Help! My Homepage has been Hijacked!

My start page in Internet Explorer was changed to a porn site and it keeps going back to that site even after I make a change in the settings. What am I doing wrong?

- Geri

This question was answered on July 15, 2002. Much of the information contained herein may have changed since posting.

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It sounds like you have become a victim of a ‘home page hijacking’ scheme that takes advantage of several old vulnerabilities in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer web browser

The authors of rogue web sites use malicious code embedded in the site to install a little “bug” in your system that forces it to reset your start page to the site of their choice every time you reboot your Windows based system They often create web sites that are spelled similar to very popular web sites hoping to capture surfers that have slightly misspelled the address.

When you attempt to make the change in your browser’s settings to switch back to the page that you want as your start page, it is futile because it will be overwritten the next time you restart the computer because of some hidden code that was added to your systems ‘registry’ or startup section.

This same malicious code is used to add undesirable web sites to your Favorites list without your knowledge or approval.

Depending upon which variation of malicious code you ran across, the fix can be fairly easy or somewhat technical Most attack the system registry, which is no place for the average user to be fooling with, so your best bet is to download a program that can act as your advocate.

One of the more popular programs that can be downloaded for free via the Internet is called StartPage Guard (>http://pjwalczak.com/spguard</b>) This program essentially gives you safe access to key registry settings so you can maintain control your browser’s destiny.

It can also automatically remove the most common “invaders” including Spyware, Trojans and backdoor programs that can be persistent intruders into your system.

If you would rather manually track down and eliminate the problem, you will need a good working knowledge of how to edit the Windows registry and a few minutes on the Google.com search engine Use the search phrase “start page hijacking” and you will get dozens of web sites that have detailed many of the various attacks, how to recognize them and most importantly, step-by-step instructions for removing them.

The good news is that you can completely avoid being hijacked by these schemes if you simply keep your browser, e-mail program and operating system updated with the latest patches

Microsoft’s Windows Update web site (>http://windowsupdate.com</b>) will check your Windows-based system against the current level of available patches to let you see which ones you need to secure your system

I would recommend to anyone that uses e-mail or the Internet on a daily basis to visit the Windows Update site at least once a month to see if your system is missing any of the most current updates

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