OS and Software > Microsoft Help > [IE6.x] Home Page Hijacking

[IE6.x] Home Page Hijacking

You could use Spybots' immunize(sp?) feature, I haven't had my homepage hijacked with it yet (on my workstations that use IE, that is).

Interesting... Never had that happen. I have SpyBot and use the Imm feature as posted above. Also run my privacy level at High. Do you have a site reference for us to look at?
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Just my opinion. No more or less valid than anyone else's, by default. That's why it's called opinion.

reply to acehyde
I believe that Spybot's immunization feature doesn't stop hijacking from the web but from the PC itself. This has been a concern for a while at the security forum and has produced numerous requests: »Someone tell Patrick that Spybot is WRONG.

Tony Klein:
"Apart from being at admin at Net Integration, I hang and post at many other boards and newsgroups, and I can assure you that every day I see a number of people totally bewildered at suddenly not being able to change their Homepage settings, or access Internet Options, unaware they implemented those restrictions themselves using SpyBot S&D.

I'm sure at first it sounded like neat idea to PepiMK to include it, but in practice it just doesn't seem worth it.

Removing or rethinking this option has been on PepiMK's to-do list for the new version for a while, and I'm certain it will be implemented as well."

[text was edited by author 2003-06-25 18:11:27]

reply to Ivan

said by Ivan:

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Interesting... Never had that happen. I have SpyBot and use the Imm feature as posted above. Also run my privacy level at High. Do you have a site reference for us to look at?

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reply to DSmithLady
I used to always get a "My Search" page hijack along with their search bar. None since I have been running Ad-Aware and Spy-bot.
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reply to DSmithLady
The toolbar problem sounds a lot like 'lop' to me: »www.spywareinfo.com/articles/lop/

and you can check here for some other ideas:
»[XP] IE 6 +spyware +lop.com

said by Mem:

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The toolbar problem sounds a lot like 'lop' to me: »www.spywareinfo.com/articles/lop/

and you can check here for some other ideas:
»[XP] IE 6 +spyware +lop.com

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I'm not sure I know any more than you do.... but here is one last comment from the peanut gallery on defending from hijacks - »www.spywareinfo.com/articles/hijacked/

reply to DSmithLady
You can do a registry hack and disable this which I believe is what spybot does. Halfway down on this page there is information on locking the home page. »www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/ietips.htm
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Team Discovery Project Hope

reply to DSmithLady

said by DSmithLady:

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If I find it...I'll IM you if you like...I would not want to post it in the thread.

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reply to DSmithLady
I know you were looking for non-third-party solutions, but I don't think you'll find a way to block all these things within IE, unless you make your browser settings overly restrictive.

The most popular solution I've seen is to download and install these two anti-spyware programs by Javacool, which should prevent nearly all home page hijackings, toolbar installations, and many other nuisances:

» SpywareBlaster
» SpywareGuard

SpywareBlaster provides passive protection through "kill bits" and only needs to be kept updated. SpywareGuard provides real-time (resident) protection while running in the background. Make sure that each program is kept up-to-date with the latest reference files. At the top of the Security forum is an Updates sticky thread, which reports when each of these programs is updated ...

[text was edited by author 2003-06-25 19:50:50]

said by Reverend Ike:

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I know you were looking for non-third-party solutions, but I don't think you'll find an answer within IE unless you make your browser settings very restrictive.

The most popular solution I've seen is to download and install these two anti-spyware programs by Javacool, which should prevent nearly all home page hijackings, toolbar installations, and many other nuisances:

» SpywareBlaster
» SpywareGuard

SpywareBlaster provides passive protection through "kill bits" and only needs to be kept updated. SpywareGuard provides real-time (resident) protection while running in the background. Make sure that each program is kept up-to-date with the latest reference files. At the top of the Security forum is an Updates sticky thread, which reports when each of these programs is updated ...

[text was edited by author 2003-06-25 19:45:15]

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Well, FWIW, I think that the most effective anti-spyware combination at the moment is:

Spybot Search and Destroy
Ad-aware
SpywareBlaster
SpywareGuard

... with the two Javacool programs doing the prevention work (as I described above), and Spybot S&D and Ad-aware used for doing periodic on-demand scans. You will find many regulars in the Security forum that use and recommend those four ...

reply to DSmithLady
As has been mentioned....3rd party programs can accomplish this or you can accomplish this via a registry entry yourself.
_________________________________
REGEDIT4

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Control Panel]
"Homepage"=dword:00000001
_________________________________
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Hatred causes destruction....Love causes construction

The registry change you show restricts changing of the Home Page via the Control Panel. Does this indeed work when someone inadvertently stumbles into one of those "special" sites which modifies it for you?
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FAILURE IS NOT AN OPTION. It comes bundled with the software.

said by MSeng:

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The registry change you show restricts changing of the Home Page via the Control Panel. Does this indeed work when someone inadvertently stumbles into one of those "special" sites which modifies it for you?

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said by Bubba:

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said by MSeng:

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The registry change you show restricts changing of the Home Page via the Control Panel. Does this indeed work when someone inadvertently stumbles into one of those "special" sites which modifies it for you?

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Actually....when I copied and pasted before leaving work....I did not copy and paste the rest....sorry.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer] - DWORD "NoSetHomePage"=dword:00000001

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Restrictions] - DWORD "NoSetHomePage"=dword:00000001

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The entry dealing with the Control panel "will prevent a user from setting a new homepage"....which is what Spyware Blater accomplishes via it's....Tool\Misc. IE settings(Disable the IE Homepage settings area in the Internet Tools Control panel)

The other entries will....to the best of my knowledge and testing....prevent a driveby hijacking of your homepage BUT I reserve the right to be corrected
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Hatred causes destruction....Love causes construction

reply to DSmithLady
Although this topic started off as a home page problem, Dsmithlady also mentioned an unwanted toolbar early on, and in fact said that the toolbar was the more difficult problem. Given that some (most?) of the current spyware fads combine a variety of actions (home page hijack and/or search page hijack and/or toolbar installation, etc.), I think users are generally better off using effective third-party programs that are actively developed by people who watch spyware evolve day by day.

In this case, the four programs recommended require very little configuration, and either block or catch/clean probably 99%+ of the spyware that an average user is likely to encounter. Each program takes only a couple of mouse-clicks and a few seconds to update. And each on-demand scan can be run once a week (or even less frequently) during lunch or a coffee break or whenever.

I'm not familiar with Spyblocker, but if you asked about the strengths and weaknesses of Spyblocker v. SpywareBlaster and SpywareGuard over in their forums, I'm sure other users or Javacool himself could tell you whether they could co-exist, or whether one program duplicates another. Here's that link:

» SpywareBlaster and Other Forum