Damn browser hompage

[jahill]

Hi all,

I have had this problem of my browser homepage re-configuring itself to omegasearch and bringing up a little pop up down the bottom every time i open explorer. I use Ad aware and spy blaster as well as Secret Maker which I find terrific but none permantly get rid of this problem. It slows down my computer a great deal on start up and occasionly crashes explorer all together.......

what do i do.

[rainbowdemon]

Use Firefox!

http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

[jahill]

why though....

[rainbowdemon]

The feature that applies to your problem is the built-in pop-up blocker. Aside from that it's simply a better and more secure browser.

[jahill]

i like explorer though, is there any spyware program that will fix this problem

[fireforce555]

http://www.short-media.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12173


http://www.short-media.com/review.php?r=235

[tvaddict817]

You can try hijack this. It is a program that tells you every single thing that starts with Windows (more than msconfig or anything else). You can find information and get the program from here: http://www.siena.edu/antivirus/Spyware/hijackthis.htm.

EDIT: You need hijack this for fireforce's post above.

[jahill]

ok so if i install hijack this and it picks it up, which it will, what do i do from there. i cant do it now im at work so any further info would be good. should i delete it or???

[wonderboy2005]

If you don't plan on changing your homepage too often, you might want to lock it via the registry. here's a link to techTV's explination of how to do just that: http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/windowstips/story/0,24330,3653335,00.html

[Burd]

Try some of the programs here: http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html. I had a similar problem, but it kept re-routing to Cool Web Search. This Omegasearch might be associated in some way with it. Try the CW Shredder first; it just might do the trick, as it did for me.

[rebirth]

use a hosts file from a third party website...download it and overwrite your HOSTS file in C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc that will block further attacks...and prevent some ads!

[Mels_Smileys45]

You should try cws shredder. http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/files/cwshredder.zip


I used it when I got hijacked a few months ago by globefinder. It worked perfect and was very easy to use.

[nasrules]

Just get Spybot Search & Destroy (http://www.safer-networking.org). 'Clean' your system using it, then use it's 'Immunize' feature to stop it happening again.

[muffenme]

:fire

Don't forget to download Spy Blaster to prevent future problem. Ad-aware could remove this problem but some adware requires that explorer.exe not to be loaded or the adware would just reinstall itself when you remove them.

:hole

[MushroomheadXIII]

Its probably that browser hijacker from Ares, or some other shit. Not sure though, screensavers have crap hijackers like that too...
MOZILLA FIREFOX 0.8 RULLES!!!!
---> this is not spam...get from www.mozilla.org ans you won't be sorry!

[muffenme]

:fire

I don't think it Ares directly, may be the home page but I don't use Ares much. What I do know is that hijacker can be installed in many ways:

1. Installing software that has a hijacker in it, this does include some p2p, some screensaver, all XP theme, some games, and some utilities.
2. Through the e-mail because of javascript, vb script, java, ActiveX controls, etc.
3. Through a web page because of javascript, vb script, java, ActiveX controls, etc.

I like to see the end of all this BS so that we can get free stuff from the internet without thinking about setting up a second computer up to test it on before installing it on the main computer.

:hole

[shawners]

i had to go in to ad/remove programs to get some of the websearches to go away, even reboot. But alot of them will install or try to make you click yes on websites. IT gets very annoying.

[ducttapeBigSexy]

Now, I can't promise this is going to work (I'm not going to run it on my computer, but if someone feels brave, feel free to try it out), but I went in the help section of omegasearch.com (which you said your homepage kept resetting it), and I found this link:

http://www.omegasearch.com/help.html#uninstall

There's a link to an uninstall program (http://lop.com/new_uninstall.exe) that says it'll remove any software from the site, which I'm guessing includes hijackers.

And, hey, do this at your own risk - I haven't run it, so I can't say if it'll work.

[jahill]

well ive used csshredder, hijackthis, adaware, secretmaker, spybot, spyblaster.....and the little bugger still comes back, time to clear the hard drive i think

[Burd]

Before you do anything, go to this forum: http://forums.techguy.org/ and ask your question there. They've helped me several times. I'd be interested in knowing how you get rid of this, as it's probably only a matter of time before it gets around to me. So please let us know how you resolve this.

[The Hunter]

Have you tried turning off system restore before trying to remove it?

[RACKnRAIL]

use a hosts file from a third party website...download it and overwrite your HOSTS file in C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc that will block further attacks...and prevent some ads!

Be very careful of this...you just might replace your host file with the very thing you wish to block.

[YWD67]

What about Ad-aware 6.0? I had the same problem with another one of those hijacker's a home page program that stops other unwanted ones form taking over. Also you might try a registry cleaner and use the start up system to shut your unwanted home page system from starting up. You can also remove the program with it as well. It is called Regcleaner 4.2, it works fine on my Windows XP system.