New browser windows hijacked by IE7 ad

[Dale Richner]

Something has changed and now every time I open a new Internet Explorer
window it doesn't go to my home page but instead goes to a page that says
advertising an upgrade to IE7. (I have IE6 now.) My operating system
(Windows 2000 Professional) does not support IE7 so this is nothing but a
recurring annoyance that I can't stop. Can anyone please tell me how to make
this page stop coming up? I checked in Tools/Internet Options and my correct
homepage is still showing there. On a friend's advice I even ran "regedit"
and searched for the URL of the culprit IE7 page to try to delete it, but the
search found nothing so I canceled out without doing anything there. I really
appreciate any help I can get on this (unfortunately MS customer support has
been no help whatsoever). Thank you.

 

[PA Bear]

IE Tools > Internet Options > Advanced > Browsing > Automatically check for
IE updates (uncheck/disable).

That being said, IE7 Beta was available for Win2K. Was it ever installed?
Is it still installed?

 

[Dale Richner]

Thank you PA Bear - but I just tried unchecked "Automatically check for IE
updates" and unfortunately it's still doing it. I never installed IE7 in beta
or any form. Anyone have any other ideas I can try?

 

[PA Bear]

If you reboot, is that option still unchecked?

 

[Dale Richner]

Yes, it is still unchecked.
--
Dale Richner

If you reboot, is that option still unchecked?

 

[PA Bear]

What third-party toolbars might be installed?

Yes, it is still unchecked.

 

[Dale Richner]

I'm sorry, but I'm not sure if I know what that means. Having said that, I
doubt there are any. Other than MS Office and a few programs that I've had
for a long time, I very rarely install anything. When I go to View / Toolbars
there's only Standard, Address, and Links.

 

[Dale Richner]

Problem solved! Your last post got me thinking about anything new I might
have done, and the only thing was updating my "Spybot" software that I run to
find and delete spyware. Long story short, after another hour of checking
things I found a setting I'd inadvertantly clicked. When I un-did that, this
IE7 hijacking stopped. Thank you so much for your help!

 

[PA Bear]

What setting (e.g., homepage protection)?

Problem solved! Your last post got me thinking about anything new I might
have done, and the only thing was updating my "Spybot" software that I run
to find and delete spyware. Long story short, after another hour of
checking
things I found a setting I'd inadvertantly clicked. When I un-did that,
this
IE7 hijacking stopped. Thank you so much for your help!

 

[Dale Richner]

I think the setting was a registry change called First Home Page. Im not sure
how it got changed in the first place but it was defintely inadvertant on my
part.