WAT OT Message~!! Please help

[Mike Nichting]

Hey all,
I have little computer knowledge and my home page continues to get changed day after day. I use Netscape now and every time I log on my homepage is changed and not to a good one, if you know what I mean.

What can I do to put an end to it??

Sorry for this OT message but I don't know where else to go~!!

Thanks all`!!

Mike Nichting

[Samuel]

Check through your list of installed programs, very often you can find something there that you did not install and is futzing around with your settings.

Also, if and when you get this straightened out, try installing a pop-up blocker. The Google Toolbar does this very effectively: toolbar.google.com

Also, sometimes if you figure out who/what is changing your settings, check around on the web as there are often uninstallers / remedies to the problem.

Internet advertising is getting completely out of control...

[The Tone God]

Edit -> Preferences...

Select Navigator, then click on the "Blank Page" radio button then hit ok.

Andrew

[Samuel]

TTG: I think he means that there is some malicious program editing his home page setting everyday...not that it is set to the wrong thing...

[The Tone God]

I was thinking that he could have it set to "Last Page Visited" which would do that. I don't know if those malicous programs would change that setting, just the homepage. It was just a thought.

If you have some ad-ware on your machine get rid of it. If I found out I had something like that installed I would be massively ticked. Not just because of what it seems to be doing but that software got installed on my machine without my knowledge. Whatever happen to actually having a say with what is done with my  machine.

I am so happy I use FreeBSD. None of that crap to worry about.  

Andrew

[Samuel]

OK, sorry I was a bit confused...But yeah, hidden installations like that make me insane. Like Xupiter one a while back. So infuriating!

Also, peer-to-peer filesharing programs are *rife* with adware of this sort.

Oh, yeah! Try downloading AdAware! http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adaware/

Pretty great program that searches your machine thoroughly for this kind of stuff. You'd be amazed at how many adware programs are out there.

[Samuel]

I am so happy I use FreeBSD. None of that crap to worry about.  

Andrew

Yeah I loved being on BeOS and never having to worry about virii, etc. Perhaps some of you know how that wonderful OS ended up, though...

[Mike Nichting]

Thanks all,
I installed Ad-Aware and went through the process. so now I'll see if it works.
my daughters download a lot of music from Kazaa and I'm thinking thats where it came from.

 Andrew, can I run what you have on my PC that already has windows XP???

Thanks
Mike

[Brett Clark]

Yes, you can set up a machine to "dual boot", allowing you to choose to startup the machine with either operating system. I've never done this on an XP machine, but it should be possible (although I've heard that it's trickier than earlier windows versions).

FreeBSD will certainly keep you safe from most hassles with viruses and adware. Linux is very similar in many ways (and very different in some less obvious ones...) and will also save you from this type of hassle. Both Linux and FreeBSD are available for FREE download - LEGALLY. They are not actually public-domain, but are licensed in such a way that you can use, modify, copy, and distribute them free of charge. The exact details of the licensing are different between Linux and BSD, but from the end-user perspective accomplish the same thing - great software for less (or no) $$$.

www.linuxiso.org can point you to free, legal downloads of both Linux and BSD. I would recommend that you start with Knoppix, which is a version of Linux that runs straight from CDROM and does not have to be installed on your hard drive. If you want to jump right in to an installed version, Mandrake Linux ( www.mandrake-linux.com ) is amazingly easy to install in most cases and is quite popular for desktop use. If you actually buy one of their packages (for about 50$), you get some good books and extra software as well.

FreeBSD, as I said, is similar to-but-different from Linux. Unless some changes have been made recently, it's harder to setup and install than Linux (but maybe Andrew can give you some pointers...).

For the record, there are some other alternative OS's , as well: QNX, BeOS, HURD and so forth. QNX is incredible in it's own way - it's an ultra-stable system that's "real time", which means that it can guarantee the timing of events that it controls. It's used for industrial robotics applications, and is compact enough that a functional system (including a web browser) will fit on a FLOPPY DISK!

[The Tone God]

Yes you can set up a machine to boot multiple OSes but its alittle more difficult to do with an exsiting OS. You need to create another partion for the other OS to live in. You would either need to use special software to move your current data and create a new partion or else wipe the drive, partion, then rebuild your machine from scratch. Both are nasty to do. Another option is to buy a second cheap small hard drive and put the new OS on that then boot between the two drives.

Form my understanding XP is senstive to changes in hardware and setup. If you change too much it may decided to shutdown and require a new activation key. One of the "freedoms" of using M$. I have done many multi-boot machines using *BSD and GNU/Linux with earlier versions of winblows including NT 4.0. Its actually pretty easy if your doing it from scratch.

Both OSes are availible for free complete with a whole whack of software. If your serious one thing I would do is make a list of all the software you use and for what then hunt down alternates programs that are avalible under either OS. I have found suitable replacements for every piece of software I use under windoze. The only thing I use it for these days is games.

The advice of checking out Knoppix is good. I haven't tried it but I did something similar a couple of years ago where I built a CD that had a full version of FreeBSD for desktop usage with a bunch of software. No hard drive needed. Neat little thing. I also did a CD with a full server using OpenBSD. Can you say uncrackable firewall ?

In honesty if you not computer savy then any of the BSDs might be alittle hard to install. Its intended to maintain the balance between user friendlyness and system level control. Its better to go with one of the more advanced distributions of GNU/Linux. While I don't use GNU/Linux anymore I hear good things about Mandrake and Suse. Both have good installers and software collections from what I understand.

FreeBSD's site has a newbie guide, handbook, and FAQs with LOTS of information. Its a good place to check out even if your looking at GNU/Linux.

http://www.freebsd.org

I played with BeOS (neat OS, too bad about the bad decissions and MS blocking tatics that killed it) and QNX which I I downloaded the desktop version on CD. When it comes to alternate OSes I still have to say either *BSD or GNU/Linux. The maturity is there to do what you want.

Feel free to ask anymore questions. I know there are a few other people around that have experience using other OSes that I'm sure would be willing to chip in advice.

Andrew