Argh! My homepage still won’t change. Why?
It’s not a virus because I’ve got what is currently ranked as no.1 anti-virus and anti-spyware by PCWorld and I’ve done a full scan.
It won’t change the homepage from TalkTalk to http://staceywardle.easysearch.org.uk/ no matter what I try.
I don’t even use TalkTalk, I tried to install it but changed back because it was too difficult.
Firstly, it depends what version of Windows you’re on, and also what version of Internet Explorer you’re using before I can give you a specific answer.
However, this can happen if you access the Internet through a shortcut that could have been placed on your desktop when you installed Talk-Talk. It probably looks like the normal IE logo and nothing to do with Talk-Talk, but if the installation of Talk-Talk placed it there, it will aways connect to the default homepage as that is what it’s programmed to do.
If this is what you’re doing, get rid of any IE shortcuts from your desktop and your Quicklaunch (taskbar) and access IE directly from your Start Menu instead. Don’t worry, you can still create new desktop and Quicklaunch icons – these will be completely fresh ones that have nothing to do with Talk-Talk.
Just right-click on IE in your main Start Menu and select ‘add to quicklaunch’ or ‘send to > desktop (create shortcut)’, and you’ll have some brand new shortcuts.
When you access the internet directly through these, it may still default to the Talk-Talk homepage, but you should then be able to change your homepage to whichever one you want – I assume you know this process, and I can’t really give you instructions as it varies, depending on your IE version.
If this still doesn’t work, it sounds like you could still have some nasty things lurking from when you installed Talk-Talk. I would suggest downloading the free CCleaner and running it.
http://www.ccleaner.com/
This is a great program that removes any unused registry entries and files left behind from programs that are no longer installed in your system. Just make sure you untick any areas you don’t want cleaning out, ie. auto-complete. I never clean out my auto-complete history, as I find the feature very useful.
It could also be worth checking that you definitely did uninstall everything to do with Talk-Talk. Eg. you could have uninstalled the main program, but you could have left behind a toolbar or something like that, which could be causing your homepage to default back to Talk-Talk. Just go into your ‘Add/Remove Programs’ and run through the list to make sure.
(The 11 Forgotten Laws) Sneak+Peak (Laws Of Thinking)
