Internet Explorer hacked

[correro]

My system is corrupted by some virus. When I launch Internet Explorer, the home page always defaults to a page. Even if I change it, it happens again when I reboot or re-sign-in.

I edited the registry, removing entries like SearchURL, SearBar, which contains the URL of the page. But it doesn't work.

What virus is this, and how should I fix it? Thanks!

 

[markdmac]

Sounds like it is not a virus but malware/spyware instead.

I'd suggest you download a copy of Ad-Aware from Lavasoft and do a scan. You can get it at

http://www.lavasoft.de.

Make sure after installing that you have itdownload its updates before running it.

I hope you find this post helpful. Please let me know if it was.

Regards,

Mark

 

[correro]

Thanks for recommending Ad-Aware to me. I installed and ran it, and found a dozen objects and had them all removed. I'll see if the problems are fixed.

 

[correro]

I rebooted my system, launched Internet Explorer, and the homepage is still the ill one.

So Ad-Aware didn't fix it for me, though it claimed to have found some foreign objects in the registry and removed them. What should I do now?

 

[markdmac]

First I'd re-run Ad-Aware. Some programs reinstall themselves and you may need to do more investigation.

Also, using Ad-Aware would not have reset your homepage back, so if it was redirected and you did not set it back it would not have changed.

There was a program called AOLCOACH that I know does exactly what you are describing. Give a look inot your Program Files and Program Files\Common Shared folders to make sure it is not there.

Check your registry under HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Run and see what is listed there. You may need to remove items from there to get them to stop launching.

I hope you find this post helpful. Please let me know if it was.

Regards,

Mark

 

[beerhunter2]

Follow the instructions in FAQ608-4650 and FAQ760-4866

Help! I've fallen and I can't reach my beer.

 

[vbrocks]

Do a text search for the URL to see if it is contained in any files on your hard drive..
Did you search for the URL in the registry?