I am having severe problems with the above site re-appearing as the default home page when I open IE. I have tried PestPatrol/CWShredder/Hijack This! and whilst they seem to work for that particular session, they do not seem to be having the desired effect when I return. I have also downloaded the Windows update to stop the Windwos VM Java problem but still to no avail. Other than the above, does anyone have any suggestions on how to get rid of it. My knowledge of computing is rather limited!! Many thanks. Eddie

Well, download this. Then update it, and run the scanner. After that correct any problems you may have found. On top of doing this, there is a settings tab in SpyBot (the program you are supposed to download) which you can lock your windows home page (of course, dont lock the nasty web site, set your default page by going to tool option in internet explorer then select internet options, set your site you want, then lock it). Theres also some other features to prevent hijacking. After doing all this, download this, update it, then scan. Reboot, and should clear this all up. Let me know if you need a more detailed answer, or if this helped or not.

Ian, sorry but that locking option does not protect your home page as you believe. It only greys out the set homepage option in the browser settings to stop the user changing it. If you check the software author's own forums, that is all it was ever intended for - to stop curious little fingers - the homepage can still be changed by a hijacker via a registry edit. If you want to properly protect the homepage, check out www.javacoolsoftware.com, which is another security site endorsed by Patrick as suitable for use alongside Spybot. That guy does offer a homepage protectiuon system, again free of charge and clean of nasties.

Thanks for letting me know that safeTsurfa. I had no idea. I did, in my defense, mention Ad-Aware, which on top of scanning the computer for spyware it will also install a registry monitor, which will alert you when websites and programs attempt to edit your registry. It is an excellent registry monitor. However, if the program mentioned by safeTsurfa was backup by the author of SpyBot, I wouldn't hesitate to use it. These offensive approaches to spyware are great! It prevents this stuff from being installed. Instead of most programs (SpyBot) Which waits until it is already on the computer and installed before detecting it. The only problem is, like 99.9% of the customers I deal with, just like Eddie who posted this message. Users wait until after an attack to protect their PC's. A registry monitor will only help future occurances, not present threats. So, you need to remove the nasty program and continue using a reg monitor. Wouldn't it have been nice of Microsoft to take some initiative in the matter, and install by default on Windows XP Home a SpyWare, Anti-Virus, Registry Monitor, and Firewall all by default. It's rediculous the leaders in the industry can't figure it out, no wonder why Windows is such a swiss cheese OS.

Eddie, have hijackthis remove this; O2 - BHO: (no name) - {98DBBF16-CA43-4c33-BE80-99E6694468A4} - C:\WINDOWS\System32\msole.dll

Many thanks Abnormal. That seems to have done the trick. Eddie

Thanks for confirming the fix, it will help others.