Google won't appear as homepage

Hello fellow geeks,

I've just been given a PC, which I'd like to give to my son as an extra xmas pressie, but I'm having problems connecting to the internet.

I uninstalled AOL, (used by the previous owners) successfully installed the wireless adapter and set the homepage to Google, but every time I open up internet explorer it comes up with a BTOpenworld registration page.

We are with Sky, so obviously I don't want to register but if I hit 'register later' it just closes down IE. Can I get rid of it?

As is generally the case, the PC came with no disc (XP Home) so I can't just reinstall the whole lot. Any ideas?

 

Thank you for answering, but it seems this thing has a mind of it's own.

According to the previous owner, they never used BTOpenworld, and there do not seem to be any files pertaining to it.

However, tonight when I tried to open IE, I didn't get the registration page (though it still displayed the spinning globe in the top right-hand corner), instead I got a message 'trying to open AOL' which of course it couldn't, then the old 'This page cannot be displayed' message.

To be frank, it's driving me bonkers.

I would love to run ccleaner, I use this programme myself, but I need the internet to download it - or can I copy it to disc from mine and install that way?

Or might it be a whole lot easier to take it to a shop, and ask them to clear everything off (I see you've also answered my other query, so you know about all the erroneous programs too) and puchase a new XP disc?

 

If the computer came from someone else and has some issues I would wipe it and go back to factory settings and start over. Should have came with an OS sticker on it somewhere so you should be licensed.

 

Should have gotten that from the person he got it from or the manufactuer.

 

Aimeelou, are you comfortable formatting and reinstalling windows? Do you know anyone that has a windows xp home edition disk? A lot of people have them. Does the PC have a sticker on it showing the XP Home edition product key? If your not, you'll have to choose whether you want to spend a couple hundred dollars and take it to a computer shop. Also, you could still try giving the manufactuer a call to see if you can get the restore media. Would be worth a try. Let me know if I can help you further then.