Tricia said:
I've recently experienced the launching of the Search
companion while visiting a tripod.com site. This is the
only domain where the search bar launches. I currently
have Spybot,Lavasoft Ad-ware 6, and Panicware installed.
My OS is Windows XP and I have already changed the
internet search behavior to classic internet search.
Please advise.
Tripod has taken it upon themselves to annoy internet users. This is
not any spyware, trojan, or hijacker installed on your machine, but
instead, tripod is running a script to open up your Internet
Explorer's search bar/companion, to, in Tripod's words, show you other
Tripod pages, which may be relevant to your previous search which
landed you on a Tripod webpage. HOW NICE OF THEM! Not only are you
stuck with the search bar opened up, when you hit your back button, it
does not go away, and you are stuck, having to close this manually.
This is totally irresponsible on Tripod's part.
So, not only does this hideous "feature" have users searching their
machines frantically for viruses, trojans, and hijackers; the
"feature" is annoying, unsightly, and frankly, a breach of the user's
trust.
Now the good part! To fix it, open up Internet Explorer and go to
TOOLS > INTERNET OPTIONS and click on the "security" tab. next click
on RESTRICTED SITES. Make sure that the level is on HIGH (this is the
default level for untrusted sites). Next click on the SITES button.
Add tripod.com and click OK. The window will close. Click on OK again.
All fixed!
It's quite a shame that tripod has resorted to such tactics. God
forbid that this becomes a trend because it could really make surfing
the net, a totally hideous experience. If this does, we will all know
who to thank for it! Stupid BASTARDS!
BTW, don't be surprised if future versions of IE have remote opening
of a search bar disabled.
Crumb
