Cannot set default homepage in XP (Internet Options)...

Basse

Senior member
Oct 11, 1999
525
0
71
Some porno virus or something has messed up my computer real bad. When I started Internet Explorer this morning it immediately went to a porn page with constant pop-ups so all I could do was close everything. Whatever I typed in the adress field led to a porn page.

My hosts file was filled with adresses to porn and I cleaned it.

I reset my current homepage in Control Panel -> Internet Options (IO) to Google but when I started IE again it went straight to the porn page. I went back to IO and checked and it had changed back to the porn page again. I reset it and it had defaulted back to the porn again the next time I opened IO...

I have checked what I know in the registry that could start some sort of malicious program (Run, RunOnce etc) but its all clean.

I have scanned for viruses with the latest definitions.

What causes IE to default back to using the porn page as home/starting page? Somewhere in the registry I don't know about? Please help this is very annoying... :-(

Thx in advance!
 

dderidex

Platinum Member
Mar 13, 2001
2,732
0
0
What you have is some javascript that is doing that (or, who knows, a worm could).

Typically, it's pretty easy to clean if it's just a nasty script on XP:
1) Make sure ALL INSTANCES OF IE ARE CLOSED. That means bring up taskman and make sure no "iexplore.exe" is running.
2) Control Panel -> Internet options (you HAVE to access it here, can't bring up IE)
3) Delete Cookies
4) Delete Files (make sure you check 'Delete all offline content')
5) Set address to google here
6) Hit 'okay'
7) Bring up Internet Options again to verify they are set correctly - if not, set the homepage and try again

That should take care of a script problem. It is VERY important to make sure IE isn't running at the time, though! If it is, it will set the homepage to the porn page on exitting - which is why you'd see it reset every time it starts up again.

Now, if that doesn't take care of it, you may have a worm causing problems.

Simply install an antivirus program and update your definitions. Most modern ones have some decent script blocking in them. If not, Zonealarm (which is free) does.
 

RVN

Golden Member
Dec 1, 2000
1,154
1
81
Here's some instructions from a google groups search on "clearfind" that might partly apply. This is what I copied:

Click 'Start', then 'Run...'

Type 'regedit'

When the registry editor opens, select 'Edit'>'Find...'

The key value you are looking for is 'Start Page', search for that.


It will probably be under HKEY_USERS\...\Software\Microsoft\Internet
Explorer\Main\

The key value ('Start Page') will have the value 'www.clearfind.com'.
To change it, right-click the 'Start Page' words and select 'Modify.'

This will allow you to change the setting (to like, google.com or
yahoo.com or whatever) but the buttons will still be grayed out.

But, all you have to do to fix the buttons is navigate to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet
Explorer\Control Panel\

Kind the key value titled 'HomePage', which will have a binary value
'0x0000001'. Don't sweat it if you don't read binary, it just means
'1'. If you right-click the word 'HomePage', select 'Modify' from the
pop-up window, and the value will appear as '1'...change it to '0',
and pesto...you can alter the home page again.

If you have to do this again after you restart your computer, you have
something sitting on your system which is resetting it.
 

redbeard1

Diamond Member
Dec 12, 2001
3,006
0
0
There is a nasty bit of spyware on your system, that is loading on start up, and changing the home page. Try adaware or spybot search and destroy and see if they can remove it. If not, check your start up folder, or the run sections of your registry to see where it is loading from.
 

Basse

Senior member
Oct 11, 1999
525
0
71
Thank for the tips guys!

I will follow them and ley you know what happens.

That should take care of a script problem. It is VERY important to make sure IE isn't running at the time, though! If it is, it will set the homepage to the porn page on exitting - which is why you'd see it reset every time it starts up again.

The thing is it gets reset even though I never start IE, just open IO again in Control Panel.

Try adaware or spybot search and destroy and see if they can remove it. If not, check your start up folder, or the run sections of your registry to see where it is loading from.

The Run part of the registry is clean, as well as the startup folder. I will first try to delete the cookies/files and see what that does. Step 2 is Adaware/Spybot.

Thanks again!
 

Basse

Senior member
Oct 11, 1999
525
0
71
I ran AdAware, Spybot and HijackThis. They did the trick! Thx alot guys :)