about:blank hijacked my homepage - how do I fix it?

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An easy fix for those of you running XP..
If you know about the time you recieved the trojan virus, use system restore, and restore your puter a day or 2 earlier and there you go..
Gone forever

Adware Away 2.2.4 worked on about:blank! Thanks Brian! I tried CW Shredder, Ad-Aware, Hijack This, Spybot...nothing worked. Adware Away didn't work with the default scan option, but after using the icon for my operating system and then running the scan, then inputting the fixes on the report page, it worked. I ran the scan in Windows Safe Mode then rebooted and ran again in Safe Mode and it was gone. I ran Ad-Aware after the Adware Away, just to see what it flagged, and it came up clean after both runs.
Thanks much!

If you have the full blown "About:Blank" it prevents restore from working, it also disables various anti-virus/firewall and windows update. It is definitely not that easy to get rid of. Most of the removal tools leave the hidden .dll in the registry, you need reglite.exe to unhide it. This hijacker also spreads within your machine so the rogue .dlls hide in various places. (RealPlayer is a favorite)

I'd have to agree about the suspicous nature of the links given by "Jon Logan," and the responses (consistantly doubled and without a hotlink.)

I also noticed the appearance of three programs in my add/delete list (from the controll panel)of Shopping Wizard, Home Finder Helper (or something like that) and some other oddly named thing. They cannot be uninstalled and refer to a http address for thier origin. Has anyone managed to free themselves of these?

Yup, Adware Away is the best thing to get rid of the f****** about:blank s***. Try it. it is guaranteed to work.....thanx Brian, u r the man !!

My pc was hijacked by about:blank. I searched the web high and low for the solution on how to get rid of it. Trust me, trust me, trust me: adware away solved the problem!!!!!! Run it twice in safe mode, and your problems will be gone!!! Thanks to everyone who recommended it to me. I wanted to post another testimonial that adware away works!!!

RESOLUTION:

1. Click on View (Internet Explorer menu)
2. Click Source
3. Search for a string beginning with res://
4. Copy the whole string (Control+C)
5. Open Internet Explorer
6. Goto http://www.simplelogic.com/Developer/URLDecode.asp
7. Paste the link in the box provided
8. Click on "Clean Data"
9. Name of a DLL file appears along with the path to it (eg - \windows\system32)
10. Open Mycomputer
12. Change Folder option to Show Hidden Files
13. Goto the path to find the DLL file (eg - \windows\system32)
14. Close all open applications and browser windows
15. Rename this file.
16. Open Internet Explorer
17. Change home page to desired home page URL
18. Restart the computer

After restarting, check Internet Explorer. the problem should be resolved

Also sometimes, the about:blank returns after a while

Check the registry for this key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS
NT\CURRENTVERSION\WINDOWS\APPINIT_DLLS

This is what prompts to windows to load the trojan everytime any application is
run. the value of the key, is hidden

Try removing it. BE SURE TO BACK UP THE REGISTRY BEFORE DOING IT !!!!

Reboot the computer.

Go back into the registry and search for the key. If it comes back, try the
following:

Rename the entire HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS
NT\CURRENTVERSION\WINDOWS
to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS NT\CURRENTVERSION\WINDOWS2

Delete the APPINIT_DLLS key under the WINDOWS2 folder.

Rename HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS NT\CURRENTVERSION\WINDOW2
to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS NT\CURRENTVERSION\WINDOWS

Reboot the computer

Check the registry again. The key should be gone for good.

BEST OF LUCK !!!

I would just like to thank Mahesh for his post of November 15, 2004 @ 01:47 PM. I have suffered from the "about:blank" problem for months now and have purchased 3 different spyware products as well as used a number of pop-up blockers and Norton Internet Security & Anti-Virus, all to no avail. I tried Mahesh's resolution (steps 1-18) and it worked first time! I only wish I'd come to this website a lot sooner (and before forking out all that money)!

Thanks again - and I certainly recommend that anyone who has this problem scroll down and try Mahesh's resolution too.

I want to thank "AskLeo" for making it possible for people like Mahesh to post an unselfish resolution to get rid of the "about blank" in particular, his post of November 15.

I was so desperate searching for a way to get rid of this "about blank". A lot of people are lucky because there are so many friendly software that can detect & remove browser hijacker. Unfortunately, I am not as lucky as them as the cheapest software cost a-week groceries for my family.

I am really thankful that I had the chance to see Mahesh posting of November 15.

Again, thank you very much to "AskLeo" and most specially to Mahesh.

MAHESH Thanks man the first solution worked fine what I would like to know is what is simple logic actually doing was it necessary to do that or could I have looke for the file named dpn.dll for my self ???

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