SmartSearch

[Ben Smith]

Recently my IE home page has changed to "about:blank" or
SmartSearch. I have tried changing this in internet
options without success. Norton has failed to detect a
virus, and a SpyWare scan didn't show any Spyware.

This website seems to be blocking me from typing in a
number of web adresses directly into the adress bar,
making it impossible to get to the sites.

I would be grateful for any help.

(I run Windows XP Home ed.)

 

[PA Bear]

Check your system for "hijackware":

Dealing with Hijackware
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm
http://www.mvps.org/inetexplorer/Darnit.htm#tshoot
http://aumha.org/a/parasite.htm

CoolWebSearch Chronicles & CWShredder
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/cwschronicles.html

Run in this order:

1. CWShredder (fix all)

2. Ad-Aware (fix all)

3. Spybot (generally, fix all in red)

Important: You *must* seek updates for Ad-Aware, Spybot, etc., before each
and every use, even "right out of the box". But even they can't catch
everything, 24/7. When all else fails, HijackThis
(http://www.merijn.org/files/hijackthis.zip) is the preferred tool to use.
It will help you to both identify and remove any hijackware/spyware. **Post
your files to http://forums.spywareinfo.com/ or
http://forum.aumha.org/viewforum.php?f=30 for expert analysis, not here.**

[Alternate download pages for many of the above tools may be found at
http://aumha.org/a/parasite.htm.]

Also update your virus definitions and then run a full system scan. From
now on, do both daily.

So How Did I Get Infected Anyway?
http://boards.cexx.org/viewtopic.php?t=957

--
HTH - Please Reply to This Thread

~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-Windows (IE/OE), AH-VSOP

AumHa Forums
http://forum.aumha.org

Protect Your PC
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect