Getting  Along With Your Computer Column Archive

Quick Fixes
By Cate Eales
Appeared November 15, 2007 on castanet.net

Has your Internet Explorer home page wandered off on its own and refused to let you change it back to the one you want? Is your firewall misbehaving? I've seen a little bit of everything this week. Here are a couple of odd problems and their solutions.


How to change your home page in Internet Explorer 7
A very frustrated friend said, "I know how to change my home page in Internet Explorer, and I'm doing that, but it won't stick! It keeps going back to a home page I don't want."

First of all, the way to change your home page in Internet Explorer is:

Now if that choice doesn't stick, there are three likely causes. The most likely cause is that you've picked up some spyware or malware that has changed your home page and won't change it back. To correct this, run CounterSpy, Spybot Search & Destroy, or Ad-Aware to detect and remove the spyware. Or, call in a professional.

The second most likely reason you can't change your home page is that you have a security program preventing you from doing this. Although these programs have the best of intentions, and are only protecting us from ourselves, it can be very annoying when we want to make a change and can't.

If you use Norton Security, McAfee Security, TrendMicro Internet Security, Spybot Search & Destroy, or almost any other "security" program, and you are unable to make a change to your IE home page, it's almost certain that you have a setting in that program preventing the change. Check the documentation for your security program and take the appropriate action to change the page to the one you want. Then, turn the protection back on so you're the only one empowered to make those changes.

Finally, sometimes tool bars change your home page and won't let you change it back. The Yahoo! tool bar is notorious for this. If you just want to disable a tool bar:

You can also often uninstall a legitimate tool bar as you would any other program, using Add/Remove Programs. If the tool bar is malware, CounterSpy, Spybot Search & Destroy, and other anti-spyware programs may be able to delete it for you.


ZoneAlarm says it's off, but it's not!
This happened to me. I was just sitting here at my computer minding my own business when I noticed the dreaded red shield icon in my system tray, complaining that my firewall was turned off. But I could see the ZoneAlarm icon, also in my system tray, happily saying it was on and working.

I researched this problem and found out (luckily!) that I was not the only one. If you've got the same thing going on, fear not and try this fix:

This should activate ZoneAlarm, which will then automatically shut off the Windows Firewall and continue running happily. You should check to make sure the red shield icon is gone from your system tray, and you can also check back in the Security Center to make sure Windows recognized ZoneAlarm again.

No word on why this is happening, but there are several posts in the ZoneAlarm forums about it, and it's a known problem. Here's hoping they get it repaired in the next big update.


It's Patch Tuesday Again!
Speaking of updates, this week Microsoft released several patches, including this month's Malicious Software Removal tool. Please be sure you're getting your Windows Updates either automagically, or by visiting Microsoft Update.


Thank you everyone who shared their (computer-related) problems this week, and to everyone who emailed questions and comments. Please keep them coming to cate@rlis.com. And don't forget the column archives are available 24/7, here.  If you'd like to subscribe to this column by email, please visit this link.  It's easy, and free. If you'd prefer the RSS Feed, click here.

Links
Internet Explorer http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/ie/default.mspx
CounterSpy http://www.sunbelt-software.com/Home-Home-Office/CounterSpy/
Spybot Search & Destroy http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html
Ad-Aware http://www.download.com/Ad-Aware-2007-Free/3000-8022_4-10045910.html?part=dl-ad-aware&subj=dl&tag=top5
ZoneAlarm Free http://filehippo.com/download_zonealarm_free/
Microsoft Update http://update.microsoft.com
Getting Along With Your Computer Column Archives http://rlis.com/column.htm
Get Cate's column by email http://www.feedblitz.com/f/f.fbz?Sub=20618
RSS Feed http://rlis.com/rlis.xml

---
Cate Eales has been helping people make online computing safe, accessible and fun for over 20 years. She lives in Kelowna with her husband, Eric, and her dog, Sandy. Cate is a partner in Real Life Internet Solutions, helping individuals and small businesses with virus, spyware and malware eradication; personal computer training and management; digital image management; music transfer; and website design, hosting and management. Email Cate at cate@rlis.com with your comments, suggestions, or questions. To browse the column archives, visit the Real Life Internet Solutions website at www.rlis.com.