Windows 8.1 Internet Explorer favorites

[Gustavus]

Today is my day for questions. Here is another one.

Brand new build. Only three or four bits of software installed -- ESET System Security, Ad Muncher and Wise Care which is there strictly so I can time bootup.

If I click on the Explorer icon to open Internet Explorer it opens on the hhtps page for Google with two other items in the bar at the top of the page -- CNN World news which I had tried to set as my home page and a scrolling box for Toshiba: http//start.new.toshiba.com

There isn't anything Toshiba related in this computer and I certainly do not want the scrolling box there. I have no idea of where it came from, but all efforts to get rid of it have failed. In searching around in the system it appears there is a link to the Toshiba apps store. I don't want a link to an apps store, Microsoft, Toshiba or anything else. If I want software, I will download and install it.

What I really want is for the Internet Explorer to open in the CNN home page I chose, for Google to be available in favorites when I need it -- or better still would have been for it to show in the upper right corner as it did in Windows XP so I could make Google searches without having to go through Favorites -- and for the Toshiba intruder to be gone forever.

I have Windows 8.1 Step by Step and haven't been able to find a way to do what I want:

1. get Internet Explorer to open to the home page I want
2. have Google available, but not as my home page

and

3. GET RID of the Toshiba intruder and anything else Toshiba related

Help would be much appreciated.

Note added:
And yes, I have gone to the CNN page, clicked on tools, internet options, chosen use current page, apply, OK etc. -- which is what I meant when I said I had tried to set the home page. The next time I open Internet explorer it is back to the Google home page etc.

 

[phasseshifter]

my advice is to install firefox..but each to their own..you may find that you have a program installed in "program`s and features"..this may be as to y it starts on a particular page,,,after uninstall you shoud reboot its windows after all..then state in "ie" options your home page addy....i have not used "ie" since early 90`s..

 

[Gustavus]

There are lots of malicious sites that hijack your home page, but this is a new build and hasn't been used to browse the net. Oh, it's connected of course and ESET and AdMuncher update definitions, but I haven't gone browsing with it so can't imagine where the Toshiba crap came from. As I said there isn't anything Toshiba related in the machine. I have gone to my home page -- well by exiting the forced Google homepage and going to CNN, but haven't yet added any of the favorites from my main machine. The puzzling thing -- well one of several puzzling things -- is that if I carry out the sequence of steps described above which should change the home page, on reboot it is back where it was before. Not the behavior you would expect from malware, but in all other respects it is behaving as though malware were in control.

 

[phasseshifter]

do u have a firewall..i have had Similar things happen when setting up a new machine...but yes it seem`s odd...have you ran windows update on it at all..when updating any program from the net it is a must you read through the options..third party programs often get in..it happens,,do u install Microsoft silver light..this help`s to download Microsoft updates as well.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Do you have a Toshiba / TSST DVD drive? Could it be "bluebird"? (Google that.)

For a period of time, certain mfg's DVD drive firmware, made it look like a disc was mounted, that contained an auto-run, that would install adware into the OS, when the tray was empty.

It was basically universally reviled, and eventually, removed, in newer model drives. But I wonder if perhaps you got a drive with it installed.

http://www.tim.id.au/blog/2009/09/03/solved-bluebirds-installer-on-lg-gh22ns50-dvd-rw/

Edit: If it's not that, then ... where did you get your copy of Windows? Was it "cheap"? Perhaps it is an OEM copy, intended for Toshiba computers, and therefore, comes with some Toshiba stuff like an app store and web site homepage pre-installed? This seems the most likely cause, to me.

Edit: Does Control Panel, System, System, show some sort of "help link" to Toshiba, and is it "branded" as Toshiba?

 

[Gustavus]

Virtual Larry
Thanks. No, there is nothing labeled Toshiba in the path Control Panel, System, System etc.

I was finally able to clear the Toshiba running banner/box and the browsing history. When I rebooted and went to my home page the Toshiba crap was back, but in the history now there was an entry

http://na.sage.com/sageone-us/lp/toshiba-pardner

which I assume has to be the culprit. A net search shows sageone to be an accounting package for small businesses. I am not a business and had never heard of sageone until it showed up in the history on reboot.

There is one thing I should mention. I bought a 240 GB SanDisk UltraII SSD from Tiger Direct on Black Friday for this machine. When I tried to register it with SanDisk the registration was rejected because the serial wasn't recognized. The tech at SanDisk said he would register it for me and asked I send him a photo of the label on the SSD and a copy of the invoice from TigerDirect. He e-mailed me back to say he couldn't register it either for the same reason and said that if the drive were counterfeit SanDisk would replace it. It took some time, but eventually SanDisk reported the SSD had been registered. The problem they said was that production had outpaced the data logs. I asked for a reassurance that the SSD was legit and was registered and received another e-mail saying it was.

The SSD was sealed in what appeared to be the proper retail packaging, but that is one place where something could have slipped into my new build. I know it sounds paranoid, but am just trying to think of any explanation -- however far fetched and improbable.

Note added:
It would appear the Toshiba stuff is vanquished. I found the mysterious na.sage.com link as an entry in the business tab in favorites. Deleted the business tab entirely and several reboots with no problem. If I open Internet Explorer I go to my chosen CNN homepage with a clean address bar. Haven't the foggiest notion of where the problem came from but all I care about is that the system appears to be doing just what it should. Now to start installing essential software. Oh, and the boot time is holding stable at 16 seconds in several restarts. The SSD is impressive for booting.