browser home page and tool bar modified and cannot reset.

  • Thread starter Thread starter rdechellis
  • Start date Start date
R

rdechellis

somehow the default home page setting of my browser has
been changed and will not allow me to reset it to the
original setting. i am able to go into the ie properties
and set it back to the original setting and this will
remain until i turn off my computer. when i start up
again the default home page has reverted back to what it
was before i reset it. also, an additional toolbar keeps
appearing. it is easy enough to turn it's display off,
but it was never there before and i believe that the
toolbar and new default home page are related. how do i
eliminate this annoying behavior? there has to be a
program that was somehow loaded onto the computer from
surfing the net that executes with each start up.
 
Hi rdechellis - Well, you kinda need to know what the parasite(s) is/are
before you can do much about fixing them except to apply some general tools
like AdAware and/or SpyBot S&D (see below). Start here:


Download HijackThis, free, here:
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/files/hijackthis.zip

Unzip it to any convenient folder, start it then press Scan. Click on
SaveLog when it's finished which will create hijackthis.log. Now click
the Config button, then Misc Tools and click on Generate StartupList.log
which will create Startuplist.txt

Go to Spyware and Hijackware Removal Support, here:
http://www.spywareinfo.com/forums/index.php?s=8a236cdf61469fbad3bddbe810be0374&act=SF&f=11

Sign in, then copy and paste both files a message asking for assistance,
Someone will answer with detailed instructions for the removal of your
parasite(s).



For the general hijack case, the best way to start is to get Ad-Aware 6.0,
Build 181 or later, here: http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/.
Update and run this regularly to get rid of most "spyware/hijackware" on
your machine. If it has to fix things, be sure to re-boot and rerun
AdAware again and repeat this cycle until you get a clean scan. The reason
is that it may have to remove things which are currently "in use" before it
can then clean up others.

Another excellent program for this purpose is SpyBot Search and Destroy
available here: http://security.kolla.de/ SpyBot Support Forum here:
http://www.net-integration.net/cgi-bin/forums/ikonboard.cgi. I recommend
using both normally. After fixing things with SpyBot S&D, be sure to
re-boot and rerun SpyBot again and repeat this cycle until you get a clean
"no red" scan. The reason is that SpyBot sometimes has to remove things
which are currently "in use" before it can then clean up others.


Note that sometimes you need to make a judgement call about what these
programs report as spyware. See here, for example:
http://www.imilly.com/alexa.htm


Once you get this cleaned up, you might want to consider installing the
SpywareBlaster and SpywareGuard here to help prevent this kind of thing from
happening in the future:
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/spywareblaster.html (Prevents malware Active
X installs) (BTW, SpyWare Blaster is not memory resident ... no CPU or
memory load - but keep it updated) The latest version as of this writing
will prevent installation or prevent the malware from running if it is
already installed, and it provides information and fixit-links for a variety
of parasites.
http://www.wilderssecurity.net/spywareguard.html (Monitors for attempts to
install malware) Both Very Highly Recommended.

See if any of this helps and post back with your results.


--
Please respond in the same thread.
Regards, Jim Byrd, MS-MVP



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