# My IE 6 home page has been hijacked!!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-ie-6-home-page-has-been-hijacked/205359>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 3, 2003, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-ie-6-home-page-has-been-hijacked/205359 "2003-10-03T15:46:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-ie-6-home-page-has-been-hijacked/205359/1 "2003-10-03T15:46:42Z")

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Something grabbed my IE 6 configuration and reset the home page to some ad site. I was able to remove it with Spybot Search & Destroy (God bless that guy).

BUT somehow the “change home page” feature has been grayed out on IE 6 now. Spybot set the home page to about:blank but I want to reset it.

How do I do I get control back again?

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**Author:** ![Myrr21](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Myrr21](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myrr21)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-ie-6-home-page-has-been-hijacked/205359/2 "2003-10-03T16:07:28Z")

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Well, you can also change it in the registry:  
HKEY\_USERS: Your logon name: SOFTWARE: MICROSOFT: INTERNET EXPLORER: MAIN

Look for a key called “Start Page”

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**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-ie-6-home-page-has-been-hijacked/205359/3 "2003-10-03T16:11:08Z")

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Run SpyBot again, and go to the **Immunize** page. Near the bottom is a checkbox to disable/enable changes to the IE start page. Uncheck it.

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**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-ie-6-home-page-has-been-hijacked/205359/4 "2003-10-03T17:24:38Z")

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> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Myrr21 \*  
> \*\*Well, you can also change it in the registry:  
> HKEY\_USERS: Your logon name: SOFTWARE: MICROSOFT: INTERNET EXPLORER: MAIN
> 
> Look for a key called “Start Page” \*\*

Found the key, what do I do with it?

It’s

file:C:\Program Files\Plus!\Microsoft Internet\docs\home.htm

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**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\
**Post date:** [October 3, 2003, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-ie-6-home-page-has-been-hijacked/205359/5 "2003-10-03T21:37:41Z")

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really, perhaps you shouldnt do registry cutting yet. I did this the other day:  
start:settings:control panel:internet options

Change the home page there instead of in IE.

Then run ad aware if you want from [download.com](http://download.com), it has a free version.

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**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\
**Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-ie-6-home-page-has-been-hijacked/205359/6 "2003-10-04T01:06:19Z")

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This is normal for Spybot when it gets rid of passiton. Spybot doesn’t lock it to the blank location.

Just reset your home page to your desired location via tools\>internet options etc. at the top of IE and hit the “apply” button at the bottom of the Internet Options page.