M$ Updates = homepage hijacker

[Steve Nielsen]

Security updates to XP and IE *is* spyware/adware when my blank IE
homepage gets hijacked to frikkin www.msn.com!!! Took me 3 attempts at
setting it bank to a blank page and finally worked when I deleted
cooties and temp * offline i'net files, exited and restarted IE.

What a pain! Don't we have ENOUGH problems with spyware, tojans, worms
and viruses as it is? Thanks a lot Micro$lop! Maybe M$ purposefully left
holes in IE and the OS so THEY can exploit them with THEIR advertising
and even do so under the guise of Automatic Upchucks!

Steve

 

[kurttrail]

Security updates to XP and IE *is* spyware/adware when my blank IE
homepage gets hijacked to frikkin www.msn.com!!! Took me 3 attempts at
setting it bank to a blank page and finally worked when I deleted
cooties and temp * offline i'net files, exited and restarted IE.

What a pain! Don't we have ENOUGH problems with spyware, tojans, worms
and viruses as it is? Thanks a lot Micro$lop! Maybe M$ purposefully
left holes in IE and the OS so THEY can exploit them with THEIR
advertising and even do so under the guise of Automatic Upchucks!

Steve

ROFL! You've been hanging around me too long!

Seriously, do you know which update did it? Because that is really lame of
MS, but they are the Original Homepage Hijackers, after all, so it's not all
that surprising that the leopard hasn't changed its spots. MS is definitely
not a company that consumers can trust.

"Trustworthy Computing." "Bah! Humbug!"

--
Peace!
Kurt
Self-anointed Moderator
microscum.pubic.windowsexp.gonorrhea
http://microscum.com
"Trustworthy Computing" is only another example of an Oxymoron!
"Produkt-Aktivierung macht frei!"

 

[Art]

This actually happened to my 98SE system as well. I was wondering what update did that. I am sorely disappointed if it was a Microsoft update.


: Security updates to XP and IE *is* spyware/adware when my blank IE
: homepage gets hijacked to frikkin www.msn.com!!! Took me 3 attempts
: at setting it bank to a blank page and finally worked when I deleted
: cooties and temp * offline i'net files, exited and restarted IE.
:
: What a pain! Don't we have ENOUGH problems with spyware, tojans,
: worms and viruses as it is? Thanks a lot Micro$lop! Maybe M$
: purposefully left holes in IE and the OS so THEY can exploit them
: with THEIR advertising and even do so under the guise of Automatic
: Upchucks!
:
: Steve

 

[Nelson]

Don't hold back, Steve; tell us what you REALLY think . . .

 

[kurttrail]

Don't hold back, Steve; tell us what you REALLY think . . .

And what makes you think he didn't, Nelson? Having problems comprehending
the written word, are ya'?

--
Peace!
Kurt
Self-anointed Moderator
microscum.pubic.windowsexp.gonorrhea
http://microscum.com
"Trustworthy Computing" is only another example of an Oxymoron!
"Produkt-Aktivierung macht frei!"

 

[Chris]

I doubt they're purposely putting security holes in just so they could
do this, but I absolutely agree that it's comparable to what adware does.
I'm willing to bet that also when you did that, your default browser
would have been to set to IE if it wasn't already. I think I've
encountered that before. Thanks Microsoft, but I know what I want my
default browser to be. And I also know what I want my homepage to be.
I also have a Mac and Apple NEVER resets my homepage when I update their
browser. Maybe the Microsoft guys could get some tips from them on how
not to piss off their customers. Microsoft, I hope you're listening.

I've been using FireFox for browsing on Windows and I really like it.
No security problems, built-in pop-up blocking, and it's faster than IE.
Plus it has tabs. I suggest you give it a try.

 

[Art]

I have been hearing a lot of good press about FireFox. Is it still in beta testing? Has it reached version 1.0 yet?

: I doubt they're purposely putting security holes in just so they could
: do this, but I absolutely agree that it's comparable to what adware does.
: I'm willing to bet that also when you did that, your default browser
: would have been to set to IE if it wasn't already. I think I've
: encountered that before. Thanks Microsoft, but I know what I want my
: default browser to be. And I also know what I want my homepage to be.
: I also have a Mac and Apple NEVER resets my homepage when I update their
: browser. Maybe the Microsoft guys could get some tips from them on how
: not to piss off their customers. Microsoft, I hope you're listening.
:
: I've been using FireFox for browsing on Windows and I really like it.
: No security problems, built-in pop-up blocking, and it's faster than IE.
: Plus it has tabs. I suggest you give it a try.
:
:
: > Security updates to XP and IE *is* spyware/adware when my blank IE
: > homepage gets hijacked to frikkin www.msn.com!!! Took me 3 attempts at
: > setting it bank to a blank page and finally worked when I deleted
: > cooties and temp * offline i'net files, exited and restarted IE.
: >
: > What a pain! Don't we have ENOUGH problems with spyware, tojans, worms
: > and viruses as it is? Thanks a lot Micro$lop! Maybe M$ purposefully
: > left holes in IE and the OS so THEY can exploit them with THEIR
: > advertising and even do so under the guise of Automatic Upchucks!
: >
: > Steve
: >
: >

 

[Kelly]

Nah, is just a basic default, not a hijack.

 

[Joh N.]

Nah, is just a basic default, not a hijack.

Then with every 'update', it *shouldn't* keep "defaulting" a persons setup.
Surely M$ has enough people working for it that 4 or 5 of them together in one
room will add up to almost a half a brain and be able to figure out how to make
this "defaulting" behavior stop? No matter how it's sliced, it's still
hijacking.

Joh N.

 

[Steve N.]

Nah, is just a basic default, not a hijack.

Amounts to just about the same thing. Was just about as much hassle as
eliminating a page hijack. I got enough problems to deal with protecting
systems without these little extra pleasures.

Steve

 

[Steve N.]

Steve Nielsen wrote:




ROFL! You've been hanging around me too long!

Seriously, do you know which update did it? Because that is really lame of
MS, but they are the Original Homepage Hijackers, after all, so it's not all
that surprising that the leopard hasn't changed its spots. MS is definitely
not a company that consumers can trust.

"Trustworthy Computing." "Bah! Humbug!"

Well, I've always been pretty clear about my dissatifactions and
annoyances with M$ stuff, just a bit more colorful about it this time
Sometimes I wouldn't use their stuff at all if I didn't have to. That
doesn't mean I do not appreciate what improvements M$ has made over
time, it just tends to get overshadowed by the crap they do.

Unfortunately, no, I didn't keep track of what the exact updates were,
there were about six of them, I tend to wait a bit before updating and
I really don't have the time to do one at a time and check the damage
report. I guess I will have to change my pratices, but the part that
really p*sses me off is that I've got over 1000 users, do you think THEY
are gonna carefully apply updates? H*ll no. So we HAVE to set them up to
do it automatically or it just won't happen. By the time they call me
with their problems there's been so many t*rds hitting the fan that you
can hardly see the blades.

Steve

 

[hermes]

Before the MVP (M$ Victim Poster) Hermes responded, kurttrail typed:

ROFL! You've been hanging around me too long!

Seriously, do you know which update did it? Because that is really
lame of MS, but they are the Original Homepage Hijackers, after all,
so it's not all that surprising that the leopard hasn't changed its
spots. MS is definitely not a company that consumers can trust.

"Trustworthy Computing." "Bah! Humbug!"

Correction Kurt, "Treacherous Computing"!!! TC is about conTROLLing and
limiting what you can do on your PC. It is not about consumer security as
M$ would like you to think!

--
hermes
DRM sux! Treacherous Computing kills our virtual civil liberties!
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~rja14/tcpa-faq.html

Windows XP crashed.
I am the Blue Screen of Death.
No one hears your screams.

Yesterday it worked.
Today it is not working.
Windows is like that.

 

[Steve N.]

This actually happened to my 98SE system as well. I was wondering
what update did that. I am sorely disappointed if it was a Microsoft
update.

Oh it was an M$ update alright, don't know which, probably one of the 3
or 4 latest IE security updates.

I know upgrading to IE6sp1 does it everytime and I've come to expect
that and correct it, but it p*sses me off that some subsequent security
update(s) reverts it back to the annoying msn site EVEN THOUGH the
deault homepage is blank or something else, and this one is particularly
hard to correct, as I said, took me three tries.

Steve

 

[Steve N.]

Heheh, don't encourage me. I try to be polite as best I can

Steve

 

[Steve N.]

Nelson wrote:




And what makes you think he didn't, Nelson? Having problems comprehending
the written word, are ya'?

I coulda swore more

Steve

 

[Steve N.]

Kelly, after spending 3 minutes figuring out which end of the pen to use, wrote:




Then with every 'update', it *shouldn't* keep "defaulting" a persons setup.
Surely M$ has enough people working for it that 4 or 5 of them together in one
room will add up to almost a half a brain and be able to figure out how to make
this "defaulting" behavior stop? No matter how it's sliced, it's still
hijacking.

Joh N.

Oh no! I've Jon AND Kurt in my corner! I'm DOOMED! I'll NEVER make MVP
now! LOL!



Steve

 

[Art]

When I change it back to about:blank then my anti-spyware software registers it as a problem when I do a scan and wants to revert it to msn.com. This is the case with Lavasoft's Adaware. What is going on HERE??!!! I plan to send Microsoft an e-mail about this issue. I agree that computer users have enough issues with other hijackers and everything. I do not want msn.com as my default home page even if I decide to visit the site sometimes. Dang -- kurttrail was right about the Microsoft conspiracy -- geez -- now I am all fired up about this --- if we cannot even trust Microsoft then who can we trust?????

: Art wrote:
:
: > This actually happened to my 98SE system as well. I was wondering
: > what update did that. I am sorely disappointed if it was a Microsoft
: > update.
:
: Oh it was an M$ update alright, don't know which, probably one of the 3
: or 4 latest IE security updates.
:
: I know upgrading to IE6sp1 does it everytime and I've come to expect
: that and correct it, but it p*sses me off that some subsequent security
: update(s) reverts it back to the annoying msn site EVEN THOUGH the
: deault homepage is blank or something else, and this one is particularly
: hard to correct, as I said, took me three tries.
:
: Steve
:
: >
: > : Security updates to XP
: > and IE *is* spyware/adware when my blank IE : homepage gets hijacked
: > to frikkin www.msn.com!!! Took me 3 attempts : at setting it bank to
: > a blank page and finally worked when I deleted : cooties and temp *
: > offline i'net files, exited and restarted IE. : : What a pain! Don't
: > we have ENOUGH problems with spyware, tojans, : worms and viruses as
: > it is? Thanks a lot Micro$lop! Maybe M$ : purposefully left holes in
: > IE and the OS so THEY can exploit them : with THEIR advertising and
: > even do so under the guise of Automatic : Upchucks! : : Steve
:

 

[Art]

So do users need to use FireFox or Mozilla for a secure browsing experience? I am now completely fed up with IE 6 sp1.

: Kelly wrote:
: > Nah, is just a basic default, not a hijack.
: >
:
: Amounts to just about the same thing. Was just about as much hassle as
: eliminating a page hijack. I got enough problems to deal with protecting
: systems without these little extra pleasures.
:
: Steve
:

 

[Tumbleweed]

I suspect you've ****ed up, I have all the updates and dont have this issue,
neither do millions of others or you'd be hearing about it big time, not in
this snotty group but in the press. Not even msoft is dumb enough to do what
you propose. I wonder if you selected it at one point (or it was selected as
part of install) and have also installed some kind of
anti-home-page-hijacker that is forcing your system back to what it was when
you set it up? Do you have anything like that on your system? 'fess up
now.......

--
Tumbleweed

Remove my socks for email address
When I change it back to about:blank then my anti-spyware software registers
it as a problem when I do a scan and wants to revert it to msn.com. This is
the case with Lavasoft's Adaware. What is going on HERE??!!! I plan to
send Microsoft an e-mail about this issue. I agree that computer users have
enough issues with other hijackers and everything. I do not want msn.com as
my default home page even if I decide to visit the site sometimes. Dang --
kurttrail was right about the Microsoft conspiracy -- geez -- now I am all
fired up about this --- if we cannot even trust Microsoft then who can we
trust?????

: Art wrote:
:
: > This actually happened to my 98SE system as well. I was wondering
: > what update did that. I am sorely disappointed if it was a Microsoft
: > update.
:
: Oh it was an M$ update alright, don't know which, probably one of the 3
: or 4 latest IE security updates.
:
: I know upgrading to IE6sp1 does it everytime and I've come to expect
: that and correct it, but it p*sses me off that some subsequent security
: update(s) reverts it back to the annoying msn site EVEN THOUGH the
: deault homepage is blank or something else, and this one is particularly
: hard to correct, as I said, took me three tries.
:
: Steve
:
: >
: > : Security updates to XP
: > and IE *is* spyware/adware when my blank IE : homepage gets hijacked
: > to frikkin www.msn.com!!! Took me 3 attempts : at setting it bank to
: > a blank page and finally worked when I deleted : cooties and temp *
: > offline i'net files, exited and restarted IE. : : What a pain! Don't
: > we have ENOUGH problems with spyware, tojans, : worms and viruses as
: > it is? Thanks a lot Micro$lop! Maybe M$ : purposefully left holes in
: > IE and the OS so THEY can exploit them : with THEIR advertising and
: > even do so under the guise of Automatic : Upchucks! : : Steve
:

 

[Mark]

All you really have to do is put this one thing in the ignore bucket in
adaware. You know its not a hijacking since you choose About:blank
yourself.