Hi Can anyone advise me please? I have xp home and IE 6. In my internet properties the setting for the home page changes every time I go online. Adaware keeps finding a medium problem that is fixed to my IE home start page. I keep setting it back to blank and applying but the problem exists ever time I log on/ surf and log off. In other words some spyware whatever is attatching itself to my IE home page . How can I stop it?Thanx in advance. bridiebee

Before doing anything radical like mucking around in the registry, do the simple things first: Download and run CWShredder in "FIX", not SCAN. http://www.snapfiles.com/get/coolwebshredder.html But BEFORE you run HJT and post the log do these FIRST (explained below): Download, UPDATE, and run Spybot, and update Adaware, it updated last night. Run them both and your AV from Safe Mode. If you get file names, use 'search files and folders' and delete them there. Spybot: Download and Read the SpyBot tutorial here: http://s89223352.onlinehome.us/mirror/spybot/index1.php Download it, Unzip the program, and immediately check for updates, install the updates and then do the scan. Let it fix everything marked in red. Reboot but not with restart, shut it down for two full minutes. You’ve got two measely minutes and it’s worth it, and let Spybot run if it indicates. To add an item to your ‘Ignore List” click on the little ‘+’ sign next to the item and left click it to highlight it, then right click it and a menu appears, select the function you want. When you are done, reboot again same way. Two full minutes shut down. Also, go to the update page. Notice 3 icons across the top. Between "Search For Updates" and "Download Updates" there is an icon for the download mirror location. After you click on ‘search for updates,’ the one in the middle will change. If it doesn't say "Spybot.US by Rootboxen.net USA" click on the dropbox arrows and click on Rootboxen, and use only that one. If you got a "checksum error" trying to download --that's why. These are the settings I use for Adaware (ADAWARE updated last night, make sure to update it) Ad-Aware: Download AdAware from http://www.lavasoft.de/ check for updates at "webupdate". I use these settings (green check) From main window click "Start" then make sure " Activate in-depth scan" has a green check next to it. Put a black dot nest to "Use custom scanning options” and click Customize" next to it, then green check these options: "Scan within archives" ,"Scan active processes", "Scan registry", "Deep scan registry" ,"Scan my IE Favorites for banned URL" "Scan my host-files" At the top of the “STATUS” page notice the Tweak (gear) icon. Click on it. The first setting is “Scanning Engine.” Click on the little plus sign next to it, and in the drop-down green check "Unload recognized processes during scanning", and “include basic Ad-Aware settings in log file”. Next click on the ‘+’ next to "Cleaning Engine" and in the drop-down green check "Let windows remove files in use at next reboot" and Delete quarantine objects after restoring” Click "proceed", that will save those settings. Click "Scan" When the scan finishes, mark everything for removal and delete it. Right-click the window and choose "select all" from the drop down menu, press ‘next’ and then ‘yes’ to the prompt: “remove all these entries”. However, if you have certain programs running that will give a false indicator of a browser hijack attempt, such as Script Sentry, which places a monitoring function in the registry and looks like a browser hijacker but is not, then you may want to add that to the ignore list because you want to keep it there to do it’s job. To add an item to the ignore list, put the a cursor on the file it reveals and left click it to highlight it, then right click it and a menu appears. Click on ‘ignore list.’ I shut down for two full minutes, and let Adaware run on reboot if it indicates. Downloading Tip: One other thing I do on downloading is, after you get the download (M$ does not structure its downloads so you can’t do this for some reason on an MS download), after download BEFORE YOU CLICK THE INSTALL ICON, #1. log off the net, #2. disable AV (right click tray icon), #3. then ctrl-alt-delete to close AV in close-program, THEN (and only then) #4. click on the install procedure. Otherwise your AV might read the install as an invader and mess with it. I manually shut down for two full minutes. While you're in Safe Mode do a general clean out: expose hidden files and dump TIF, cookies, %TEMP%, and recycle bin. Make sure to dump the quarrentined files from AV, Spybot, and Adaware. There are variants of CWS that do not respond to Shredder. In order to make sure you should download HiJackThis at: http://www.lurkhere.com/~nicefiles/ and post it here: http://forums.spywareinfo.com/ or here (not both): http://www.pcguide.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=34 Do not post it on this site unless an expert requests it. Do these things first and let's see what results you get, hopefully it will be cleaned out. Thresher

Thanks very much. Will try all that and let you know. Cheers Bridiebee