Shoutbox

Hi there...
Yes, this is about the sponser program again, sorry. I have looked at the other posts on this subject but to no avail... and I'd be so grateful if someone could help me with this problem.
Ok, so i downloaded the new Msg Plus, and mistakenly agreed to the sponser (my fault for not reading it properly). I got rid of the toolbar by right-clicking and uninstalling... and it was all fine, except for one thing. Every time i pressed the 'stop' button or a page couldn't be shown for whatever reason, i didn't get the normal 'Page Cannot be Displayed' page, or 'Action Cancelled' page.  I got a page called 'Search the Web' with loads of links to casino sites, car sites..blah-blah-blah. I made an image of it:
I wanted to get rid of this, and, stupidly, didn't check out the FAQ on this site first. So i went about finding files that were created same time i downloaded Messenger Plus, and found one called 'GreatLinks'. I felt pretty sure this was the offending file and deleted it... i thought my problems were solved but the same 'Search the Web' page came back next time i went online. Then i DID check out the FAQ.. i uninstalled Msg Plus, and that didn't get rid of the annoying page 'Search the web'. I re-installed Msg Plus WITH sponser and then uninstalled it. Re-booted computer....felt sure the problem was solved... clicked on a site and pressed 'stop' before it had chance to load - and what appeared? 'Search the web'! AHH!
Please please please someone help me get rid of this annoying, irritating page?1 Thank you so much to anyone who replies!!
Maddie xxx

This is not due to the sponsor program. This is probably some adware that didn't get removed correctly when you deleted GreatLinks. Try downlaoding ad-aware from http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/ and do a system scan.

Thank you thank you!

Did as you said - downloaded Ad-aware, and did a system check. Deleted all the files found (and believe me, there were a LOT). Also did a virus check and deleted the two found... and guess what. The 'Search the Web' page is still there. Grrrr..... anything else i could try? Thanks loads.

I already got this problem once and I have an idea that may fix yoruproblem... Adaware probably removed the adware from your system but as it does only half the work it should do, it didn't bother to change your default search system back to something less intrusive. What I did myself was to reinstall MSN Messenger and leave the "Make MSN my default search" option of the installation checked. I hope it will help you.

My suggestion is going to be Reinstall or Upgrade to Internet Explorer 6. This will fix any changed/altered files that appear.

Here is a direct link to the Internet Explorer 6 English Download.
http://download.microsoft.com/download/ie6sp1/fin...EN-US/ie6setup.exe

Now in your Control Panel > Add Remove Programs you should see something liek Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 SP1 or Internet Explorer 6 SP1 you want to click on that and hit Remove.

You will get a screen asking you to Reinstall Choose that.

You can also type this into the Run Command (Start > run)
rundll32 setupwbv.dll,IE6Maintenance "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\Setup\SETUP.EXE" /g "C:\WINDOWS\IE Uninstall Log.Txt"

This will bring up the same window.

You don't need to uninstall, install or upgrade anything.

To reset your searchengine to the default one, all you have to do is set the default things back in to the registry (after your cleared all the spyware and adware of course ).

See http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k/IEFAQ.htm#ResetSearch
(this will also fix the 404-error page)

Oh, and if you want google to be your default searchengine: http://www.windows-help.net/WindowsXP/howto-030.html

quote:

---

Originally posted by Patchou
What I did myself was to reinstall MSN Messenger and leave the "Make MSN my default search" option of the installation checked.

---

I tried this, and 'Search the Web is still there.

quote:

---

Originally posted by CookieRevised
You don't need to uninstall, install or upgrade anything.

To reset your searchengine to the default one, all you have to do is set the default things back in to the registry (after your cleared all the spyware and adware of course ).

---

Tried this and it didn't work either. My search engine does seem to be set as MSN, so it makes me wonder if there is still something on my computer? The thing is, although the page is called 'Search the Web' i don't think it actually has anything to do with my search engine - it's only the error page.
It seemed to have stopped last night, after i did a system scan with ad-aware, but now it's back (along with lop [soap heart kind scr]). Please see this thread: http://shoutbox.menthix.net/showthread.php?tid=30768