search engine changed by itself

i am not sure if i am doing this right---and this is really embarassing but here it goes. i need help, while surfing porn on my parents pc the home page and and search engine were switched to porn based ones. I easily switched back the home page but every time i click the search tab the engine that comes up is porn...........................HELP!!

 

You have hit on the oldest porn trick in the book my friend. Normally they would not leave you alone until you pay for they're service.

First off... you will have to clear ALL cookies from the computer, ALL the files in the temp internet file. And you will have to make a search threw out the computer drive for same or similar names to the porn sight files and delete them all.

If your lucky... the sight hasn't attached a registry file within. Witch is VERY possible. In witch case a better computer junky than I will need to help you with that.

A word for you... and with no moral intent. I would stay away from porn sights. They can attack your computer like a virus.

OR get ZoneAlarm

Good Luck

 

Welcome to the TSG.

Bad boy
I hope you get it cleaned up fast befor the folks find out but if not will I guess talking to your dad first may help.

Do a search and see if you can find if anything was installed on the date and time you was doing your thing.

Look for any uninstalls and look in the add/remove.

Update your Virus program and run it to scan all files.

Get Ad-aware 5.62 and the Ad-aware signature file.
http://www.lavasoftusa.org/downloads.html

This will remove any spyware that is install.
Do a deep scan then make a back first of anything it finds before you have it delete anything.
Save the backup to a floppy. That way only you have it. Folks will not see it. But the file name will still show up but once you know all is ok you can deleted the backup.

Reboot the PC and do a full deep scan again with Ad-aware.

That is all I can think of.
So till the others that know more are back here to help. You can till us if you use Netscape or I.E. so that the ones that know what to do will have more to go on.

But someplace you have were it can install without asking you. You want to be asked before any installs so check or uncheck any boxes on it.

Have a Merry Xmas

 

Hi,

I've got a more or less complete list of things for you to do:

Try this:

Close Internet Explorer and Outlook Express.
Go to Control Panel/Internet Options, and clear your temporary Internet files.
Now click on Settings/show files, and delete your cookies.
Or, if you're running IE 6.0, delete your cookies on the Privacy tab.

Now go to Start/run, and type Msconfig. On the Startup tab, look to see if you can find one or more of the following entries:
SWPortal, SWCaller, Sp.dll, and/or MSKernel32 (Win32.hta).
If you find one or more of these things, uncheck them.
Now click OK, close Msconfig, and reboot.

Now open Internet Explorer, and go to your favorite Start Page.
Go to Internet Options, General tab, and click 'Use current'.

If after rebooting there's still no change, lets move to phase 2:

Go to Start/run, and type Regedit.
Navigate to HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Control Panel
Is the subkey called 'Control Panel' indeed there, rightclick it, and choose delete from the context menu.
Close Regedit

Go to the 'Programs' tab, and click 'reset Web Settings'.
Go to the 'Security' tab, and set all ActiveX options that are now set to 'allow', to 'prompt'.
Also uncheck 'Enable install on demand' on the 'advanced' tab.

Now open Internet Explorer, and go to your favorite Start Page.
Go to Internet Options, General tab, and click 'Use current'.

Good luck,