IE help please. Earlier I asked for help with a problem.

[woofless]

I got a couple fine responses and really appreciate it. What happens is something is changing my homepage selection in internet options to c:/searchpage.html. I installed spybot search and destroy and ran it 3-4 times. I run adaware frequently. I have Norton running all the time. I increased my security level and I enabled the XP firewall. The damn thing still keeps changing. I change it to CNN where I prefer it and the next thing you know it is right back at searchpage. Any clues? Anyone? This is driving me crazy. Thanks, Woof

[Goldmund]

1. This will most likely work:

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

[Bossy Monkey]

14. What slavkomae said

It's not the most intuitive program in the history of the world though. Basically, you run it and check through the results and delete the bad one. As these have names in computerese, it's wisest to google any that seem questionable to you along with the phrase "hijackthis log". This will give you many results from folks' submissions to assorted Help desks; pretty quickly you'll be able to isolate the bad ones and get rid of them without having to muck around in the Registry yourself.

[librechik]

2. switch to mozilla firefox--stops popups etc

ie blows

[cheezus]

9. Firefox is a superior browser

I'm surprised that the spyware removal tools didn't work for you. Firefox is a better browser than IE anyway (tho there are a very few websites that require microsoft stuff in ie to work).

give it a try - it's free! (both free as in beer, AND free as in speech)

[trof]

3. Yep, some spyware got aholt of ya.

I use SpyBot Search and Destroy, Spykiller, and Spyware Blaster.

[NewHampshireDem]

4. It's in your system registry

So you'll need to remove it from there ... this should work

--Delete the file "searchpage.htm" from your hard drive

--Hit the Start button and go to "RUN"

--Type regedit

--The Registry Editor window will openin Registry Editor windows

--Click on "edit" and select "Find" ...type "searchpage.html" then click Find next...

--Delect any registry entries that contain the term "searchpage.html"

--Restart

That should do it

[NewHampshireDem]

6. If that scares you ...

don't let it. But if it does, you can try this program first ... I'm not sure if it will clean it out, but it's worth a try ...

http://download.com.com/3000-2094-881470.html?tag=list

[woofless]

8. Doesn't scare me just annoys me.

Thanks

[NewHampshireDem]

12. Sorry ... I just meant that some ppl don't like to mess with the registry

:)

[lagniappe]

13. It could also be running a .reg file on startup.

I've seen this problem before and a script (batch file) somehow got on an XP machine and reset the registry during startup.

To check for this, you can run the program msconfig.

1. From the start menu, click the Run item.
2. Type msconfig.
3. Select the Startup tab.

This program shows a list of applications or scripts that are run at startup. You might have to look at the contents of each file (if that file is a script such as a batch file) that is run. If you see something like .reg or "searchpage.html", then you've found the problem. Simply disable it in the msconfig.

Keep in mind that most of the items in the Startup list are required by XP, so be careful what you disable.

[woofless]

17. can you tell me how to look at the contents of each file?

right click does nothing. Thanks, Woof

[lagniappe]

18. In the Startup tab...

Look at the item in the Command column. This is the path to an .EXE or a script that is run during startup. You can't really examine the contents of an EXE, but you can look at script files.

When a family member of mine had this problem on their computer, I found a script that was being run at startup. Scripts normally have a .bat or .reg file extension. They are text files that can be edited/viewed with any text editor.

If you see any script files, open them using Windows explorer. Simply navigate to the file pointed to by the path in the Command column. Don't double click it, but open it by right clicking with the mouse and selecting Edit. If the selected script is your problem, you should see something like the offending homepage URL somewhere in the script.

Also, keep in mind that the spyware that has infected your system might be different than the one I encountered. So, the above instructions may or may not work.

[woofless]

16. Still working on it.

I tried your suggestion NHDem and everytime I delete it from the registry it comes back. WTF? I have deleted and restarted 4 times so far. Even scanned again. this is a determined bugger.

[belladonna]

19. Turn off system restore

Delete the file, then reboot your system. I got hit with ISearch awhile back and that was the only way I could get rid of it

[AntiCoup2K4]

5. Is this the porno search bar hijacker thing?

That's some nasty spyware. It stashes files all over your harddrive. Delete your browser cache and all cookies. Scan your harddrive with an anti-spyware program. Virus scanner couldn't hurt either. Then you might want to manually look at your windows & system directories for anything that looks suspicious If a file is named "ad" anything or "Searchbar" whatever, or anything else obvious like that, kill it.

And then download Mozilla Firefox. You'll never go back to IE.

[woofless]

7. If I download Mozilla Firefox

will everything else be the same? Do I have to change a lot of stuff, favorites, etc? I have been resisting this move despite all the good advice from you fine folks.

Woof

[Massacure]

11. FireFox is great

I'm using it right now. It is simple to use, and is very fast. It is real basic, but there there are a who spectrum of modifications you can make to it, by just copy and pasting some text into a special file on your hard drive.

It doesn't support Active-X and so you won't have problems with viruses, and spyware is a lot less common as well, in my opinion.

It is only in version 0.8 so it has a few flaws, but they should be sorted out quickly. They have not bothered me yet. For example, you cannot delete things from the address bar right now. It's trivial though.

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

[Nomad559]

10. Try this

http://www.winguides.com/forums/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=secwin&Number=28051&page=0&view=expanded&sb=5&part=

[welshTerrier2]

15. SpywareBlaster

i've been using this free product for about a month now after having all sorts of serious spyware problems on my PC ...

one of the settings the product lets you set is a setting that "locks" your browser's homepage ... nasty webpages that try to set your homepage will not be able to ...

the beauty of this product, unlike many others, is that it blocks the spyware from getting to your machine ... once installed, you don't need to run anything ... it also does many of the good things that Ad Aware does, for example, blocking "tracking cookies" ...

do yourself a favor and install this software ... and, btw, be careful about just installing things that call themselves anti-spyware ... some of these programs are actually spyware masking themselves as anti-spyware ...

here's a site where you can download SpywareBlaster:
http://majorgeeks.com/download2859.html

trust me on this one ... you won't regret it ...

[No Passaran]

20. You forgot one obvious thing.

Look in your ADD/Remove Programs and remove the thing. Then run SpyBot and AdAware. That will take care of it.