Pesky little program

[marcos9999]

There is a nasty unwanted and self inviting "thing" that appeared in my clean and peaceful computer. Every time I restart my computer or the Chrome browser it switches it to Yahoo default search rather than Google (in Chrome)...it appears to be related to Explorer. It does not show up in my control panel. How do I remove it?

[Tushman]

There is a nasty unwanted and self inviting "thing" that appeared in my clean and peaceful computer. Every time I restart my computer or the Chrome browser it switches it to Yahoo default search rather than Google (in Chrome)...it appears to be related to Explorer. It does not show up in my control panel. How do I remove it?

 

Your post is somewhat confusing. Are you trying to say that the home page for Chrome has changed??

 

If you've set it for Google and it keeps changing, you probably have a virus or malware infection. Do a full and thorough scan of your system to make sure it's clean. Make sure your antivirus definitions are upto date. Make sure your operating system is upto date. Make sure you do not download any programs that you do not recognize and/or checked for malware.

 

If you have done these things already, then post more details if you expect us to help you such as stating what you have tried already.

 

...it appears to be related to Explorer.

 

There is a great deal of difference between Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer. Which one are you referring to in your post exactly?

Edited December 3, 2011 by Tushman

[Guest LilBambi]

You could also have a 'helpful' security program installed that is trying to keep your old homepage or the homepage someone said they wanted somewhere along the line and told the program to maintain it without realizing it?

 

But the biggest issue is that there are lots of bad things that hijack your home page as well.

 

You might want to try HiJackThis! and posting your results here for Corrine and others who are trained malware fighters to look at for you.

 

Getting Started

 

Download and install HijackThis. You will need to download both the Installer and Executable files.

1. Download Installer (See links above)

2. Download Executable (See links above)

 

Once installed, open HijackThis by clicking Start > Program Files > HijackThis and click the button labeled "Do a system scan only".

 

Once the scan is complete, click the AnalyzeThis button. A web page will open containing helpful information regarding HijackThis.

Note: Once the scan is complete, the scan button will read "Save log". You may save the log file to your PC. Once you select where you would like to save the file, it will open in your system's default text editor. Typically this application is Notepad.

 

 

How to generate a startup list log file

 

Open HijackThis by clicking Start > Program Files > HijackThis > HijackThis.

Click the "Open the Misc Tools section" button.

Click the "Generate StartupList log" button and a warning box will appear.

Once you click "Yes" to continue, the log will open in your system's default text editor.

[marcos9999]

You could also have a 'helpful' security program installed that is trying to keep your old homepage or the homepage someone said they wanted somewhere along the line and told the program to maintain it without realizing it?

 

But the biggest issue is that there are lots of bad things that hijack your home page as well.

 

You might want to try HiJackThis! and posting your results here for Corrine and others who are trained malware fighters to look at for you.

 

 

Thank you so much...will try that!