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General discussion

How to make a home page stick!

Dec 28, 2004 8:30AM PST

Hi
In my lap top, I am trying to set the internet to open at WWW.Yahoo.com
Everytime I open the tools bar and set it (from "blank"), I type in WWW.yahoo.com. then I hit the "apply" button and "OK". WHen I go to get on the internet, the Yahoo page surfaces for about 2-3 seconds then reverts to some generic Microsoft Web-Search thing. I have tried this thourgh the control panel and through the internet tool bar option and the www.yahoo.com as a home page won't stick! Can anyone tell me why and HOW to fix this?
Thanks
TOMMY

Discussion is locked

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Try Firefox and see if it sticks there.
Dec 28, 2004 8:40AM PST

The reason for it not staying put in IE is called Spyware.

In short, you don't want spyware on your machine, but exploits of IE allow it in.

Bob

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Tommy, Try This...
Dec 28, 2004 11:35AM PST

Download, install, then update, then run the free spyware removal tools from the links below. (Yep, all of them.):

Ad-Aware">http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/]Ad-Aware

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How to make a home page stick!
Dec 28, 2004 11:57AM PST

I don't want to scare you but "about:blank"you get is a really nasty problem.I spend days looking in different forums, I tried 100's of sugestions but I never could get it out of my system.You can try Google search engine and type "about:blank" for search. My solution was to push aside the IE and start to use Mozilla Firefox. Personal opinion:I will never go back to IE.Firefox is great browser.
Lions.

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How do I get rid of a recurring thing that stops my Yahoo
Jan 1, 2005 9:39AM PST
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Tommy, a couple of posts up this thread
Jan 1, 2005 9:56AM PST
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"In my lap top"?
Dec 28, 2004 11:54PM PST

Please note that just above the text editor (where you enter a question on the forum) is the following paragraph, and if certain information is not present in your question, our reply may not be of much help:

Tip: If you are asking for help to troubleshoot a computer-related problem, please be sure to include all the necessary information (ie: operating system, model number, hardware, software, etc) that will help others identify your problem for a speedy resolution.

Part I:

First, just be sure you have no utilities which has been installed to lock the home page

a. "HijackThis" is a general homepage hijacker, detector, and remover which you may be using, (Config, Main, Below URLs will be . . ).

b. "Spybot Search&Destroy v1.3" has a lock (Tools, IE tweeks, middle box check).

Part II:

1. To change the Startup Home Page in Internet Explorer:

Note: Be advised that if you join an MSN Internet Access account that the home page site could be specifically set by the provider from whom the software was liscened and there is little if anything which can be done to change it. Microsoft has licensed their software out and an ISP has the option to specified a specific home page, and if they do decide, there may be no way of changing it.

a. Start Internet Explorer.

Note: For convenience you should locate and access the site which you want set as the startup home page. Otherwise,

b. Select Tools from the Main menu and then select Internet Options... - The Internet Options dialog box appears.

c. In the Home page group, do one of the following:

? Type the URL for the specific page wanted in the Address box.

? To use the currently displayed page resident in an active session of IE, click Use Current.

? To set the startup page to a blank page, click the button labeled Use Blank.

? To set the startup page to the Microsoft Network home page, click Use Default.

d. It is also suggested that should there be a check mark in the box Enable Install On Demand under the Browsing section that it be removed (Tools, Internet Options, Advanced tab). Supplemental reading: (opens in a separate window), "Description of the "Install on Demand" and "Automatically Check for Updates" Features (Q222639):

Specifies to automatically download and install Web components if a Web page needs them in order to display the page properly or perform a particular task.

e. To close the Internet Options dialog box, click Apply and then click OK to Exit.

2. If you change a default home-page setting from a particular Web address and then restart Internet Explorer or click Home in Internet Explorer, your home page may revert right back to the previous site. This anomaly can occur if you downloaded a program from the Web as part of a package for the Internet Service Provider (ISP) or certain other packages as explained in #1 above. These ISP hacked versions of IE may placed executable files in the Windows\System folder and add run-line entry in the win.ini file which could reset the home page each time Windows boots. Investigate what loads and runs in the background and make a determination what causes the anomaly. Perhaps a CAD (the key combination ctrl+alt+del) or the System Configuration Utility (SCU) in Windows 98 can be used to ascertain the culprit. After finding the possible cause, it may be necessary to edit the Win.INI file to remove any items to circumvented their execution.

a. Click Start, Run, type win.ini, and then click OK or simply press Enter.

b. In the Notepad window, scroll down until you see either or both the lines Run= and/or Load=. If there is a/are executable program(s) on either line, a semicolon in front of that line will circumvent loading -- a deletion will work also. Simply leave any other item when there is more than one.

c. On the File menu, click Save. The system must be rebooted before these type changes take affect.

3. If nothing was found in the Win.INI file, it is possible that something was written to the system registry.

a. To start the System Registry Editor, click Start, Run, type regedit, and then press Enter.

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Run

b. Click the Plus box in front of HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE to expand it and continue clicking/expanding appropriate folders (each word preceded by a slash) until reaching the last folder named, "Run". Click it to bold/highlight.

c. Look for the possible culprit in the right window and highlight it.

d. On the Edit menu, click Delete, and then click Yes to confirm the deletion.

e. Click Registry in the toolbar and select Exit, or simply click the x in the URHC to close the Registry Editor tool.

4. If however, every option for the home page is grayed out and you cannot change anything, reenter the system registry as indicated in #3 above, and delete the registry key HomePage from the following location. Then try setting the home page again by starting IE and following the instructions in #1b:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Control Panel\HomePage

5. Using the Windows Find function search for any files ending with .hta. If found, open it/them in notepad or some other text editor and look for a contained URL which the system has been hijacked to -- write that URL down and then delete the file itself. Run a search in the system registry and remove any instances of key values of those URLs you wrote down.

6. Suggested supplemental reading:

a. "Adware, Spyware and other unwanted "malware" - and how to remove them ."

b. "StartPage Guard 2.5", a freeware 422kb download that protects a system from cyberscam by detecting and preventing unauthorized changes to the Internet browser's Start and Search pages and capable of automatically removing most known "invaders".