Yahoo won't stop opening itself as a homepage?
For the past 3 days, I have been having lots of problems with Yahoo opening itself as a homepage! I have researched many solutions to no avail- I deleted the add-on that is supposedly doing this (SearchMe ?) AND the apparent program that gave me the add-on, I have tried simply clicking the "Restore homepage to default" button (a ton of times), I have used the SearchReset add-on around 3 different times, and have even restored Firefox to default...
All of these solutions work for the current session I have in Firefox, but as soon as I, say, wait a half-hour and then come back, starting a new browsing session, Yahoo is back as a Homepage tab, haunting me. (it gives me both the default Homepage AND Yahoo.)
I'm at a loss as what to do- it's REALLY annoying and Firefox is my dream browser so I really don't want to stop using it...
For reference, the exact url of the stalker Yahoo homepage tab is "https://ca.search.yahoo.com/?type=994519&fr=spigot-yhp-ff".
All Replies (3)
Could you check whether you have either of these issues:
(1) a user.js file
user.js is an optional settings file. If found in your profile folder (personal settings folder) at startup, Firefox uses the settings in that file to override your saved preferences from the previous session. Unless you created that file yourself, it may contains settings from an add-on or external software. You can check and remove the file using the steps in the user.js section of this article: How to fix preferences that won't save. For best results, set Windows to show all file extensions before you go hunting. This Microsoft support article has the steps: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/wi.../show-hide-file-name-extensions.
(2) utility/privacy/security software that protects against settings changes
Advanced SystemCare is one example of a program that keeps a copy of your settings file and uses it to override changes when you exit Firefox. There may be other that have a "home page protection", "browsing protection" or similar feature. This should be disabled until everything is working properly again.
Does that help?
jscher2000 said
Could you check whether you have either of these issues: (1) a user.js file user.js is an optional settings file. If found in your profile folder (personal settings folder) at startup, Firefox uses the settings in that file to override your saved preferences from the previous session. Unless you created that file yourself, it may contains settings from an add-on or external software. You can check and remove the file using the steps in the user.js section of this article: How to fix preferences that won't save. For best results, set Windows to show all file extensions before you go hunting. This Microsoft support article has the steps: http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/wi.../show-hide-file-name-extensions. (2) utility/privacy/security software that protects against settings changes Advanced SystemCare is one example of a program that keeps a copy of your settings file and uses it to override changes when you exit Firefox. There may be other that have a "home page protection", "browsing protection" or similar feature. This should be disabled until everything is working properly again. Does that help?
I took the steps to find the user.js file, and could not find it within my folder... I don't think I have any programs that would have the homepage protection sort of thing- the only programs of that sort that I have are the Adblock add-on (which I had before my problem without an issue) & Avast Antivirus (which I also had before my problem without an issue.
I should have asked whether you also combed through the Windows Control Panel, Uninstall a Program, to remove any other Spigot/Conduit items or other mystery programs. Perhaps there is something lingering?
After the list loads, click the "Installed on" column heading to group the infections, I mean, additions, by date. This can help surface unnoticed bundle items that snuck in with some software you agreed to install. Take out as much trash as possible here.
Since there are many other places to look, you could supplement your previous scans with the cleaning tools listed in our support article: Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware.
Finally, there are some cases where an infection is located in Firefox's program folder. I haven't seen that with Spigot before, so hopefully one of the above will root it out.