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How can I repair hi-jacked start page?

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wmcole
wmcole
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I got slammed by malware yesterday, one piece of which installed a new start / home page (http://www-searching.com, yes the dash is correct) into all my browsers (edge, Internet Explorer, Chrome and Firefox). I was able to wipe it from all the other browsers, but not Firefox.

So far, I have eliminated it from history, cookies, about:cache, about:config, tried resetting Options->General start page, and home page settings (including "Restore to Default"). Options->Search will not allow the operation of the "Restorer Default Search Engines" button since this thing took over. And it does not appear in the Search Engine list.

I've eliminated all references to this site I can find in the registry and on the hard disk (full search of files, folders and contents), including .tmp, files and directories. But for some reason or other, Firefox just can't help using it as its start page.

What are all the mechanisms Firefox uses to get a start page, or where else should I look for the source of this problem?


I got slammed by malware yesterday, one piece of which installed a new start / home page (http://www-searching.com, yes the dash is correct) into all my browsers (edge, Internet Explorer, Chrome and Firefox). I was able to wipe it from all the other browsers, but not Firefox. So far, I have eliminated it from history, cookies, about:cache, about:config, tried resetting Options->General start page, and home page settings (including "Restore to Default"). Options->Search will not allow the operation of the "Restorer Default Search Engines" button since this thing took over. And it does not appear in the Search Engine list. I've eliminated all references to this site I can find in the registry and on the hard disk (full search of files, folders and contents), including .tmp, files and directories. But for some reason or other, Firefox just can't help using it as its start page. What are all the mechanisms Firefox uses to get a start page, or where else should I look for the source of this problem?

Soluție aleasă

Is the problem specific to using your desktop shortcut or pinned taskbar icon? In that case, please check for a problem with the shortcut/icon you use to start Firefox. This is based on how Windows 7 works, but hopefully Windows 10 is similar. Either:

  • Desktop shortcut: right-click the icon, choose Properties
  • Pinned taskbar icon: right-click the icon, right-click Mozilla Firefox, choose Properties

Windows normally will select the Shortcut tab. If not, go ahead and click the Shortcut tab.

The Target line should not have anything after this part:

  • 32-bit Firefox on 64-bit Windows: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe"
  • Otherwise: "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe"

If anything is listed after that, clear it out and save your change. To test, you can either:

  • Desktop shortcut: double-click the icon to launch a new window
  • Pinned taskbar icon: right-click the icon, click Mozilla Firefox to launch a new window

If you get your home page, it worked.

Was that it?

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jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
  • Top 10 Contributor
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Soluție aleasă

Is the problem specific to using your desktop shortcut or pinned taskbar icon? In that case, please check for a problem with the shortcut/icon you use to start Firefox. This is based on how Windows 7 works, but hopefully Windows 10 is similar. Either:

  • Desktop shortcut: right-click the icon, choose Properties
  • Pinned taskbar icon: right-click the icon, right-click Mozilla Firefox, choose Properties

Windows normally will select the Shortcut tab. If not, go ahead and click the Shortcut tab.

The Target line should not have anything after this part:

  • 32-bit Firefox on 64-bit Windows: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe"
  • Otherwise: "C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe"

If anything is listed after that, clear it out and save your change. To test, you can either:

  • Desktop shortcut: double-click the icon to launch a new window
  • Pinned taskbar icon: right-click the icon, click Mozilla Firefox to launch a new window

If you get your home page, it worked.

Was that it?

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
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Try to delete the search.json file and possible search-metadata.json and search.sqlite files in the Firefox profile folder to reset the search engines to the default.

You can use this button to go to the current Firefox profile folder:

Firefox will rebuild the search.json file from the default built-in search engines that come with Firefox and the searchplugins folder in the Firefox profile folder.

You can check for problems with preferences.

Delete possible user.js and numbered prefs-##.js files and rename/remove the prefs.js file to reset all prefs to the default value including prefs set via user.js and prefs that are no longer supported in current Firefox releases.

wmcole
wmcole Deținătorul întrebării
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Thanks, folks!

About three hours after I posted, I decided to start checking icon files and as jscher2000 said, there it was; as a parameter to the target command. CRAP!! I should have thought of this two days ago instead of going for the more complex registry, config file, app data... etc.

I need that old cartoon rig with the boot on the end of a swinging pole so I can pull the handle and give myself a swift kick!

Problem solved - thanks again for your time and insight and pointers to some good info I need to digest for other potential issues.