HELP browser hijacked by dell

Question

on my new Precision 380 I cannot change my ie homepage.  every attempt still defaults to dell.com.  Ican't even use about:blank.

TCooper4653 · Answer

Have you tried replacing the default thru RegEdit?

gategate · Answer

Thanks for the idea but no, i haven't tried regedit yet.  Since the home page is easy to change via the properties tab on every other computer i am hoping dell provides a solution and reason for this problem.

gategate · Answer

Thanks Ky i tried turning Norton offf and making the change but it still reverts to dell.com.  I will send it back to dell before i post on hijack this.  This is a brand new machine and it may be my last dell.

ky331 · Answer

do i understand you right?  that you'd sooner return the machine back to Dell, than to generate & post a HJT log?    that certainly is your choice.   but the point being, if i'm correct that it's an anti-spyware 'protection' feature (say, by you running 'program X'), it has absolutely nothing to do with Dell [nor the particular current home page].... that is to say, if you were to return your dell, buy/replace it with , and then install/run the same 'program X' anti-spyware protection, you'd still run into the same problem with THEIR home page.

ky331 · Answer

i assume you've already tried changing the home page 'simply', in Internet Explorer, via TOOLS, Internet Options, [General Tab] typing-in a new home-page address that you want, and clicking on OK.   if this 'simple' approach doesn't work:   are you running any anti-spyware programs which monitor for attempts to change your home/search pages?   for example, i believe that ad-aware se PLUS, WinPatrol, the TeaTimer feature of spybot, and Microsoft Anti-spyware beta, all monitor your home page for any changes.   some of these programs will alert when an attempt is made to change the page, asking you whether or not you want to allow it... but others simply sense the attempted change, and automatically dis-allow it.   these programs don't distinguish between a 'good' attempted change (such as what you want to do) and a 'bad' attempted change (a browser hijacking).   so, if you're running any of these [or a similar product], you need to see where/how they're 'protecting' your home page, temporarily turn-off the protection, make the change want, and then, turn-back-on the protection for this new page.   if this still doesn't help, you can try generating and posting a HiJackTHis log, in the HJT forum.

gategate · Answer

Ky,

I realize now this may not be something dell did to the pc, however it has been this way since out of the box 3 weeks ago, though we did install norton a/v which when turned off doesn't help. after purchasing about 20 dells over the years i have found them to be difficult and time consuming to deal with, especially dell financial, hence my residual bitter feeling about them.

i appreciate your suggestion about hijack this and may do that yet.

I

Virus & Spyware

HELP browser hijacked by dell

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