How do I lock my homepage in IE8 so applications cannot alter it?

Question

I have few programs on my machine that keep on changing my home-page. I found and tried this link, but I didn't find the part Internet under the Microsoft path in the registry address.

What I wanna do is lock the homepage so it cannot be change by programs other than the internet options of the control panel.

I use IE8 on Win7x64 machine. I guess the reg key is slightly different.

Solution 1

Go to the key HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Control Panel. If this key doesn't exist, create it.

For example, if you only see HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft, then create Internet Explorer as a subkey, and Control Panel as a subkey of Internet Explorer.

On that key, create a new DWORD value called "Homepage" and set its value to 1.

Do the same for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Control Panel.

This will disable the homepage options on the Internet Options dialog. You will see a message on the bottom of the dialog saying "Some settings are managed by your system administrator". It will also deny permission to webpages that attempt to change the homepage.

To re-enable it, set the Homepage value to 0.

Solution 2

I have few programs on my machine that keep on changing my home-page.

That is not normal behavior for a well-behaving application. Sounds to me like you've got some malware and it's time to back up your data, format your drive, and re-install your operating system.

Comments

[Shimmy Weitzhandler]

You said DWORD, there was 2 option to choose from either 32 or 64 bit, I chose 32, but I am wondering why DWORD rather than just binary?

[Shimmy Weitzhandler]

No. It's Symantec Corporate Antivirus. After I update with LiveUpdate it resets my homepage to symantec. I wish I could sew Symantec. it sucks indeed. I admit it's not normal but annoying behavior of an application.

[In silico]

Yes, you pick the 32-bit one. DWORDs are 32-bit, while QWORDs are 64-bits. I believe DWORDs are needed for this particular key because that's what Internet Explorer is expecting when it searches the registry for the key.

[Shimmy Weitzhandler]

So probably that's the reason for not just using bit (binary), it that so?

[nhinkle]

Ahahaha... so basically, Symantec is being malware. Comcrash is also known to do this sometimes, and some application installers will try to set the home page to their company's website, too.