Home Page in IE Options Shadowed

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G

Guest

I can't change my Homepage in the IE tools/options. It's Shadowed along with
all the buttons (use current, use default, use blank). It's stuck on MSN.
I've run spyware, adware, and antivirus, nothing comes up. Is there
something that I can do in the registry? Help! It's driving me crazy.
 
Hello,
I have similar problem. I can't change my home page from yahoo.com to
anything else and I think it is my ISP's version of IE that is doing this.
(Yahoo is my ISP). I have tried checking the registry values you list but I
can't find some of the keys you suggest to modify them. (I have Windows XP
with Internet Explorer 6 and Service Pack2).
HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\has no Internet Explorer sub key, only
"System Certificates". HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current
Version\Policies\Ext has no DWORD or "NoSetHomePage" option.
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main "Local Page" is set to
"C:\WINDOWS\System\blank. The only key I can find that looks to be the
culprit is HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main "Start Page" which
is set to: http://www.yahoo.com/ but when I try to change this I get the
error message: cannot edit start page. I have already tried Spyware removal
tools and disabled the home page feature from Norton Antivirus. I installed
HiJackThis and it does find this registry key, but does not fix it. Any
ideas?
Greg
 
Greg G said:
Hello,
I have similar problem. I can't change my home page from yahoo.com to
anything else and I think it is my ISP's version of IE that is doing this.
(Yahoo is my ISP). I have tried checking the registry values you list but
I
can't find some of the keys you suggest to modify them. (I have Windows
XP
with Internet Explorer 6 and Service Pack2).
HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\has no Internet Explorer sub key, only
"System Certificates". HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current
Version\Policies\Ext has no DWORD or "NoSetHomePage" option.
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main "Local Page" is set to
"C:\WINDOWS\System\blank. The only key I can find that looks to be the
culprit is HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main "Start Page"
which
is set to: http://www.yahoo.com/ but when I try to change this I get the
error message: cannot edit start page. I have already tried Spyware
removal
tools and disabled the home page feature from Norton Antivirus. I
installed
HiJackThis and it does find this registry key, but does not fix it. Any
ideas?
Greg
Click to expand...

Most newer anti-spyware and anti-virus programs will lock the home page to
prevent malware from changing it. Unfortunately this also prevents you from
changing it. If you have run any of these you will have to find out how to
reverse that in the program.
 
Thanks Frank,
I have searched them (the spyware and other programs), disabled them,
deleted and reinstalled them and I still can't change my home page. My ISP
swears they haven't locked the home page and that I must make the change in
the registry. But as I mentioned, the start page key in the resgistry is
also locked. I guess its time to switch to Mozilla or Firefox?!
 
Greg G said:
Thanks Frank,
I have searched them (the spyware and other programs), disabled them,
deleted and reinstalled them and I still can't change my home page. My
ISP
swears they haven't locked the home page and that I must make the change
in
the registry. But as I mentioned, the start page key in the resgistry is
also locked. I guess its time to switch to Mozilla or Firefox?!
Click to expand...

From http://www.fjsmjs.com/IE/homepage.htm

If you have SpyBot S&D installed, go to the "Immunize" section.
Is "Lock IE Start Page Settings" ticked?
If so, uncheck it.

Some Web pages will also reset your home page and do this. One of the
customizations they might make is to disable the ability to change the home
page, so that you are forced to use their home page. You can re-enable this
by making a small change in the Windows registry.

In Regedit, navigate to this key:

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

In the right-hand pane, right-click the "HomePage" value, then select
Modify. Change it to: 00 00 00 00

Also change either or these to zero 0 instead of 1 if present:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
- DWORD "NoSetHomePage"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet
Explorer\Restrictions] - DWORD "NoSetHomePage"=dword:00000001

If you don't have this key, browse to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main

and in the right hand pane, double click "Local Page" and set equal to
"C:\WINDOWS\System\blank.htm" (no quotes) which will hopefully set your Home
Page to blank and then allow you to subsequently modify it using Internet
Options.

Exit regedit and reboot.

When you reboot, you should be able to change the home page again.

Some pages will also download a program which keeps changing it back. Go to
Start | Run and type:
msconfig
and press <Enter> or click OK. Go to the Startup tab.
See if you can identify any suspicious programs. If you can, uncheck it, If
you can't, change the home page to what you want and then uncheck one and
then reboot. Try IE. If the Web page changed, change it back and then try
msconfig again, rechecking the last one and unchecking the next. Keep doing
this until you find the culprit.


You might also want to look at this little program. I haven't tried it, but
I've read encouraging reports:

http://www.pjwalczak.com/spguard/
 
Thanks Frank,
I tried "Start Page Guard" by it didn't work. I get an error message in the
SPGuard program that says: "RegSetValueExFailed with:5", no matter what I try
to change my home page to.
Thanks for trying, but I give up.
Greg

Frank Saunders said:
Greg G said:
Thanks Frank,
I have searched them (the spyware and other programs), disabled them,
deleted and reinstalled them and I still can't change my home page. My
ISP
swears they haven't locked the home page and that I must make the change
in
the registry. But as I mentioned, the start page key in the resgistry is
also locked. I guess its time to switch to Mozilla or Firefox?!
Click to expand...

From http://www.fjsmjs.com/IE/homepage.htm

If you have SpyBot S&D installed, go to the "Immunize" section.
Is "Lock IE Start Page Settings" ticked?
If so, uncheck it.

Some Web pages will also reset your home page and do this. One of the
customizations they might make is to disable the ability to change the home
page, so that you are forced to use their home page. You can re-enable this
by making a small change in the Windows registry.

In Regedit, navigate to this key:

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

In the right-hand pane, right-click the "HomePage" value, then select
Modify. Change it to: 00 00 00 00

Also change either or these to zero 0 instead of 1 if present:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
- DWORD "NoSetHomePage"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet
Explorer\Restrictions] - DWORD "NoSetHomePage"=dword:00000001

If you don't have this key, browse to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main

and in the right hand pane, double click "Local Page" and set equal to
"C:\WINDOWS\System\blank.htm" (no quotes) which will hopefully set your Home
Page to blank and then allow you to subsequently modify it using Internet
Options.

Exit regedit and reboot.

When you reboot, you should be able to change the home page again.

Some pages will also download a program which keeps changing it back. Go to
Start | Run and type:
msconfig
and press <Enter> or click OK. Go to the Startup tab.
See if you can identify any suspicious programs. If you can, uncheck it, If
you can't, change the home page to what you want and then uncheck one and
then reboot. Try IE. If the Web page changed, change it back and then try
msconfig again, rechecking the last one and unchecking the next. Keep doing
this until you find the culprit.


You might also want to look at this little program. I haven't tried it, but
I've read encouraging reports:

http://www.pjwalczak.com/spguard/

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM
Reply in newsgroup
"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve
neither liberty or security"
Click to expand...
 
Hi Frank,
I found the answer in the thread above this by thbjr. I uninstalled Zone
Alarm and now I can change my home page.
Greg

Frank Saunders said:
Greg G said:
Thanks Frank,
I have searched them (the spyware and other programs), disabled them,
deleted and reinstalled them and I still can't change my home page. My
ISP
swears they haven't locked the home page and that I must make the change
in
the registry. But as I mentioned, the start page key in the resgistry is
also locked. I guess its time to switch to Mozilla or Firefox?!
Click to expand...

From http://www.fjsmjs.com/IE/homepage.htm

If you have SpyBot S&D installed, go to the "Immunize" section.
Is "Lock IE Start Page Settings" ticked?
If so, uncheck it.

Some Web pages will also reset your home page and do this. One of the
customizations they might make is to disable the ability to change the home
page, so that you are forced to use their home page. You can re-enable this
by making a small change in the Windows registry.

In Regedit, navigate to this key:

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

In the right-hand pane, right-click the "HomePage" value, then select
Modify. Change it to: 00 00 00 00

Also change either or these to zero 0 instead of 1 if present:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer]
- DWORD "NoSetHomePage"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet
Explorer\Restrictions] - DWORD "NoSetHomePage"=dword:00000001

If you don't have this key, browse to:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main

and in the right hand pane, double click "Local Page" and set equal to
"C:\WINDOWS\System\blank.htm" (no quotes) which will hopefully set your Home
Page to blank and then allow you to subsequently modify it using Internet
Options.

Exit regedit and reboot.

When you reboot, you should be able to change the home page again.

Some pages will also download a program which keeps changing it back. Go to
Start | Run and type:
msconfig
and press <Enter> or click OK. Go to the Startup tab.
See if you can identify any suspicious programs. If you can, uncheck it, If
you can't, change the home page to what you want and then uncheck one and
then reboot. Try IE. If the Web page changed, change it back and then try
msconfig again, rechecking the last one and unchecking the next. Keep doing
this until you find the culprit.


You might also want to look at this little program. I haven't tried it, but
I've read encouraging reports:

http://www.pjwalczak.com/spguard/

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM
Reply in newsgroup
"They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve
neither liberty or security"
Click to expand...
 
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