Home Page

[J]

Hey all.

I have Verizon DSL for my internet and I am using IE for
my browser (Windows 98). Somewhere along the line a site
I was visiting changed my preferred home page to a bogus
search site.... This is really annoying, since not only
does it screw up the home page, but it also sets up mirror
search sites that come up with pages and pages of
additional garbage results when you're searching with
google or yahoo. Everytime I switch the homepage back to
what it should be, this bogus page re-establishes itself
on start-up. I've tried using various programs -- like
Adaware and Spybot -- to find the problem, but they've
come up empty. I've deleted all my old cookies. I've
even gone into msconfig and tried to change the startup
confguration, but there seems to be a lot of stuff in
there that either I can't turn off or that duplicates
itself and turns itself back on in spite of my efforts.
Does anyone have any ideas? I'm fresh out.

Thanks.

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP]

Hey all.

I have Verizon DSL for my internet and I am using IE for
my browser (Windows 98). Somewhere along the line a site
I was visiting changed my preferred home page to a bogus
search site.... This is really annoying, since not only
does it screw up the home page, but it also sets up mirror
search sites that come up with pages and pages of
additional garbage results when you're searching with
google or yahoo. Everytime I switch the homepage back to
what it should be, this bogus page re-establishes itself
on start-up. I've tried using various programs -- like
Adaware and Spybot -- to find the problem, but they've
come up empty. I've deleted all my old cookies. I've
even gone into msconfig and tried to change the startup
confguration, but there seems to be a lot of stuff in
there that either I can't turn off or that duplicates
itself and turns itself back on in spite of my efforts.
Does anyone have any ideas? I'm fresh out.

Thanks.

First eliminate any scumware.
See
Dealing with Unwanted Malware, Parasites, Toolbars and Search Engines
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm
especially
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 nothing there helps, please post back to this thread.

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