Home Page greyed out in IE6 1

[BootBoy]

I recently set up a new dial-up account with Clara.net. I have used them for years and I trust them. At the end of the set up I clicked OK to have the account settings created automatically. From that moment Claranet's URL has been my Home Page instead of Blank and all related text boxes are now greyed out. I can't change it. Claranet strongly deny any responsiblity and say 'the .ins file used to configure your claranet account on the computer cannot have caused the settings to lock, as Microsoft did not design any method of locking out the settings via .ins
files. I believe them. They also say 'This is more a case of someone applying a local security lockdown policy on
the computer which can be used to prevent changes to various computer settings. There is no way that this could be done by us or anyone who didn't have physical access to your computer and any administrator priveliges on it. It is pure coincidence that the problem came about when
you setup your account with us.'
I have disabled the XP Firewall have tried hacking the registry with known 'greyed out home-page' changes but none work.

For your information;

I am running Windows XP Home Ver. 5.01.2600 Service Pack 1
I use IE.6 with all current security/updates installed.
I HAD the XP Firewall installed and use Zone Alarm with settings set to high.
I use Panda Titanium Anti-Virus which is constantly up to date.
I had not interfered with the registry or used a third party program to tweak my IE security settings.
My home page has always been set to Blank.
I have several other dial-up accounts. None of my other ISP's have ever altered my settings.
I have Spyware Blaster and SpyCleaner installed.

Does anyone have any idea what happened or how I might fix it?

Many thanks, sorry if I'm verbose!

B

 

[steamwiz]

BootBoy

You have a control panel restriction in the registry

The easiest way for us to help you will be for you to post a hijackthis log

Please Download hijackthis from

http://tomcoyote.org/hjt

Unzip, doubleclick HijackThis.exe, and hit "Scan".

After the scan has finished the "scan" button will turn into a "save log" button

save the log file and paste it here

Do not delete anything yet, as most things hijackthis finds are harmless and needed.

steam

 

[BootBoy]

Thanks Steamwiz,

I have run HijackThis. I know you asked that I post the initial log but having backed up the registry comprehensively I felt confident in deleting (in stages, rebooting each time) refereces to

http://www.clara.net.

After 3 deletions the result is I now have Blank.htm back but the text boxes are still greyed out. I hope I haven't f*cked it up but below is the complete log minus 3 lines;

Logfile of HijackThis v1.97.2
Scan saved at 23:06:05, on 08/10/2003
Platform: Windows XP SP1 (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP1 (6.00.2800.1106)

Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\Ati2evxx.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\crypserv.exe
C:\Program Files\Panda Software\Panda Antivirus Titanium\Pavsrv51.exe
C:\Program Files\Analog Devices\SoundMAX\SMAgent.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\ZoneLabs\vsmon.exe
C:\Program Files\Panda Software\Panda Antivirus Titanium\AVENGINE.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\system32\fxssvc.exe
C:\WINDOWS\Mixer.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\RunDll32.exe
C:\Program Files\Panda Software\Panda Antivirus Titanium\APVXDWIN.EXE
C:\PROGRA~1\INSTAN~1\INSTAN~1\IWCTRL.EXE
C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
C:\Program Files\MSGTAG\MSGTAG.exe
C:\Program Files\Zone Labs\ZoneAlarm\zonealarm.exe
C:\WINDOWS\EzDesk.exe
C:\Program Files\Panda Software\Panda Antivirus Titanium\pavProxy.exe
C:\Hijackthis\HijackThis.exe

R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Local Page = C:\WINDOWS\System\blank.htm
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Connection Wizard,Shellnext = "C:\Program Files\Outlook Express\msimn.exe"
N3 - Netscape 7: user_pref("browser.search.defaultengine", "engine://C%3A%5CProgram%20Files%5CNetscape%5CNetscape%5Csearchplugins%5CSBWeb_01.src" (C:\Documents and Settings\Tim\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\default\fv2ngqxh.slt\prefs.js)
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {06849E9F-C8D7-4D59-B87D-784B7D6BE0B3} - C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 6.0\Reader\ActiveX\AcroIEHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {FFFFFEF0-5B30-21D4-945D-000000000000} - C:\PROGRA~1\STARDO~1\SDIEInt.dll
O3 - Toolbar: &Radio - {8E718888-423F-11D2-876E-00A0C9082467} - C:\WINDOWS\System32\msdxm.ocx
O3 - Toolbar: WebFerret - {A58686ED-FC46-44C3-95C6-4A812AB776F1} - C:\Program Files\FerretSoft\WebFerret\FerretBand.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [C-Media Mixer] Mixer.exe /startup
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NvCplDaemon] RUNDLL32.EXE C:\WINDOWS\System32\NvCpl.dll,NvStartup
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [nwiz] nwiz.exe /install
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Cmaudio] RunDll32 cmicnfg.cpl,CMICtrlWnd
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [APVXDWIN] "C:\Program Files\Panda Software\Panda Antivirus Titanium\APVXDWIN.EXE" /s
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [QuickTime Task] "C:\Program Files\QuickTime\qttask.exe" -atboottime
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NeroCheck] C:\WINDOWS\system32\NeroCheck.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [IW Controlcenter] C:\PROGRA~1\INSTAN~1\INSTAN~1\IWCTRL.EXE
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [MSMSGS] "C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe" /background
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [NVIEW] rundll32.exe nview.dll,nViewLoadHook
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [MSGTAG] "C:\Program Files\MSGTAG\MSGTAG.exe" /startup
O4 - Startup: EzWare EzDesk.lnk = C:\WINDOWS\EzDesk.exe
O4 - Global Startup: Adobe Gamma Loader.lnk = C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Calibration\Adobe Gamma Loader.exe
O4 - Global Startup: ZoneAlarm.lnk = C:\Program Files\Zone Labs\ZoneAlarm\zonealarm.exe
O6 - HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Control Panel present
O8 - Extra context menu item: Download Images by Picture Finder - C:\Program Files\Super Picture Finder Grabber\pf_link.htm
O8 - Extra context menu item: Download the &current page with Offline Explorer - file://C:\Program Files\Offline Explorer\Add_AllO.htm
O8 - Extra context menu item: Download using Offline &Explorer - file://C:\Program Files\Offline Explorer\Add_UrlO.htm
O8 - Extra context menu item: Download with Star Downloader - C:\Program Files\Star Downloader\sdie.htm
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Sun Java Console (HKLM)
O14 - IERESET.INF: START_PAGE_URL=http://www.clara.net/
O16 - DPF: {19E28AFC-EAE3-4CE5-AC83-2407B42F57C9} (MSSecurityAdvisor Class) -

http://protect.microsoft.com/security/protect/WSA/shared/cab/x86/MSSecAdv.cab?1063817836218

O16 - DPF: {41F17733-B041-4099-A042-B518BB6A408C} -

http://a1540.g.akamai.net/7/1540/52...pple.com/bonnie/us/win/QuickTimeInstaller.exe

O16 - DPF: {AD7FAFB0-16D6-40C3-AF27-585D6E6453FD} -

http://dload.ipbill.com/del/loader.cab

O16 - DPF: {D27CDB6E-AE6D-11CF-96B8-444553540000} (Shockwave Flash Object) -

http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab

Many regards,

B

 

[steamwiz]

Close all browser windows - run hijackthis and fix :-

O6 - HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Control Panel present

Fixing this should solve your "greyed out" boxes
-----
O14 - IERESET.INF: START_PAGE_URL=http://www.clara.net/

This will reset your homepage back to clara
-----

O16 - DPF: {AD7FAFB0-16D6-40C3-AF27-585D6E6453FD} -

http://dload.ipbill.com/del/loader.cab

fix this as well
-----
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [NVIEW] rundll32.exe nview.dll,nViewLoadHook

Do you have multiple monitors?

"This is a DLL to enable multiple display monitors on a single computer. It can be a cause of numerous problems on some computers."
Fix this if you only have - and only intend to have one monitor

steam

 

[BootBoy]

Thanks Steamwiz,

That worked a treat. You are my best friend today!

Cheers mate,

B.