Can't change my Home Page in IE!!

Somehow MSN took over my Internet Explorer browser and it opens directly to MSN's home page. I went to Control Panel (in Windows XP) and then to Internet Options to change my home page back to what I had. A big old stupid box pops up that says I am denied access to change my home page and to contact the system administrator.

As far as I know, I AM THE *!@$# SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR!!! I thought I would uninstall MSN but it I don't even see where it is in my list of programs on Add/Remove Programs. HELP! How can I regain control of my Home Page????????? Thanks for any ideas....Pat

 

Open C:\WINDOWS\inf\sysoc.inf in Notepad. Do Edit | Replace. In find, enter hide. In replace, leave it blank. Click Replace All. Save the file. Now, when you run Add/Remove in Control Panel and click "Windows Components" (and other previously hidden applets) will be available for removal


this will allow you to remove msn. dont forget to make a backup before you try this.

 

okay this has made me think about my add remove dialoge problem, my version of this file looks a bit dodgey, as in it has the [Components] part repeated several times.

Do you recon this would cause my add/remove dialoge to have huge gaps in it?

 

its possible. My file only has one components section. Try to delete the duplicate entries.

 

Thank you!

I neglected to write back and say that fixed it! I got my home page back. Thanks soooo much. Pat

 

How did you fix it.

What was your solution if you don't mind me asking.

 

I had the same problem, and found it to be my Norton Antivirus. Had to go into the options in Norton Antivirus, click homepage protection under the internet tab, and uncheck (Turn homepage protection on), change the homepage and then go back and check (Turn homepage protection on) again. Norton added this feature to keep adware programs from changing your homepage.