Homepage Hijacking

Homepage Hijacking

Some malicious programs can take control of your Internet Explorer, taking over your selected homepage and replacing it with a page of the hackers choice.

Sometimes, a person is fooled into clicking on a link, on other occasions, malicious trojans install on a users PC without their knowledge.

These programs take advantage of loopholes in your PC's security and the threat of having your homepage taken over can be avoided in advance if you have up-to-date anti-virus software, a firewall and download the latest Microsoft security patches.

It doesnt have to cost you a fortune to keep your PC secure. Some firewall and anti-virus software is available free.

Microsoft security updates are available for free " you can even set your PC to download them automatically when they become available.

For information on anti-virus software, firewalls and Microsoft security updates, check out our section on how to secure your PC.

Removing the malicious program

If you have anti-virus software, update it and do a full search of your machine to find the malicious program.

Alternatively, anti-spyware programs such as Ad-aware can be downloaded for free.

These programs search and destroy all programs illegally downloaded onto your PC.

For more details on these programs click here.

Once you have found the offending program, clear the cache of your PC.

Click 'Tools', then 'Internet Options'. Under the heading 'Temporary Internet Files', click 'Delete Files', then 'Ok'. Close the window down. You can now re-start Internet Explorer and re-set your homepage to the one of your choice.

Reset Supanet as your home page

It's easy to reset Supanet as your home page.

In the Internet Explorer toolbar, click on 'Tools', then 'Internet Options'.

Select the 'General' folder. It should be the first one you see. The very first option in this folder allows you to select your home page. Type in the correct URL of the page you want and click 'Apply'.