IE's "Page cannot be displayed" directs me to a new homepage ?

[Tommy2k2]

Hello,

At one time I visited a site that changed the homepage of my IE. I was able to reset the homepage back to what it was before, but I cannot get rid of this site's page that popup whenever the IE cannot find a page, (instead of the default IE's "The page cannot be displayed ...". I looked under the IE/Tools/Internet Options/ but I don't see anywhere the option that I can modify the page other than the home page. Can someone please show me how to get rid of this? TIA

[rahulkothari]

hi and welcome to PC guide forums....

first question is, did you run an antivirus ? if it finds the virus and yor problem is solved, well and good, if it doesnt, then try repairing IE by control panel > add-rem prgs > IE ... select the repair option from the 3 shown ...

second, do a spyware check on your pc ....

if u dont have an antivirus or spyware checking programme, there is a list here (http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=15179) from where u can download.

if yor problem still aint solved try uninstalling IE and if windows doesnt allow you to do so, use IEradicator (http://www.litepc.com/ieradicator.html), remove IE, download a fresh copy from M$...

and if you are a lazybone ... use an alternative browser (http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=16345) like Opera, Netscape ;)

[mjc]

Broswer hijacks are getting more and more common........

So first you need to eliminate what caused it, second you need to restore your default or user chosen settings, third you need to make sure you got the entire crapware app that started the whole process...

For the first you will need to run several diagnostic apps....

I use:

1. StartUp List (http://www.spywareinfo.com/downloads.html) this is to get a baseline of what is starting from bootup and where it starts from...it is not a startup control app but a diagnostic tool (it would be a good idea to post the log from this)

2. HiJack! This (http://www.spywareinfo.com/downloads.html) This one will correct most of the changes made by hijackers....but it doesn't really offer the chance to remove what did it in the first place, if it was caused by something that resides on your machine (a program that was actuall downloaded.....those are commonly called foistware or spyware)

3. Spybot S&D (http://www.spywareinfo.com/downloads.html) This will seek and destroy (remove/unintsall) the executables/dlls that caused your problems in the first place.....two things when using this program; after downloading and installing make the first thing yuo do in it an update (online button => search for updates => and then select and install), and two at least the first couple of times through, ignore the usage tracks and just concentrate on the malware it finds...

After you are clean and restored to normal, there are several things to do to increase the level of security and protect the problem from happenning again......

[david eaton]

Tommy. Another possibility is that whatever page hijacked your browser actually corrupted the file shdoclc.dll in the Windows/system directory. This is the file that actually generates the page not found error message. After doing a check for spyware etc, and MJC suggested, the file can be restored from the system file checker.

David

[videobruce]

The first problem was he was using Idiot Explorer!

If he was using a REAL browser, not some lame spyware security lacking POS from M$ it might of not happened!

Try Opera! Stop feeding the M$ machine!

Look at these links for starters:

http://archive.webstandards.org/faq1.html

http://www.webstandards.org/about/

http://www.w3.org/2002/03/new-to-w3c


Opera has always conformed to these, alot more than what can be said about Idiot Explorer!

Get it here:

http://www.opera.com/download/