Okay everyone. I will admit that I am a newbie to this forum. Just
when I think I consider myself having mastered much of the "basics,"
I suddenly find myself stumped, once again. For the record, I have
been a computer buff since the EARLY 1990's. In fact, I ran a local
BBS before I suddenly discovered the Internet around 1992/1993.
My question is, that lately, I cannot seem to be able to access my
browser (IE) so that I can change the home page. In other words, I
go to the typical Tools/Internet Options, and go to the General section.
But, for some reason, the whole area is shaded/highlighted, whatever
you want to call it. NONE of the buttons, Use Current, Use Default,
or Use Blank will work in an effort to change my home page. I had
been using Browser Hijack Blaster. But even with it turned off, I could
no longer change my home page. For the record, I also implement the
use of Spybot S & D, AND purchased ZeroSpyware to thwart spyware.
I even tried downloading and installing Advanced Browser, and Ace
Explorer. The same thing happened with them. I HAD been using
the Mozilla Firefox browser. Even with the current update of Mozilla,
I could no longer get that one to work AT ALL. Has anyone else
ever had a problem like this? I'm at a loss.
Mentioned by Crunchie:
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>At a guess I would say that you have those options disabled/protected by Spybot >S&D.
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....sigh....
To be on the safe side I will check it out. But I have had Spybot S & D on my
computer for a while, like, at least a month, if not more. I don't know if I would
have been able to change my home page via Internet Explorer before, but it seems
as if I started having problems with any/ALL browsers as of 7-10 days ago, including
Mozilla, of which I had previously had NO problems. I am still in the process of trying
to figure out why, and check on anything I may have inadvertently done to possibly
cause such problems.
Okay everyone. I will admit that I am a newbie to this forum. Just
when I think I consider myself having mastered much of the "basics,"
I suddenly find myself stumped, once again. For the record, I have
been a computer buff since the EARLY 1990's. In fact, I ran a local
BBS before I suddenly discovered the Internet around 1992/1993.
My question is, that lately, I cannot seem to be able to access my
browser (IE) so that I can change the home page. In other words, I
go to the typical Tools/Internet Options, and go to the General section.
But, for some reason, the whole area is shaded/highlighted, whatever
you want to call it. NONE of the buttons, Use Current, Use Default,
or Use Blank will work in an effort to change my home page. I had
been using Browser Hijack Blaster. But even with it turned off, I could
no longer change my home page. For the record, I also implement the
use of Spybot S & D, AND purchased ZeroSpyware to thwart spyware.
I even tried downloading and installing Advanced Browser, and Ace
Explorer. The same thing happened with them. I HAD been using
the Mozilla Firefox browser. Even with the current update of Mozilla,
I could no longer get that one to work AT ALL. Has anyone else
ever had a problem like this? I'm at a loss.
Try uninstalling your browser the reinstall it, It may work.
At a guess I would say that you have those options disabled/protected by Spybot S&D.
By golly, you were right on, with the Spybot S & D being the cause.
On the other hand, I wouldn't generally have given Spybot permi-
ssion to prevent me from changing my home page. I have no idea
how or when it could have happened.
Of course, I ~did~ have to change from default mode to advanced
mode. There it was, right under the IE tweaks section. For some
reason there it was, plain as day, a box checked stating to disallow
the current user to change the home page.
By golly, you were right on, with the Spybot S & D being the cause.
On the other hand, I wouldn't generally have given Spybot permi-
ssion to prevent me from changing my home page. I have no idea
how or when it could have happened.
Of course, I ~did~ have to change from default mode to advanced
mode. There it was, right under the IE tweaks section. For some
reason there it was, plain as day, a box checked stating to disallow
the current user to change the home page.
Thanks......bunches.....
This problem has been driving me crazy for weeks. I am so glad that I found this post. It worked perfectly!
Thanks ALOT!!
FWIW, here's a different cause and solution to the locked up home page problem that I haven't seen posted elsewhere...
I'm running both Spybot S&D and Ad-Aware SE Plus (the purchased version), with each of them having setting options in their real-time monitor elements which lock the home page. No problem with those, but what I ran into in the process of trying to change my home page (first time in years) was an incompatibility between the two programs: Even with no home page locking set, Spybot's TeaTimer would still automatically deny registry changes associated with enabling the browser highjack blocking setting in Ad-Aware's Ad-Watch (see screenshot).
After trying everything else I could think of, the only solution I found that didn't involve compromising the desired protection of either utility was to totally uninstall Spybot, make my home page change with Ad-Aware's browser hijack blocking disabled, re-enable it, then D/L and install a fresh copy of Spybot. Bit of a nuisance that -- doubt I'll be changing home pages often -- but at least it worked.
