Internet Explorer has been hijacked by "About:Blank"

  • Thread starter Thread starter Lloyd Wolf
  • Start date Start date
Does anyone have a solid solution for getting rid of the "About:Blank"
hijacker ?

Thanks in advance.

Lloyd Wolf
Wolf Consulting, Inc.
Click to expand...

Download "Adware Away". It will kill about.blank.

It's the only think I know of that will kill it. It is a slick little
bugger, easy to use and it is FREE.

Mark (bittmark)
 
Ricardo said:
Hi People,

let me try help you... Please do not spent your money buying removal
programs because you can fix your problem easyly.

Some days ago I got the same problem and I fixed it with the following steps :

1. Open your Windows explorer

2. Open your disk C:

3. Open Documents and Settings folder

4. Open the folder with your name (Administrator in my case)

5. Open the Local Settings Folder.

At this point you can see the folder TEMP.

Delete this folder, it hides the code of about:blank. This folder will be
built later automatically, but the code of about:blank will be destroyed.

Don't be worry about deleting the folder TEMP it only has temporary files
and cookies.

Hope this helps you.

Ricardo R. Pitti
Click to expand...

Tried that - made no difference whatsoever - where you got that idea from
I'll never know.

Nor does MS AntiSpyware (Beta 1) detect its presence or prevent it from
working.

Most galling of all, if I run its Browser Setting utility, it tells me that
my start page is what it should be, when of course it isn't, it's been
hijacked. If I reset it, then within seconds it's hijacked again, and
AntiSpyware does nothing to prevent it. Oh - it pops up a little window
telling me that it's blocked the change from what my home page should be to
about:blank, but it hasn't.

How can a brand new piece of software be so completely useless against an
existing threat? Good job it's free, as it's value is zero.
 
Lloyd Wolf said:
Hello. Looking for a little help....

I have a customer running Internet Explorer v6, on a computer running
Windows 2000 Professional.

Internet Explorer has been hijacked by "About:Blank"

We have run the Ad-aware 6 and also Spybot Search & Destroy software.
Neither one seems to be able to get rid of "About:Blank" permanently.

Doing a Google search, I have seen lots of people having lots of problems
with this one.

Does anyone have a solid solution for getting rid of the "About:Blank"
hijacker ?

Thanks in advance.

Lloyd Wolf
Wolf Consulting, Inc.
Click to expand...
 
I'm sorry- I accidentally posted a blank message before this one with just a
quote of the first message in the thread.

I wanted to say that after a lot of research on this, I have decided that
this whole "about:blank" thing is a hoax. I think it either always was there
(when you select your homepage to be blank) or began with some recent version
of IE.

The adware removers you always see touted that "fix" it are ones that no one
has ever heard of most of the time, and all the homebrew fixes probably just
change the way IE behaves temporarily. I feel sorry for the fellow who
monkeyed with his registry to the point that he can't even use IE any more.
Its easy to do that if you begin taking every one and his brother's advice.

If it was a real deal, you would see Adaware and Spybot detecting it. They
have no reason not to!

I wouldn't doubt if the entire thing wasn't posted as a joke or as a way for
some unscrupulous folks to sell useless software.

If you want to get rid of "about:blank", just set your homepage to something
other than blank. Presto: gone in 2 seconds and for free too.

regards,

Buck
 
The "about.blank" Hijack *is* the real-deal!
<http://www.merijn.org/cwschronicles.html#aboutblank>

CWShredder will do away with it.
<http://aumha.net/viewtopic.php?t=16700>

Unless a user has deliberatley set their home page to 'about blank'
it needs to be investigated, anlaysed, removed - immediately.

Silj

--
siljaline

MS - MVP Windows (IE/OE) & Security, AH-VSOP
_________________________________________
Security Tools Updates
http://aumha.net/viewforum.php?f=31

Reply to group, as return address
is invalid that we may all benefit.
 
Lloyd Wolf said:
Hello. Looking for a little help....

I have a customer running Internet Explorer v6, on a computer running
Windows 2000 Professional.

Internet Explorer has been hijacked by "About:Blank"

We have run the Ad-aware 6 and also Spybot Search & Destroy software.
Neither one seems to be able to get rid of "About:Blank" permanently.

Doing a Google search, I have seen lots of people having lots of problems
with this one.

Does anyone have a solid solution for getting rid of the "About:Blank"
hijacker ?

Thanks in advance.

Lloyd Wolf
Wolf Consulting, Inc.


Lloyd-did you find out how to regain control over About:blank ?
Click to expand...
Jon
 
"About:Blank" still out there (and always will be)... I am using windows XP
Home, and I have tryed AD-Aware SE, Norton Anti-virus 2005, Windows Defender,
Spybot S&D, CWShredder all without getting rid of it! I will find a way and I
will post it here for anyone's use. I about to try "About:Buster 6.01". I've
heard it works, and I will tell you soon enough (hopefully)

-Rowan-
 
Rowan said:
"About:Buster 6.01" found nothing. The problem is still there.
Click to expand...

run HijackThis; http://aumha.org/downloads/hijackthis.zip
HijackThis - Tutorial & FAQ;
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/index.php?showtutorial=42

Register here: http://aumha.net/profile.php?mode=register
Once you have received your registration confirmation, post your HJT
log here: *(for expert analysis)*
http://aumha.net/viewforum.php?f=30

Please see http://aumha.net/viewtopic.php?t=4075 and
http://aumha.org/a/quickfix.htm before posting to the forum.

HijackThis tutorial:
http://aumha.org/a/hjttutor.htm

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE/WM
Please respond in Newsgroup. Do not send email
http://www.fjsmjs.com
Protect your PC
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/
 
Using Trend Micro Sysclean Package, Ad-Aware SE, SpyBot S&D, and NOD32 I
seemed to have gotten rid of "about:blank"! I can now set my homepage to
whatever I want. BUT it still gets redirected to a page with advertisment for
"anti"-virus software (safetydefender.com). Sometime when I am browsing the
page gets redirected to the "page cannot be displayed" page with a
windows-like yellow bar on top telling me to follow some links to more
"anti"-virus sites (text: "The page you are looking for is blocked by the
adware on your PC. Remove it with 'spy trooper' software. 'CLICK HERE'.") If
anyone knows how to fix this problem, please let me know!

Oh, and Frank Saunders: I will try your recomendation...

-Rowan-
 
Checking for/Help with Hijackware
http://aumha.org/a/parasite.htm
http://aumha.org/a/quickfix.htm
http://aumha.net/viewtopic.php?t=5878
http://wiki.castlecops.com/Malware_Removal_and_Prevention:_Introduction
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm
http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/data/prevention.htm
http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/tshoot.html
http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k/Malware_Defence.htm
http://defendingyourmachine.blogspot.com/
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

When all else fails, HijackThis v1.99.1
(http://aumha.net/downloads/hijackthis.zip) is the preferred tool to use.
It will help you to both identify and remove any hijackware/spyware. **Post
your log to http://aumha.net/viewforum.php?f=30,
http://castlecops.com/forum67.html,
http://forums.subratam.org/index.php?showforum=7, or other appropriate
forums for expert analysis, not here.**
 
Have recently had the same problem and used a number of programmes suggested
- none of which have helped. However, think I may have a solution for the
about:blank homepage in internet explorer - at least it appears to have
worked for me. It seems to be part of the safetydefender.com redirection page
that asks you to download their software - do not do this. I'd suggest using
Microsoft Defender to identify 2 processes linked to files atmclk.exe and
dcomcfg.exe - use defender to close these processes and delete the two files
from your c:/windows/system32 folder. Then reboot. Should work - let me know
if this helps.
 
Have recently had the same problem and used a number of programmes
suggested - none of which have helped.
Click to expand...

Please post the URL for your forum thread where you posted your HijackThis
log, Phil.
 
I have already fixed the about:blank problem, and it was indeed the same two
processes (atmclk.exe and dcomcfg.exe) These file are no longer on my
computer, BUT, as I already said, my home page still gets redirected to a
page with advertisment for "anti"-virus software (safetydefender.com).
Sometime when I am browsing the page gets redirected to the "page cannot be
displayed" page(for IE6, but I'm using IE7) with a windows-like yellow bar on
top telling me to follow some links to more "anti"-virus sites (text: "The
page you are looking for is blocked by the adware on your PC. Remove it with
'spy trooper' software. 'CLICK HERE'.") All the help I can get is welcomed. I
still have not tried Hijackthis, but I will soon...
 
Lloyd,

I had this same problem on two of my XP machines a year ago and a friend
said to bite the bullet and pay the 30 bucks for PC Tools, Spyware Doctor.
He was absolutely right. It is the only think I know that removed the About
Blank Hijacker and it has never come back. Of course, I run Spyware Doctor
daily and it monitors in the background but it really does get rid of
everything. I have had no problems since.

By the way, I do not work for PC Tools in any way. I am a county employee
in Nebraska.
 
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