It's about IE this time... (it really is!)

[Jettah]

Hi,

In one of my other postings I made the mistake of touting a bit about a browser NOT being Internet Explorer and later on asking a question or two about IE. Well guess right first time around: al 'answers' were about the other browser! No, I'll not make that mistake again. This question is about Internet Exploder. Strictly.

Here goes:
Whenever I change the default site at open time, it always is changed back in some homeportal afair that I'm not interested in. I want www.amiga.org as my default opening site! Anyone give me clue?

Secondly, there is, al of a sudden, a searchbar apearing from something like MySearch. While I had Google installed. I can change it and exchange one for the other, but when not looking al of that same sudden the MySearch bar is reinstalled. When refraining from hammer-and-chissel tactics, what can I do to keep MY settings as the permanent ones? Again, anyone any clue?

I did it! I did not mention Oper(oops)Aaagh! (Starting to looking into the sky, hands on my back, softly whistling 'Scotland the Brave'). Nobody noticed my near mistake, now did yeh?
 
Regards,

Tjitte

[Vincent]

Download Spybot and Hijack This and see if they solve the problems.

Oh, it might be an idea to read this Hijack This page before running it :-)

[KennyR]

Oh, this is nasty spyware called a 'browser hijacker'. It's like a virus. This took me ages to get rid of until I figured it out (with Amiga.org's help). Spybot S&D and lots of other spyware tools won't remove it.

You need AdAware, and cwshredder. Get cwshredder here or just google for it.

Run cwshredder first, and let it do its business. That will kill the trojan. Adaware will just clean up the crap it left behind.

Then go install XP Service Pack 1 if you don't have it, and remove Java VM if you've got it installed. That'll stop it ever coming back.

[Matt_H]

Once you've got everything cleaned up, I strongly suggest to stop using IE. Opera and Mozilla really are much, much better (and safer).

[mikeymike]

Then go install XP Service Pack 1 if you don't have it, and remove Java VM if you've got it installed. That'll stop it ever coming back.

What's Java got to do with it?

[sir_inferno]

some microsoft java thingies are insecure. they can lead to internet explorer exploits using browser "helper" object, e.g. a nasty header, XXX An*l toolbars etc

[melott]

Ummm...;-) sorry to tell you this but there
is a new one Hyjacking IE now. CWShredder doesn't
kill it.
I've got it in IE and can't find a way to kill it.

Anyone know of anything else that might work??

[Ilwrath]

Anyone know of anything else that might work??

Mozilla works quite nice.    I'll be here all week.  Try the veal.  :lol:

I typically do the three prong attack to family's infected computers.  First, for cleaning up stuff, I typically use AdAware by Lavasoft.  Make sure you download the latest definitions files.  

Next I download and install Mozilla.

Finally, I set IE's proxy to 127.0.0.1, so nothing that uses the flawed IE components can access the internet.  Then I swap the Mozilla icon for the internet explorer 'e', and tell them I upgraded their internet explorer.  (I gave up trying to explain why Netscape/Mozilla/Firefox/Firebird/Phoenix are all the same browser.  And just calling it a new version of internet explorer has cut down on other "problems" they run into.  ;-)  )

[Step]

@Ilwrath

Tricking people to think they still use IE... so clever. I must do that, most people cant tell the difference anyway, haha. Very neat. :-)

[lazarus]

May be worth a quick visit to http://www.doxdesk.com and visiting the PARASITE link on the left

I've found this site invaluable many a time!

[melott]

@Lazarus

Interesting..... I'll have to look into this site
more later.

If Ibrowse did Java better I wouldn't even go on Explorer.

[Vincent]

CWShredder doesn't kill it.

I've used Hijack This to get rid of IE search bars on a few different PCs and it's worked evverytime :-)

[Jettah]

@Lazarus

You wrote:
May be worth a quick visit to http://www.doxdesk.com and visiting the PARASITE link on the left

I've found this site invaluable many a time!

===================================================
Well, as you advised, I gave it a quick visit. It looks pretty impressive. And, honestly, I think it provides the key to the cure, maybe even is THE cure!

I'll give it a try anyway.

Thanks,

Tjitte

P.M. All those other 'scanners' have been installed to and give nice results.
- HijackThis
- SpyBot
- AdWare 6.0
- NAV2004

Downloading, installing and, LBNL, running and interpreting the results of all these software made me wonder wether Windows is meant for running suchs apps to find out whether it would have been safe to run more productive apps had there been any resources left. :-P
Just a thought.

[KennyR]

Mikeymike wrote:
What's Java got to do with it?

"CoolWebSearch spyware uses the MS Java VM vulnerability [earlier than builds 3810] and installs itself while visiting some rogue websites."

That's here. It's also said in the cwshredder GUI after cleaning and in many other places.

I didn't have MS Java VM installed at all though when I had it, so presumably it's found a new vulnerability to exploit. Well, it's Windows, take your pick.

[Hattig]

I use SpyBot, AdAware and common sense to try and keep bad things off my computer. Common Sense == not running IE or Outlook for the most part.

Some so called anti-spyware software is actually just vindictive spyware that gets rid of competing spyware before installing its own!