Spyware - I Followed All The Great Instructions From DU Thread

[otohara]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=105x2130129#2139922


All seems to be working quite well. Except when I open up Internet Explorer - it opens up to "about blank" page. I have tried to change through "internet options" to go back to opening at
Comcast home page, to no avail, and I always get a couple of popups on this opening page only.

How can I get back to Comcast?


Thanks -
Have to let my son use the computer now....back soon to see computer savy DU'ers advice and instructions.

[Spiffarino]

1. I like this site

PC Hell...great stuff, but a lousy layout. Hard to find what you want. When you do, though, it's usually helpful.

http://www.pchell.com/support/aboutblank.shtml

[otohara]

18. Gracias

I did download Mozilla - and so far, so good. But I will take a look at this and follow instructions.

tanks....
otohara

[4morewars]

2. Switch to Mozilla !

Mozilla Firefox 1.0 Do it now ! Before your kid gets on !

[Spiffarino]

3. Great idea

It's a lot faster than IE. It looks great, and all your settings will transfer to it if you want it to. Give it a try!

[auntAgonist]

5. I have MOZILLA

LOVE IT !!

[4morewars]

7. Isn't it great ?

It really shows how weak microsoft's POS browser is !

[otohara]

17. Thank You - Works Great....

otohara....

[4morewars]

19. Cool ! I'm glad you like it !

No pop ups, no more hijackings, no more spyware, and tabbed browsing is great !
Tell all your friends!

[auntAgonist]

4. If you're using "Spy Sweeper" or "Spy Stopper"

OR SpyBot Search and Destroy, ONE of them has an option to NOT allow you to change your homepage. Uncheck that option on whatever program it is and you'll be able to reset to whatever page you want.

ON EDIT. I checked .. the program that does that is Spysweeper, if you're running that, open it and go to the TAB that says ACTIVE SHIELDS
click on IE Homepage Shield and that should do it.

[Spiffarino]

11. Spybot S&D ver. 1.3 will allow homepage locking, too n/t

[Angry Girl]

6. Check out this thread for anti-hijacking etc.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=242x447

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

8. Download and run this

http://www.spychecker.com/program/hijackthis.html

It's freeware- it will scan the registry entries related to IE, including the one that sets the startup page. Once you use this to clean it up you will be able to reset your page.

Caution: use this CAREFULLY. You don't want to change the wrong things!

[Spiffarino]

12. Seconded...be VERY careful

HijackThis is a powerful tool, but proceed with caution. Registry changes can be tricky.

[mcscajun]

16. Caution with HijackThis

But it'll be okay if you first post the log on a legitimate tech site and follow their recommendations for what to remove and how.

On your own, it's far too risky unless you're a Registry Whiz.

One site that's sound and reliable as a place to post your HijackThis log is: http://www.spywareeliminator.com/forum/
(Registration and login required -- but it's free and they KNOW what're doing)

'Cause it sure does sound like you're another victim of the Browser Hijack (BH), from your description, anyway. And all the ad-ware and spy-ware removal stuff just won't dig out the BH.

[Placebo]

9. Firefox is your friend.

http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

[CornField]

10. If making adjustments in your spyware cleaner/blocker doesn't do the trick

Search for a program called CWShredder. I got a really nasty bug once that affected my homepage. The other spyware/adware programs would clean it, but it would come back after reboot. This was the only one to completely clean it.

Good luck!

[leftyandproud]

13. Get Firefox.

I don't know what happened to the IE home page. You must have had some REALLY nasty stuff that burrowed into IE and messed up the browsing when you removed it..

I highly recommend you download Firefox. It works great, lets you import all of your settings/bookmarks from IE, and has a built in pop-up blocker and spyware guard. Much more secure overall.

www.getfirefox.com

[Occulus]

14. Easy answer: switch browsers.

It's advisable to not use IE anyway. Try others until you find one you like- I personally found Opera to be of great use, and others like Firefox and Mozilla. There are a lot of choices out there.

[cleofus1]

15. not sure what your problem is...

So I'm gonna make some assumptions. You ran a spyware program and deleted the results of your scan and now internet explorer is all screwy...right?
Well if that's the case then you probobly deleted important IE codes from the registry that track your movements on the web. IE has built in tracking functions that register as "threats" on Spyware scans. Darth Gates has made sure that if you delete these your software will not work.
If you re-boot it should work again. When you run your spyware just be aware of what you're deleting. Anything labeled/associated with your browser should be given looked at closely before deleted.

[leftyandproud]

20. when changing the page back..

Did you hit "apply" before closing the window?

I've just hit the "ok" button before to close it out, but didn't know the "apply" button had to be hit first..

a simple oversight, but that could be the problem.

Have you tried Firefox yet? Make sure to look in the bookmarks folder for the "themes and extensions" page. Some of the popular themes look GREAT when browsing. Give it a shot.