin. They go away
but come back when I restart. I read Knowledge Base
Article 310353 but I'm getting confused following it. I
tried the clean boot but I'm not sure if I actually did a
clean boot or not. After clearing the boxes as intructed
and restarting all the boxes remained clear and the
problem is still there. What do I need to do? How can I
determine what the problem is? Thanks.

First eliminate any scumware.
See
Dealing with Unwanted Malware, Parasites, Toolbars and Search Engines
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm
especially
How to remove Coolwebsearch and affiliates
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm#Coolwebsearch

Note that AdAware and SpyBot S & D will each catch some things the other
won't. Also, each needs to be updated with the program's update function
before every use, even when just downloaded. There's also a lot more to do
than just those two programs. CWShredder is also available here:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/regs_edits/cwshredder.zip
**Post your HijackThis log to
http://forums.spywareinfo.com/ or the Spyware forum at
http://forum.aumha.org/ for expert analysis, not here.**
Alternative download pages for Ad-Aware, Spybot, HijackThis and CWShredder
may be found on this page:
http://aumha.org/a/parasite.htm.
If trying everything at that site does not fix the problem please post back
in the same thread.

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP, IE/OE
Please respond in Newsgroup. Do not send email
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http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/