Highjacked homepages unwanted constant pop ups and search pages by porn site has invaded my computer. Exact details step by step to get rid of this problem desperately needed asap

Thank you

Oh dear.. what browser are you using?

I recommend that you use either the Mozilla Firefox browser or Internet Explorer 7 - I personally much prefer Firefox.

Make sure that your anti-virus program and your anti-spyware program are both up to date.

I use Spybot Search & Destroy (it's freeware, but very good). You need to update your anti spyware program and then run a full scan.


Step by step guide:

1. Download Spybot Search And Destroy.

2. Install it, and click yes to let it search for updates and do a scan.

3. that's about it!

When was the last time you did some serious maintenance on your system ?

System maintenance includes:
Defrag
FULL patching
Virus scanning
Spyware scanning
Removal of rubish files

Defrag is an inbuilt function in XP.
Open My Computer > Right click C: > Tools Tab and it's there.

To make sure everything is running fine run both anti virus and anti spyware apps in normal AND safe modes. (make sure that they are updated first ! ;)) (AVG (http://free.grisoft.com/doc/1) is good and free AV)
(A couple of good removal tools are Spybot (http://www.safer-networking.org/) and Adaware (http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/))

ALso an on line virus and spyware scanner is Trend Housecall (http://housecall.trendmicro.com/)

Just a note; actively running two AV's on one machine can cause problems.
So if you are thinking about it make sure your current one is disabled first.
Same thing applies to online scanners as well.

Removal of junk files is easy with CCleaner (http://www.ccleaner.com) a free app that does exactly what

If all this fails then a repair install may be in order:

Here's (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/learnmore/tips/doug92.mspx) the official Micro$oft way of doing it,
And Here's (http://www.geekstogo.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=138) one with screen shots.

Basically this installs windows over the top of your current setup.
So you don't loose any information you already have.