Helping people with computers... one answer at a time.
If you can't change it, your browser home page could be protected by anti-spyware software or it could be spyware itself getting in the way.
Why can't I set my internet home page to what I want?
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It depends on "how" you can't.
If you can change your home page and later it changes back to something else then you probably have spyware.
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If you can't change your home page - the option is greyed out - then you may have spyware or if you're in a corporate or other controlled environment then you may not have permission to do so.
In any case, spyware is the top suspect, so I'd run a spyware checker right away.
Article C1981 - June 3, 2004 « »
Leo A. Notenboom has been playing with computers since he
was required to take a programming class in 1976. An 18 year career as a programmer at Microsoft soon followed.
After "retiring" in 2001, Leo started Ask Leo! in 2003 as a place for answers
to common computer and technical questions. More about Leo.
July 6, 2007 5:01 AM
I had the same problems and yes as mentioned in the top an anti-spyware prog caused the problem.
Deactivate that program change the value in what you like and activate the antispyware program again.
November 29, 2007 7:36 AM
My problem is definitely caused by Google Desktop. I installed an upgrade yesterday and stupidly didn't read everything in a popup window. One of the items checked (that I could have unchecked) was the selection of google.com as my home page. When I tried to change it I found that the option was greyed out. I uninstalled all Google applications and started over - this time I unchecked the box but still have the option greyed out. I should also mention that after I deleted all the Google apps, I still couldn't change the home page, so it's something that Google installed that's hiding somewhere else. I'm a little surprised that I'm finding so little help on this as I'd expect almost everyone to be upset that their IE has been hijacked by Google.
April 19, 2008 5:00 PM
My computer has been acting very strange. My system seems to be locking me out of all my programs and whenever I try to open a file it freezes up. I can't even change my homepage on IE anymore. Can you tell me what the problem is?
October 13, 2008 2:31 PM
I have a totally diffrent problem on Internet explorer 7 I try to change my setting and apply my home page but when I do it says applying setting in a green bar and it takes forever and never works
March 26, 2010 9:29 AM
If you have Spy Hunter. Open it, Click on Network Sentry on the left. A window will open. in the third section has "Internet Home page Protection" You can click on to protect a certain page. Go to the page you want in a separate browser and copy the url from the address bar and past it here. Or you can unclick it and then use your tools > internet options and put in whatever homepage you want and click apply. Then your homepage can be changed.
Hope this helps. Mine was locked in Spy Hunter under Network Sentry...Bye for Now