Computer Problem, HELP

[KeithBrown]

Originally posted by David Kirkham


I have www.excite.com loaded in as my home page (mostly for news mind you--I guess I could get a little more conservative and have fox or drudge as my home page...)

David

David,

Although the news pages are ok, if your interested in keeping up with world events ,I still prefer this for my home page:

http://www.kirkhammotorsports.com/home.cfm

Regards and good luck!

Regards,

Keith

[Turk]

Buy a new computer.

TURK

[acendo]

Originally posted by David Kirkham



Yes, it is a whole bunch of %%%%%%%% in the properties. What a bunch of idiots would do this? Do they really think if they hijack my home page that I would even stop a nanosecond to read their home page? What a bunch of idiots.

Ok, now what windows are you using? Because what you have to do is delete the "host" files in your windows directory to get rid of this.

Can you recall the page that opens? Is it something like world global or some crap like that?

Acendo...

[David Kirkham]

xp

The webpage is "cool" something or another. Frankly I am so mad at it I don't even look at it.

David

[computerworks]

David...call me in the office....


...before you...errr....break something.

[Bill V]

David,
Computerworks is right. Your browser has been hijacked, possibly the result of what we call a "drive-by". I would oridinarily recommend Spybot but they haven't had an update in a while so go to http:\\www.lavasoftusa.com and download the latest build of Ad-aware 6.0. Once you have it installed, make sure to let it check for updates. Then, launch the cleaning process. When it's done searching and you go to the page that lists all of the spyware components found, right-click in the right hand pane and click on Select all. Then click next. Allow it to remove all of items. That will take care of your problem for sure.

Good luck and like some of the other guys said, don't monkey with the registry, you could end up trashing the OS.

[acendo]

Originally posted by David Kirkham


xp

The webpage is "cool" something or another.

David

Ok. What you have to do is go:

Start > My Computer > C: drive (local Disk) > WINDOWS > system32 > drivers > etc > At this point you will see a file called "host" "right-click" on this file and choose "rename" - Rename the file "host bad".

After you have renamed the file, log off, then log back on.

I do this for people all the time, so I know it works.

Hopefully, it works for you.

Acendo...

[Ron61]

David,

Not to start an argument with Acendo, but I think your best bet is to call Ron(CW) and let him talk you through this. To many confusing options have been given including mine if you aren't comfortable with going into the registry and other parts of the program. Also, you may have c:\WINNT\system32\drivers instead of WINDOWS. So take Ron up on his help as he is way above the rest of us and will get you straightened out.

Ron

[Brent Mills]

If others have a "safer" solution, do it. Adaware didn't fix the problem for me, and I'm not an average puter user. The registry is a dangerous place, but very effective.

[Excaliber]

AH come on guys we drive 500 horse power Cobras, whats to stop US from "tuning" the registry?

It aint "that bad" if you just pay attention. It's not like you go in there and "accidentally" erase something. Just follow directions and you'll be fine.

Acutally I think what David has is pretty deep and there may not be a "simple" solution. Best advice IS to call Ron on this one.

[acendo]

Originally posted by Ron61


David,

Not to start an argument with Acendo, but I think your best bet is to call Ron(CW) and let him talk you through this. To many confusing options have been given including mine if you aren't comfortable with going into the registry and other parts of the program. Also, you may have c:\WINNT\system32\drivers instead of WINDOWS. So take Ron up on his help as he is way above the rest of us and will get you straightened out.

Ron

No problem Ron. When it comes to computers and problems, it's always best to go with whom you trust or already know. I just thought I'd try and help. Just for a little background through, I've been a computer tech for 3 years, so I'm pretty confident when it comes to this stuff. And also, I know what you mean by having a WINNT directory, but I don't think there is a WINNT directory in XP; instead WINNT directory is in windows 2000, which is why I asked what OS David was using.

Either way, I just hope David gets his computer fixed.

[uncltodd]

About a week ago some ugly little critter found its way through McAfee Antivirus, Spybot, AND AdAware!

It changed my default homepage to something named about:blank.

I change my IE6 default homepage to clubcobra, but if I leave the site, Critter changes it back again.

I also get several little "failure" boxes when I reboot.

I have emailed McAfee with specifics, not even an acknowledgement from them- disappointing.

I gave up on Norton when I got zorched about four years ago and had to do a low-level reformat. Lost every damned thing.

Good luck!

UT

[hog]

If you are running Windows 98 use the command scanreg. You will need to restart in DOS mode. Type in scanreg. You will be able to select an old registry setting and restore your registery hopefully to a good version.
hog

[Bill V]

I do this for a living (better than 19 years). Trust me, if you screw something up in the registry, you're going to end up paying somebody to get things right.

Also, every time you reboot and successfully reload the OS, the registry is overwritten, so very rarely can you go back and restore a previous "good" version. I think it safe to assume, that your (let's call it) your "backup copy" of the registry is already boogered up.

With regards to Ad-aware, I did specify the latest build 6.0.1.181. Previous builds/versions are no longer being updated. The most recent signature update now is dated 5/8/2004. Spybot's signature file is more than 2 months old (3/4/04).

Let Ron walk you through running the program it you feel any aprehension about going it alone. It's free and won't damage anything. It will remove the offending registry keys, hijackers, tracking and data mining cookies. If there are rogue processes running, you will be asked to allow Ad-aware to run again at startup.

Perhaps now would be a good time to back up any important stuff you have on your system.

[David Kirkham]

Acendo,

You have a VERY cool graphic and THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

Everyone else,

Thank you very much as well.

I tried the spy thing and it worked like magic. I just called Ron too and we got things worked out as well.

Goodbye "cool" moron.

To everyone who wrote in on this thread, please email me your address and I will send you a poster.

david at kirkhammotorsports dot com

(of course, I now have to write "at" instead of "@" and "dot" instead of "." because of all the web crawler idoits looking for email addresses. Heaven knows I don't need any more email as I can hardly read what I have.)

Many thanks to all,

David

[cobra427mnsi]

David

All is well that ends well. Things like that can be very frustrating.

Paul

PS: How are the fiberglass orders going? Is that finished yet? I tried to talk my wife into ordering one. Came close because she loves cobras but I will be retiring next year so I guess the Classic Roadster will have to suffice. Have you exported many cars to Canada and , if so, were there many problems at customs? I know that I cannot import a turnkey but I might be able to import a kit as car parts.