My Explorer has been hijacked. HELP.

[Chris]

I don't know what happened, but my internet explorer's
homepage has been set to "blank". It comes up with a
third party website and then opens an extra window that
tells me that I'm infected with spyware. I am unwilling
to dig myself deeper with whatever schleps infected my
computer by pandering to them and going to their website,
but I also have no idea what to do. When I change the
homepage, it just changes back, and I have tried re-
installing Internet Explorer. I don't want to have to
completely wipe my computer clean and start from scratch,
but the situation is totally unacceptable. Please help me.

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP]

I don't know what happened, but my internet explorer's
homepage has been set to "blank". It comes up with a
third party website and then opens an extra window that
tells me that I'm infected with spyware. I am unwilling
to dig myself deeper with whatever schleps infected my
computer by pandering to them and going to their website,
but I also have no idea what to do. When I change the
homepage, it just changes back, and I have tried re-
installing Internet Explorer. I don't want to have to
completely wipe my computer clean and start from scratch,
but the situation is totally unacceptable. Please help me.

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/

 

[\old\devildog]

add WinPatrol to you download list (www.winpatrol.com) ... it
will prevent the malware for get control again ...

devildog
********************
| I don't know what happened, but my internet explorer's
| homepage has been set to "blank". It comes up with a
| third party website and then opens an extra window that
| tells me that I'm infected with spyware. I am unwilling
| to dig myself deeper with whatever schleps infected my
| computer by pandering to them and going to their website,
| but I also have no idea what to do. When I change the
| homepage, it just changes back, and I have tried re-
| installing Internet Explorer. I don't want to have to
| completely wipe my computer clean and start from scratch,
| but the situation is totally unacceptable. Please help me.