I started using Verizon DSL today and it came with Internet Explorer 6.0. Internet Explorer 6.0 appears to have come with three "programs" that I can't seem to get rid of....one of which always resets my home page to "About: Blank" no matter how many times I change it.

The three programs showing up are:

"Home Search Assistant"
"Search Extender"
"Shopping Wizard"

When I go into the control panel to remove these programs it will not remove them (they show up but if you click on them to remove them it says it cannot open them).

I've run both Adaware and Spybot hoping that would get rid of the problem, but it didn't. Has anyone experienced this and figured out a way to get rid of them?

I also get an annoying pop-up every so often that is either advertising some car or some spyware software. I'd like to stop those too but the Google pop up stopper and Norton Internet Security pop up stopper have no affect.

Anyone got any ideas?

 

You might try uninstalling Internet Explorer and then reinstall it but used the advanced where you can choose what you want installed. It might not say "advanced "but it will be something like that where you have an option of what you want to be installed on the program.

 

i have the same problems... i use my firewall [zonealarm] to limit them bothering me. i setup internet explorer to need premission to access the net. i'll open up one window and allow it once... if i see another iexplorer trying to access, i know the spyware is acting up. hit ctrl+alt+del and see that there is 2 or more iexplorer programs running and end a few of them, then look for other programs there that i don't want to see and shut them down too... i run spybot and adaware often too and i can't get the spyware off... they find lop.com stuff but can't delete it... i write down the source on paper, reboot the pc in safemode and go into msdos prompt and delete the files there [if i try to do it in windows, the system crashes]

 

Okay...I just made the switch at home to Mozilla Firefox so I'll see how it works. I'll try it out for about a week and if I like it then I'll delete Internet Exporer AND Netscape from my computer FOREVER. So far so good.

 

I thought Netscape was much better than IE???

 

I dont think you'll need a week Hoss. IE and Netscape have to many pop-up and spyware. Those 3 unwanted programs, try deleting while online from your control panel. I had a similar problem were the only way that I could get rid of them was only if I was Online.

 

I had some spyware I couldn't remove so I started the computer in SAFE MODE by hitting F8 during the boot. Once in SAFE MODE it seems easier to delete some of the stuff because it has not actually loaded to memory. It might be worth a try.

 

I work at the computer center at my school and am one of the student workers that runs around campus to fix faculty/staff computers. I see these same few programs a few times a day.

There are usually three steps I take that gets them off pretty well. First go to add/remove programs, uninstall them there. Next run adaware and spybot (make sure the definitions are updated first). FInally, look on the net for those programs and how to completely remove all their entries from the registry. http://groups.google.com is your best friend.

You said if you like FireFox you will remove internet explorer...no can do. It is part of windows that runs in the background.

When you are surfing the web, be carefull what you click on. Never install anything that is free such as screensavers, weatherbug, or any other tool bar besides the main ones like Google and Yahoo. Never install anything that tells you it will speed up your computer. Most of the time, these programs you have, you asked for them at some time, although you may not remember.

I run Norton virus software and that's it. No firewall, internet security...nothing. I avoid all of the things I mentioned above and have never had any bad pop up problem or internet exporer toolbars.

Good luck.

Josh

 

OK, the moral of this story is that you NEVER let your internet provider install THEIR brand of browser or software on your computer!!

Verizon is collecting your fee for access while at the same time, selling some of your traffic to those programs they've bundled in with "their" version of IE.

Everytime I've subscribed to a service (and since I move a lot, it's more than a few times) I have to argue with the tech that he WILL not install any software on my computer. They usually don't get it... they're following a script and very few of them know the first thing about a computer. They're great at installing and testing the wires and connections and all, just not savvy about what's going on the machine. Those who are just kind of smile and say, OK, no problem.

If Firefox doesn't work and you go back to IE, you'll have to first download a fresh copy from MS, then uninstall your current version and then reinstall IE. This may not work, either, because the way these are coded, the annoyances STAY and just infiltrate the new browser. I had to do some deep registry exploring once when I did this (and the ONLY time!).

I like firefox, but there are some behaviors that I don't care for, so I'm using both right now. Proximitron, like I said, pretty much protects IE for me, but there's a few sites I visit that work MUCH better and faster with FF. Not sure why that is, though; probably too much crap coming along for IE that FF just discards.

 

FIREFOX!

 

Try using the free tool at http://www.pestscan.com to find out what is on your computer. I picked up a bunch of garbage a while back and it made a mess out of things. I have since switched to Mozilla Firefox and ZoneAlarm Security Suite - there are a few minor bugs in Firefox, but they seem to have worked most of them out now and it's much more secure than IE.

 

I use a couple of programs that keep the garbage off my PC both are free. One is windows startup inspector lets you see whats loaded at startup and allows you to do what you want with it. You will be surprized at whats there. The I use AD-Ware SE personal edition it scans for all the ad ware etc and gets rid of it. Some of that stuff is embedded in the registry and is tough to get out.

 

There's a program called Hijack-This that seems to work pretty good at getting adware and spyware off. I've used it a couple of times to find things Spybot and Ad-ware SE couldn't find. It takes more user input than the others though.

 

Cool - got it. Updated my touchpad driver and voila.

Guess I'll pretty much be using FF now. Love all the extensions out there!

 

In Internet Explorer got to 'Tools' then 'Internet Options' then 'Advanced' and UNCHECK the box beside 'Enable Third Party Browser Extensions'

This will get rid of any software that has installed itself into Internet Explorer. You should not need any Spy Ware or Ad-Blocker software with Internet Explorer. I have never had an issue when Internet Explorer is setup properly.