homepage hijacking

[freerollerjr]

is there a way to block someone from changing my homepage?
I want to stop it all together instead of having a program
to change it back...

 

[Sandi - Microsoft MVP]

You would use the same trick as the hijackers use to stop *you* from
changing the page when they hijack your system. You simply get in there
first.

This advice covers three types of home page locking - hijacking (by web
sites), hijacking (by viruses) and locking (by ISPs when you install their
software, and computer manufacturers)

Hijacking

First, update to Internet Explorer 6. Most sites that try to hijack your
home page will now trigger a 'do you want to do this' warning message that
lets you stop the hijacking. The sneaky background activex downloads that
are often used by hijack sites to install spyware will also trigger a 'do
you want to do this' install window.

Some web sites try to change your home page or search engine options if you
visit them. Some that have been mentioned in the newsgroups include gohip,
sureseeker, webcombo, cybersearch and passthison.

Microsoft links to problems with the above sites are as follows:

PassThisOn.com Home Page Appears When You Start Computer [Q309313]
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q309313

Cannot Change Default Home Page Setting from Webcombo Site [Q302459]
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q302459

More general advice can be found at the next link:

Home Page Setting Changes Unexpectedly, or You Cannot Change Your Home Page
Setting
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;320159

In addition, you may discover that browser.secondpower.com is being added to
your homepage URL. This link has an Uninstaller:
http://www.secondpower.com/customer.html

Please see this link for advice on security fixes that can help prevent such
hijackings.

http://www.mvps.org/inetexplorer/Darnit.htm#hijackings

Also, there are some viruses that can reset your home page - so make sure
that your antivirus is completely up to date.

There is a clever little shareware programme that can help stop your home
page being changed; it seems to work well but tends to trigger when you
change your home page manually the next time that you start IE - the
programme makes it much easier to take back control of your home page
settings:

http://www.pjwalczak.com/spguard/

Locking

Some computer manufacturers and suppliers of internet access set IE to their
home page and lock this setting via the registry. Hijackers use exactly the
same trick. The locking is done using registry settings as per the
following:

Home Page Setting Changes Unexpectedly, or You Cannot Change Your Home Page
Setting (Q320159)
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;q320159

Specific registry settings affected are:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Control
Panel] - DWORD "HomePage"=dword:00000001 (grays out the whole section)

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
- DWORD "NoSetHomePage"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet
Explorer\Restrictions] - DWORD "NoSetHomePage"=dword:00000001


--
Hyperlinks are used to ensure advice remains current
Do NOT send me an email. I will NOT see it (thank the spammers and viruses)
_______________________________________
Sandi - Microsoft MVP since 1999 (IE/OE)
http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/

 

[H Leboeuf]

This may be caused by a third-party program (adware, spyware, parasite).
Get AdAware and SpyBot and run them both. Keep them up to date.
Dealing with Unwanted Spyware, Parasites, Toolbars and Search Engines
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm

Also, get all the securi patches from MS as explained in the URL above.

This may be interesting.
UTILITY StartPage Guard
Protects your PC from cyberscam, by monitoring status of your internet
browser Start page (Home Page ) address and preventing it from any
unauthorized changes. It also can be used to remove or change unwanted start
page address, even if change-start page-buttons has been disabled.
http://www.pjwalczak.com/spguard/

 

[Niteowl]

*is there a way to block someone from changing my homepage?
I want to stop it all together instead of having a program
to change it back... *

I do have the same problem. It seems that there is a new hijacker i
the cyberspace. I've tried to get around the problem to no avail.
Even the latest version of AdAware doesn't seem to recognize tha
spyware/malware. I've uninstalled IE 6.0, reinstalled it, setting m
home page to blank, this same navigation toolbar keeps popping up
offering some of their links.

Here is the copy of what I can't get rid of (DO NOT CLICK ON IT!):
http://tinyurl.com/2uycw

So, I guess "Netseachsoft.com" is the baddie and I can't seem to b
able to get rid of their .DLL

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks


-
Niteow

 

[Niteowl]

*I do have the same problem. It seems that there is a new hijacke
in the cyberspace. I've tried to get around the problem to no avail
Even the latest version of AdAware doesn't seem to recognize tha
spyware/malware. I've uninstalled IE 6.0, reinstalled it, setting m
home page to blank, this same navigation toolbar keeps popping up
offering some of their links.

Here is the copy of what I can't get rid of (DO NOT CLICK ON IT!):
http://tinyurl.com/3bkrg[/URL]

So, I guess "Netseachsoft.com" is the baddie and I can't seem to b
able to get rid of their .DLL

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks. *

I've found the solution. Only took 2 minutes to fix th
"NetSearchSoft" hijack. The www.computercops.biz forums have helped
and you can download the software called "HiJackThis". I had to ru
the scan three times to get rid of NetSearchSoft completely, but i
worked great. No more annoying blue bars and no other search engine i
popping up. Great software


-
Niteow