Webmaster Forum / Browsers / Internet Explorer / February 2006

As far as I know you can't lock the homepage.  But it does sound as if your
IE has been "hijacked".  Search for anti hijack tools to clean it back up
and one of the tools (can't remember which though) has an option to remember
what home page to reset to if it finds a hijack attack.

Al Reeve

If your homepage keeps changing, that's a pretty positive sign of
adware/spyware/malware or a virus on your machine.  You need to run
antispyware product(s) and antivirus product to completely clean your
system.  Three free antispyware products you can try are:

Microsoft Windows Defender (beta)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=435bfce7-da2b-4a6a-afa4
-f7f14e605a0d&DisplayLang=en

Spybot Search and Destroy
http://www.safer-networking.org/

AdAware SE
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

If you want to purchase a product, webroot's Spy Sweeper has received good
reviews from some pc mags.  It can be found here:
http://www.webroot.com/

A free antivirus program is available from grisoft at:
http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1

Remember to always update your antispyware/antivirus/security programs; they
are useless when not kept up-to-date.

As far as your home page, yes it can be locked.  Your best bet is to make
sure your system is clean first then you can lock the homepage.  Spybot S&D
can do this for you by clicking the appropriate checkbox, or you can muck
around in your registry if you know how.  You can also read Microsoft's Help
and Support page about your dilemma, here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/320159/en-us

Good Luck