xp- AOL highjacks internet searches

  • Thread starter Thread starter Roy
  • Start date Start date
R

Roy

i recently bought a sony laptop computer; they must be in bed with AOL (but
who's not!); because even tho' I've removed the "aol browser", for some
reason IE6 always goes to the AOL search page when I can't find a website.
even worse, AOL somehow defeats the "back" button, so I'm stuck on AOL' s
page. (how could a company be so stupid to do things that make people detest
them?!?)

anyway, I did a reg search and no can find AOL search page. Tried tools,
options, no can find any reference to default search page. is there
anyplace i can once and for all nuke this horrid AOL crap from my system?
:)

thanks
 
Roy,

Have kyou tried opening Internet Explorer, selecting Tools/Internet Options
and then on the General tab setting the home page of your choosing?

Milt
 
%Vjwg.124448$I61.45291@clgrps13,
Roy said:
i recently bought a sony laptop computer; they must be in
bed with AOL (but who's not!); because even tho' I've
removed the "aol browser", for some reason IE6 always goes
to the AOL search page when I can't find a website. even
worse, AOL somehow defeats the "back" button, so I'm stuck
on AOL' s page. (how could a company be so stupid to do
things that make people detest them?!?)
anyway, I did a reg search and no can find AOL search page.
Tried tools, options, no can find any reference to default
search page. is there anyplace i can once and for all nuke
this horrid AOL crap from my system? :)

thanks
Click to expand...

Try the following:

Open Internet Explorer.
Click on the Search icon on the toolbar at the top of the
window. It looks like a magnifying glass.
Note: You can also click on the View menu and select Explorer
Bar -> Search.
The Search bar should now be displayed on the left side of your
screen.
Click on the Customize button.
Look to see if any of the selections are for AOL Search.
If so, change them to your preferred search engine.

If this doesn't solve your problem you might want to post your
question on the Internet Explorer newsgroup:


Good luck

Nepatsfan
 
thanks; tried it but no luck. I wonder if installing AIM (aol's instant
messenger) somehow hijacked my IE6 address bar search mechanism?)
 
When you installed AIM, did you allow the AOL Toolbar to be
installed? If so, try uninstalling the toolbar through Control
Panel -> Add or Remove Programs.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

wiAwg.124580$I61.90952@clgrps13,
 
When you installed AIM, did you allow the AOL Toolbar to be
installed? If so, try uninstalling the toolbar through Control Panel ->
Add or Remove Programs.
Click to expand...

thanks for the hint, but no AOL toolbar here. I used to have AOL browser,
but uninstalled it from the control panel. I do use AIM (instant messaging
from aol); I'm wondering if the AIM substructure installs and/or highjacks
stuff in the background. In my Kerio firewall, I keep seeing "AOL" as a
seperate icon from the AIM icon. I keep removing it from Kerio, but it
keeps coming back with full permissions.

Oddly, I have 3 different, unpredicable things happening in my 3 browsers.
IE6 still locks into the AOL search page whenever I enter 'nonsense' into
the address bar. "back button" is locked to keep me on AOL's page. Firefox
responded to 'nonsense' typed into the address bar with a German site
(http://www.wjg-nettetal.de/cms/index.php?id=84&type=0) which obviously, I
can't make sense of. Perhaps Firefox thought my gibberish was "german
gibberish" (!!)

Opera simply does it's own error page: this address not available from this
machine. refreshingly simple.

Needless to say this leaves me with a "bad AOL" taste in my mouth; somewhat
akin to a "bad computer hair day".

any comments from folks who have 'hacked' AOL's crap out of their system
would be helpful!

Roy
 
eZaxg.133346$I61.84890@clgrps13,
Roy said:
thanks for the hint, but no AOL toolbar here. I used to
have AOL browser, but uninstalled it from the control panel.
I do use AIM (instant messaging from aol); I'm wondering if
the AIM substructure installs and/or highjacks stuff in the
background. In my Kerio firewall, I keep seeing "AOL" as a
seperate icon from the AIM icon. I keep removing it from
Kerio, but it keeps coming back with full permissions.
Oddly, I have 3 different, unpredicable things happening in
my 3 browsers. IE6 still locks into the AOL search page
whenever I enter 'nonsense' into the address bar. "back
button" is locked to keep me on AOL's page. Firefox
responded to 'nonsense' typed into the address bar with a
German site
(http://www.wjg-nettetal.de/cms/index.php?id=84&type=0)
which obviously, I can't make sense of. Perhaps Firefox
thought my gibberish was "german gibberish" (!!)
Opera simply does it's own error page: this address not
available from this machine. refreshingly simple.

Needless to say this leaves me with a "bad AOL" taste in my
mouth; somewhat akin to a "bad computer hair day".

any comments from folks who have 'hacked' AOL's crap out of
their system would be helpful!

Roy
Click to expand...

If you can live with behavior similar to what you get from
Opera, do the following:

Go to Control Panel and double click Internet Options.
Click on the Advanced tab.
Scroll down to the "Search from the Address bar" section.
Select "Do not search from the Address bar".
Click OK.
With this setting you'll see the "Cannot find server" page with
a message that the page cannot be displayed.

Beyond that, I'm out of ideas other than to repeat my earlier
suggestion about posting any questions on this subject to the
Internet Explorer newsgroup.

Good luck

Nepatsfan
 
With this setting you'll see the "Cannot find server" page with a message
that the page cannot be displayed.

Beyond that, I'm out of ideas other than to repeat my earlier suggestion
about posting any questions on this subject to the Internet Explorer
newsgroup.

Good luck

Nepatsfan
Click to expand...

Hi Nepatsfan,

Here's what I ended up doing to get rid of that incessant AOL search hijack:
I had to boot in safe mode. I went to program files/common files/ ...
remove ALL AOL files & folders. Went to documents & settings folder, for
all users, removed ALL AOL files and folders except for AIM folder.

Went to START > RUN > REGEDIT. Removed all keys and folders in the registry
with AOL in their string (yes, i know this is a bit 'on the edge' ...).
But, Jesus, that did it.

Re-booted, and presto, google comes up as my search tool for address bar
input in IE6.

AOL needs to learn some really basic lessons about RESPECT for their
clients. I was put off AOL decades ago, so I'm way past ever trusting that
company again. By "respect", I mean a simple link to "uninstall AOLsearch"
or "disable aol search assistant" would be nice. I searched all the help
and faq and setup links on the aol search page. Nothing. Nada.

Between googling, NG posting, and cleaning out my system, this little
oversight and self-serving hijack has caused me about 2 hours time.

Make your own choices, but I choose vendors who respect their clients.
 
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