Some how a company has managed to default their search page to my site. When a page times out or an address is wrong, instead of just coming up with the default IE "cannot find..." It's coming up with this search engine page. How can I revert back to the normal default.

Cheers
Max Power

Sh!t like that has happened to me a lot when I used to actually use WinMe and programs that feel free to step on any other programs, especially important ones. You can mess with things for hours, but the easiest way to fix it is, if you know the program that caused it, uninstall it completely, or if you don't, run System Restore back to the last point that you can remember it worked.

What search engine does it default too? I have never experienced this. I have however experienced sites altering your home page to there site. You may want to give www.google.com try entering the name of the search engine and altering Internet explorer default. try a few different things. sometimes you can find a link to another message where someone has posted the same problem and someone else with a fix. Good Luck

i just looked in the IE help menu. click on the search button in the IE tool bar. when it opens select the "Customize" link at the top on the right or the search window. Try hitting the reset button. Check to see if you can find this evil search engine listed there and if you can uncheck it. Look around in there a little bit it might be easy to fix. Please post the name of the search engine and the link to where you think this Takeover might have occured. Thanks and good Luck

The name of the search engine is YourSearch.org. Went into regedit and thought I found where to change the search options changed them back to windows default but they aren't taking. Hmmm.

Cheers
Max Power

I have experienced something that appeared similar except that it turned out that YourSearch.org had taken over some defunct urls and redirected to their site. It wasn't nearly as evil as taking over for all "cannot find" situations - I get plenty of those due to IE problems, even when I am being redirected for some.

I've found the line in the registry. It's under HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/IE/ExplorerBars. Can I just delete these lines, or what should I do. The lines read:
(Default) (value not set)
000 "yoursearch"
001 "yoursearch.org"
This is in a file named "FilesNamedMRU"

I've got the same problem.

I've searched my registry and can't find the entry where it has planted itself. I am assuming that it is using an ip address to make it harder to find.

Any assistance would be appreciated.

I am having the same problem w/ YOURSEARCH.ORG. It is driving me crazy. If anyone knows how to get rid of this, let me know please! I will keep looking.

Thanks!

I have this problem too... but I think I've found a solution:
there's a file in C:\WINNT\system32\drivers\etc (on Win 2000 Pro) called 'hosts' (it doesn't have an extension). Open this file in Notepad or similar and find the line:
66.40.16.218 auto.search.msn.com

If you put 66.40.16.218 in the address bar it displays a search control and button with the caption 'GO'. If a search string is entered in this field you will be directed to http://www.spacesea.net/advanced/
So, who the hell is putting all this crap on our machines???

Anywho, back to the remedy:
if you comment out the above line (with a '#' at the start) in 'hosts' or substitute it with an address of your own, the problem seems to go away...
This worked for me... I can't promise it'll work for you. But I searched my machine for the string 'yoursearch' and also '66.40' (the first digits of the evil IP address) in the regular files as well as the registry and this is the only relevant result. It's entirely possible that the address is stored somewhere else in encrypted form.

I haven't checked to see if this is being reset every time IE or Windows is started, this may be the case...

If this doesn't work for you (or only works temporarily, please post a message here)...

I had this problem as well and it was driving me crazy. I went to Yoursearch.org, found their contact page and sent an email asking how I got this and how to get rid of it. I wasn't expecting a reply at all, but within 24 hours I got the following response:
-------------
You, or someone using your computer, may have entered one of our many gateway pages where you were asked if you would like to upgrade your search options. If you no longer would like to do so, you are able to
change it back by simply deleting a file in your windows directory called "hosts". (it is possible that you also have a HOSTS file, do NOT delete that)

You need to re-start your browser before the changes take effect.

Please feel free to contact us with any other
questions.

Regards,
Mary B.
Yoursearch.org Customer Service
----------

The solution did work, but I am a bit freaked out that a web site can add and change files on my hard drive so easily.

You CAN either delete the hosts file or better yet just rename it back to what Windows has it named by default (hosts.sam)

HTH
waldo

I have discovered a very simple method of removing the annoying yoursearch pain.
To get rid of yoursearch in the search pane and autosearching, you can simply find the hosts (lowercase) file in you windows directory and delete the line in it referring to search.msn.com, or similar.
Also you need to then go into tools, internet options and select the programs tab. Click on reset web settings.
This stopped yoursearch from coming up when I click on search and when I type a search into the address bar.

2 things

1 be careful deleting the hosts file. Its actually a windows system file and if you delete it when you dont have to and you are on a small corporate network you may cause problems.

The culprit is a comanay called SpaceSea btw (www.spacesea.net)

If anyone wants to take this further I am compiling information to take legal action agianst them (the hosts file is overwritten and in two cases this has resulted in my spending a while at customers sites tring to work out what happened)

If you have had this problem and want to write me a sensible summary please mail me at richard@e-fprint.com and tell me if you'd be happy for your info to be used in a court of law.

Richard

You may use my name in court as well. Email hobsdavis@home.com for more... I really hate these f---ers... our computers are simply that... OUR COMPUTERS!!! What gives them the right to modify files on our computers without permission? Can anyone say HACKING?!?!

Hello, I had the same problem like you: If I mistyped a URL the "http://www.yoursearch.org/search/frame.htm" site came. Now I just renamed c:/windows/hosts into hosts.old and now it all works again.

Another searchengine (globesearch.com) made some changes in my registry (for screenshot click here: http://www.hakuini-talida.subnet.dk/schweinerei.jpg ) but it was easy to undo these changes.

I guess some spyware did this changes but I am not sure.

Thanks for getting rid of yoursearch.org! :)

ps: To remove spyware from your system go to http://www.lavasoftusa.com/ and download Ad-Aware.

Hi,

I had the same prob with Spacesea. It's really got me pissed off. I've spent hours trying to figure out how to get the popup search window to stop. I also have received the random "suspicious" browser messages. It's so aggrivating. I emailed them for help and got the form email that was mentioned in an earlier post.

I would gladly do whatever you need to punish these jerks.

Scott

I would gladly do whatever you need

I've been having what I suspect is the same problem - on ALL of my PC's, and ALL of my browsers. This includes 2 Win98 PC's running Netscape 4.78, IE 6.0 and Opera 5.0, a win2k PC with Netscape 4.78 and IE 6.0, and a RedHat Linux PC with Netscape 4.?? and Opera 5. In my case, any incorrect URL I type redirects me to www.xxxoffers.com. I'm sick of it, and am try to find a technical cause and cure. It seems like a Javascript issue perhaps, but it's hard to believe it would even hit my RedHat box, which hardly does any browsing.

One of the pages at this site (sorry forget which one) explains how to reverse the changes made

It is MSN that keeps doing it on my computer. I wrote this email below to them a few days ago (no response). My sister commented, "Don't talk to Bill that way." ha. I replied, "Billy should know better." ha. I see tonight that they have done it again. I have a reg that I click on to undo it, but it keeps happening. Does anyone know of a PERMANENT solution that could block it from happening in the first place? Very infuriating and how MSN can justify this in their own minds is beyond me!

Dear MSN,

I think it is rotten and far beneath your dignity and reputation to do something like changing someone's Start Page and default search page without their express permission to do so. It is unethical, dishonorable and just plain wrong! What makes this bold intrusion, that cost me a lot of time, inconvenience and delay to undo, any less an abuse of someone else's property than the harm wrought by run-of-the-mill hackers constantly preying on us?! I thought you, of all corporate entities, would be well above such abusive, thug-like behavior. This is my computer---you have no right to come right in and start undoing my personal configurations behind my back and without my knowledge or authorization. Some really low-life sites have sites have done this, but I sure never expected it from the mighty MSN itself. You should be above this sort of thing. You are better than this---don't lower yourself.

Thank you for letting me vent,

John

I too have had a problem, going through every registry option available, trying to get rid of a different evil search engine - lop.com. I have spent 3 hours already today trying to rid my IE of this b*stard. Hopefully some of these answers will help. IF anyone wishes to attack this compnay also, I would be happy to assist.

Regards,

Paul

I too have the same problem with lop.com. In the past, whenever I typed in a non-existent URL, it simply went to msn.com. Now it goes to this site.

Have searched for a solution to no avail. Can anyone please help?

Cheers.

Anyone with the same problem with globesearch.com can go to http://www.globesearch.com/changehome.html

They provide a way to get rid of Globesearch as your homepage.

I would be very careful about that. Our computers, too, have been hacked by globesearch.com. Their "fix" that you are describing to get rid of their page forcing its way onto your machune involves downloading an executable (!!??). As these people have proven themselves again and again to be "black hats" I would strongly caution against downloading an executable from their site. Not to mention the sheer gall they have of asking you to do something to undo their malicious hack into your machine.
Meanwhile, has any one found a way to get them off of their machine? We have searched and searched and have not found anything that is effective.

We just had an issue with globesearch, and it turns out there was a vb file in the windows directory called gshp.vbs. The code was

Set wscr = CreateObject("WSc"+"ript.Shell")
wscr.RegWrite "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main\St"+"art Page", "http://www.globesearch.com"
wscr.RegWrite "HKLM\...
wscr.RegWrite "HKLM\... \Default_P"+"age_URL"\http://www.globesearch.com

I deleted this file, reset the registry, then restarted the machine. It worked fine after that.

Good Luck

I too had a problem where lop.com had taken over my search page. I wnet to their site under customer support and found a program called uninstall.exe from their FAQ page. I ran it and it's gone from my computer.

If you type www.lop.com/uninstall.exe you will download a program that will remove this insidious piece of s---. It actually works. Thanks to www.cexx.org which looks like a great web site worth bookmarking.
Mike

i just deleted the entries for globesearch and yoursearch.org from my registry. i restarted my machine and did not have the problem with my start page being automatically set to globesearch after a reboot.

Globesearch is not really a Search Engine, it
just looks like one.

When I tried to do a search on it I wound up on some other Globesearch type pages full of titillating trivia and not remotely relevant.

I removed all the Registry entries and deleted the script gshp.vbs mentioned by gs in response 25.

When I rebooted an error popped up saying Windows can't find the script.

Back to Regedit again, and after deleting the
entry calling the script the nuisance has dissappeared.

These people are short-sighted scumbags, pissing people off is not a great way to drum up business

I can recommend 2 small utilities from Mike Lin (http://www.mlin.net/): Startup Control Panel and Startup Monitor (both free).

I had the same problem with globesearch but with Startup Control Panel I found the file gshp.vbs causing the trouble within minutes.

The problem was a script file
gshp.vbs
I deleted this file, reset the registry, cleaned out temp files and cookies then restarted the machine.
It worked fine after that.

Under IE /tools / internet options/Home page
there you just add the website (perhaps bartcop.com) you want as your home page.

Support Peace! Support Democracy! Support Http://www.bartcop.com or at least just read it!
Fight the right wing conspiracy! The time is now to stand up and be counted. Or you could just lay there like roadkill while the overclass steamrolls over your rights!
Its all up to you fair citizens, and you CAN make a difference. Stand up for what you beleive in and know is right!!!

----------------------

I have the same problem with globesearch.com I reset it in options, but it always comes back. I have deleted the gshp.vbs file and edited the SearchURL entry in my registry. I hpoe this works, but I have a question. How do you "reset the registry"

What I did up there seems to have fixed my home page problem, but to reset the IE search button's search page, the customize button did not work. I had to go into Tools>Options>Programs tab and click the Reset Default home & search engine pages. Otherwise the customize button would just open up another unwanted search page. Good luck to anyone that has this problem! Screw globesearch.com!

I also had the problem with globesearch.com,
showing up as the default Internet Explorer web address every time I rebooted the system.

I followed the guidance in Response Number 25. It seems to have worked. Thanks "gs"!

I sure would like to know how gshp.vbs
got onto my system.

As recommended, I deleted that file and
and cleaned up the registry.

For those who, like me, have little experience with "regedit," I suggest that
you find a book--I used an A+ Certification
study guide--that explains about "regedit".

It's really not hard to use "regedit" to back up the registry and delete the references to this file, but you probably should read about it first.