Small, but infuriating computer problem

[transplant99]

OK...i have someone staying with me for a couple months, and he was surfin the web a few days ago. He D/L a bunch of music and whatnot, but now when i start up everyday my homepage goes to this...

http://www.hotsearchbar.com/

I have changed it under the tools section back to where i want it...about 50 times.

I have searched the whole computer for files with the name in it and deleted them.

I have ran ad-aware 3 times now and deleted everything it found.

yet...after a few minutes of surfing...i hit home and it goes right back to this search engine or whatever it is.

Anyone have any ideas?

[MrMastodonFarm]

My advice is to stop using Internet Explorer and use Mozilla Firefox.

[transplant99]

Originally posted by MrMastodonFarm@Apr 4 2005, 04:00 PM
My advice is to stop using Internet Explorer and use Mozilla Firefox.

Yeah...thanks.

Anyone else?

[Faid1]

Originally posted by MrMastodonFarm@Apr 4 2005, 02:00 PM
My advice is to stop using Internet Explorer and use Mozilla Firefox.

Install Firefox is the new Install Linux

I did a "Google" "search" for the problem, see if this helps on XP:

1. Start Command Prompt in the Accessories menu of your Start Menu.
2. Type in: (c:/windows/system32/regsvr32.exe /u winhot32.dll) EXACTLY as it's seen inside the parenthesis
3. You should get a system message saying that winhot32.dll has be unregistered
4. Open Internet Explorer to find HotSearchBar no longer there. You're done!

http://forums.maddoktor2.com/index.php?showtopic=1411

[MrMastodonFarm]

Originally posted by transplant99+Apr 4 2005, 03:01 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (transplant99 @ Apr 4 2005, 03:01 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-MrMastodonFarm@Apr 4 2005, 04:00 PM
My advice is to stop using Internet Explorer and use Mozilla Firefox.

Yeah...thanks.

Anyone else? [/b][/quote]
Now now, ease up. I'm serious. It might be an ad imbedded in Internet Explorer, switching to Firefox would help a great deal as you wouldn't get anymore hot search bar ads.

Its solid advice to switch to Firefox transplant, no need to brush it off.

[kdogg]

I have cleaned a few computers in my day, and one or two ways should work:

1. Download Ad-aware Personal @ lavasoftusa. Do a systems scan and remove all junk you don't want.

2. Use Microsoft Anti-Spyware @ microsoft antispyware. Run a system scan, selected the junk, and delete it.

The Microsoft Anti-Spyware is suppose to be the top rated Adware/Spyware utility out there, and Ad-Aware is 2nd.

Let me know how that works out for ya.
________
ROLL BLUNTS

[Indi]

go to 'add/remove programs' in control panel. Look for hot search bar, and click to remove it...that should take care of it

good luck

jc

[Calgary Flames]

I'd have to agree with Adam... I have absolutely no idea why people still use I.E. the odd time it's required, but going back to I.E. I feel like a lost puppy.

I needs my tabbed browsing! Not to mention the solid security.

[V]

Totally agree. Someone showed me the light a while back, and I can't ever seeing myself going back to IE.

[calculoso]

Run Spybot Search & Destroy as well as Adaware. I use both and have found that Adaware will remove some things Spybot doesn't and vice versa.

http://www.safer-networking.org/

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

What brought me over to Firefox was the ability to bookmark a set of tabs or set a number of tabs as your home page. Very handy.

Although as a web developer I still have to use IE regularly.

As for transplant's problem, it's probably something in the registry. I'd try Spybot, or go to www.trend.com and run their online scan. See if that picks anything up.

[Shawnski]

After you try the above suggestions (and if you are keeping IE), download "hijackthis", run it, and PM me the results. There may be other crap in your registry that is causing (or may cause) problems.

IE works just fine for me. With a freeware Zone Alarm firewall, plus "Cookiewall", plus the odd scan with Spybot and Ad-Aware, I have had next to no problems in the last couple years, and the couple that came through were quickly identified and addressed. That said, I do NOT download music files, which are notorious for allowing trojans to access your computer.

[ricosuave]

remember to run the aformentioned programs in SAFE MODE as well

[photon]

If you can switch to Firefox, do it, it's worth it IMO.

If not, agree with the suggestion for Adaware and the Microsoft Anti-Spyware tool.. VERY impressed with the Microsoft one!! They went out and purchased one of the best commercial products out there and are giving it away now.

[shoestring]

I use all these,all free.
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/
http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/2/lng/us/tpl/v5

And this should stop hijackers from taking over your start page.
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html

This is Steve Gibsons site who shows you why ports 137,138 and 139 don't need to be open and provides a way to close them.Most important thing you can do,I believe.Just watch all the pings to those ports on your Zone Alarm software,all aiming for those open ports. It's Microsoft file sharing ports but most home users just don't need them. Has a couple of buttons ,NoShare and LetShare to let you turn it off or on.

https://grc.com/x/ne.dll?bh0bkyd2

You might have to do this first to get rid of the bot. Hijackthis.

http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html

And do it in safemode too.The whole process means a lot of shutting down and restarting but it is agony to redo your start page time and time again.

[RougeUnderoos]

Okay after all the yammering about this Firefox thing I downloaded it and I'm typing in it right now! But! What! Is! The! Difference?

The little tabbies thing is convenient I guess but other than that I really can't tell.

I've used IE for years and I don't get all the security concerns. ZoneAlarm and the occasional scan with adaware/AntiSpyware and I never have any problems with IE.

So what's the big deal with this Firefox?

[Mike F]

Originally posted by RougeUnderoos@Apr 4 2005, 03:56 PM
Okay after all the yammering about this Firefox thing I downloaded it and I'm typing in it right now! But! What! Is! The! Difference?

The little tabbies thing is convenient I guess but other than that I really can't tell.

I've used IE for years and I don't get all the security concerns. ZoneAlarm and the occasional scan with adaware/AntiSpyware and I never have any problems with IE.

So what's the big deal with this Firefox?

ditto that.

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

There's not a whole lot different (which is part of the selling point since you don't have to re-learn everything) but I see these as the advantages:

(1) Tabbed home page... have two, three or 20 pages automatically open when you start the program
(2) Tabbed bookmarks. Similarly, two or more pages within a single bookmark. For example I click on "baseball news" and it brings up ESPN.com, Sportsline, USA Today, MLB.com and the Blue Jays website all at the same time. It's also useful on Moose game nights while I'm working in the press box, I can bring up the out of town scoreboard, game sheet, Moose page and MTS Centre page with one click.
(3) You won't pick up spyware as easily while surfing the web since it's not worth their time (yet) to create exploits for Firefox since less than 10% of the people use it.
(4) If you copy and paste data from a table, it automatically creates a tab between each item instead of a space. Not useful for most people but useful for me.

[moon]

Can't help you tranny but you seem to have recieved many different ideas on how to fix it anyways. but wanted to coment on the firefox issue. I remember last time it cae up I tried it and found it to be a pain. I have had no problem with IE and will continue to use it.


I agree fotze, say anything bad about firefox at your own risk.

[photon]

Tabbed browsing is good, and the bookmark thing Marc mentioned.

Better security partially because of the smaller profile and partially from being open source.

Better web standards compliance (IE7 is supposed to give everyone a run for their money here).

Themes are a nice bonus.

Extensions are awesome, it basically means there are an unlimited number of browser features. You can have a built in dictionary search, have the browser recognize gestures (do things based on specific mouse movements instead of mousing all the way up and clicking on a button), bookmark backups, the ease in blocking specific sites, images, etc (for ads and such), a cool right click menu, automatic passwords for registration required sites, etc etc..

As far as the bookmark thing, I've not experienced it but some searching says that more recent versions have seen a reduction in this problem.

There's nothing wrong with disliking firefox or saying anything against it (no software is perfect), just be prepared to say why (just as someone who hates IE should have to).

For free AV software I like Avast better than AVG: http://www.avast.com/

And take anything you read on the grc site with a BIG grain of salt. His site is sensationalist and full of half truths and hyperbole. He's proven himself to be pretty much a self proclaimed security "expert" with no real knowledge.

Everyone should have a firewall (hardware or software like ZoneAlarm)