How about a thread dedicated to this homepage change that won't quit, instead of DSO Exploit. I had (maybe still do, hard to tell from all of the threads... ) DSO, I thought that is what was causing my home page to go to about:: blank every time I opened up IE. Does anyone know how to get my own home page back? I have tried the "internet settings", etc.
Thanks

Download Ad-aware 6, a free program that you can download at:

http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/

Check for updates before running program. Then follow the directions here to do a full scan:

The following explains how to set Ad-aware's settings to perform a "Full Scan."

In Ad-aware click the Gear to go to the Settings area.

The following items should be on a green check, not on a red X.

Under the Scanning button:

Scan within archives

Under Memory & Registry, Check EVERYTHING

In Check Drives & Folders, make sure all of your hard drives are selected

Under the Advanced button, check ALL under Log detail level (this makes it easier for visitors to the Lavasoft Support Forums to see what options you have selected should you require assistance.)

Under the Tweak button...

Some of these may not be an available option, depending on your version of Ad-aware and your version of Windows. Do not be concerned if you cannot select a certain item.

In Scanning Engine:

Unload recognized processes during scanning

Include info about ignored objects in logfile, if detected in scan

Include basic Ad-aware settings in logfile

Include additional Ad-aware settings in logfile

Include used command line parameters in logfile

In Cleaning Engine:

XP/2000: Allow unloading explorer to unload shell extensions prior to deletion

Let Windows remove files in use at next reboot

UNCHECK: Automatically try to unregister objects prior to deletion

Click Proceed to save these settings. When you would like to perform a "Full Scan," switch the scan mode from SmartScan to Custom.

After running Ad-aware, you must reboot your computer. It may be necessary to run Ad-aware two or three times if you have a lot of spyware, rebooting each time in between.

Also see the following:

http://www.lavahelp.com/articles/v6/04/05/1801.html

Hope this helps!
Whiskey14

Do me a favor. Go here and download hijackthis.exe and install it. Hit scan and save the log and paste it in the forum here so I can see exactly what hijacked your internet explorer. I can tell you what to leave and what to take out. Go here to download http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/files/hijackthis.zip

I had that problem forever. I ended up doing the following:

1. Updated Ad Aware and ran the program. It found 75 sites I didn't know about!

2. Downloaded and ran CWShredder. Do a search on CWShredder and you can download. It got rid of all the porn!

3. Download and run Spybot and Spyblaster. Check for updates on a weekly basis.

The only thing I still have popping up is this Online Casino popup that parks itself on my desktop. I think I got rid of it by going to internet options and typing it's e-address in the restricted sites.

Good luck.

Counselor

On the right track counselor~

You can do that with all pop-ups, just go into restricted sites, have your security set on high, n if you have got the latest patches you'll be surfin in no time~

Regards~

Counselor is on the right track but I would also use Giant AntiSpyware available at the link below. This product combined with the Spyware-Adware Removal Kit on the same site will provide a complete solution to your problem.

Also, a MUST have for the about:blank page is HiJackThis! HJ This is actually the main ingredient to its removal but it can be very tricky to understand and if you are not careful, you can do a fair amount of damage to your version of Windows.

If you need any further assistance, please feel free to contact me.

One of the entries in msconfig is most probably starting a program or dll that is changing your homepage. I usually remove these by starting the computer in safe mode by pressing F8 while it's booting up then going Start, Run and type msconfig. Find the offending entry and turn it off then restart your computer and change your homepage back. If you don't know which entry is causing your problem I suggest searching each entry name in Google. One of them should come up with pages about spyware or something similar.

Other than doing this I often find Hijack This and Kill Box very useful.