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Ads on Start Page in IE6

  • conorific
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Post April 11th, 2004, 8:19 am

My dad's copy of IE is infested with ads. The start page is a giant ad that pops up more ads, ads in ads, etc. The address in the address bar looks like this:

mk:@MSITStore:C:\WINDOWS\start.chm::/start.html

I tried to get him to switch browsers, but he won't do it. Can someone tell me what's going on or how I can fix this?
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Post April 11th, 2004, 8:19 am

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Post April 11th, 2004, 8:35 am

Here is a pretty complex, but extremely detailed description of what's going on:

http://www.derkeiler.com/Mailing-Lists/ ... /0307.html

The author proposes a solution;

Quote:
-Solution from author:


1)run regedit.exe
2)find the following key : HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\PROTOCOLS\Handler
3)select any of the protocol handlers unnecessary
4)disable them by replacing "-" in front of their clsid value


*The author considers most of these protocol handlers vulnerable and it is best if users disablethose protocols they find unsafe.



[Caution]


If you have used Author's solution be aware that running chm files directly from your system after disabling it using regedit would in some cases cause instant restart.


Here is another link with similar information:
http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/323070

Your recommendation to your dad to switch browsers is very possibly his best course of action at this point. I would highly recommend Firefox.
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Post April 11th, 2004, 9:20 am

Install other browser i recomnd mozilla go and put all his favites in mozilla so thay look like IE search thru the themes to find one that looks like IE and then get the IE shortcuts and change the target to mozilla and BAM he might now notice.
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Post April 11th, 2004, 9:36 am

I was forced to rename and disable all the recommended Registry keys, and I also had to delete the start.chm and start.htm files.

I also intalled Firefox and the Google toolbar for IE, and my dad likes it.

PS. ThatKID: I hope you were joking about making Mozilla look like IE. That's the most ridiculous suggestion ever. That's not helping; that's being annoying.

Thanks to ATNO/TW!
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Post April 11th, 2004, 9:41 am

:thumbsup:

Happy Easter!
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Post April 11th, 2004, 11:43 am

ThATKiD' wrote:
Install other browser i recomnd mozilla go and put all his favites in mozilla so thay look like IE search thru the themes to find one that looks like IE and then get the IE shortcuts and change the target to mozilla and BAM he might now notice.




nice trick. :D
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Post April 11th, 2004, 4:40 pm

With all those nasties in your registry, have you tried ad-aware6? Much easier and F-r-e-e! :D
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Post April 11th, 2004, 6:03 pm

I'm not sure Adaware would have caught that jfvb1225.

It's a vulnerability exploit and I still haven't been able to determine the root source. Those links I gave were the best things I could find and obviously worked for conorific.

I had a similar one on a machine, and it was sooooo screwed up, I had no choice but to finally reinstall the OS and start from scratch. I tried all my best standard methods to nix the adware (porn related on this one) and I couldn't do it. WHatever it was had corrupted too many critical windows files. Primarily the Explorer shell. Sometimes it's just not as easy as run Adaware.
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Post April 11th, 2004, 6:10 pm

Yep, youre right, ad-aware isnt the instant answer for everything. Im painfully aware of that.

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