Homepage change on IE...is this a virus?

Question

I set my homepage to yahoo.com. However, sometimes it goes to http://m.www.yahoo.com/?r425=1262415418

I can change it, but after awhile it goes back.

What's with all the numbers/characters? It still works like Yahoo, but is this a virus?

Answer 1

I too would recommend a full system scan with your anti virus software, if you're homepage is being redirected, you at least have an unwanted 3rd party software, maybe a malicious one.



Another good idea would be to make the upgrade to IE 8, which is less prone to such attacks.

Here is a link to get you started:



http://www.microsoft.com/windows/Internet-explorer/default.aspx



Good Luck,



Kyler

IE 8 Outreach Teach

Answer 2

Could be caused by various things...rootkit infection? perhaps...or yahoo autoredirecting.





I'd recommend doing a updated scan with malwarebytes.









if the problem persist:



Go to C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc\hosts and and open it using notepad. Remove all entries except the loopback 127.0.0.1. Problem solved. It should read something like this:



# Copyright (c) 1993-1999 Microsoft Corp.

#

# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.

#

# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each

# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should

# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.

# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one

# space.

#

# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual

# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.

#

# For example:

#

# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server

# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host



127.0.0.1 localhost

Answer 3

I thought that looked familiar when I saw your question. Turns out I'm getting that on my computer as well,at least something similar. When I type in www.yahoo.com I actually get www.m.yahoo.com. The one question that comes to mind is "Are you using an iPod touch that you've been on Yahoo with? Because it might be since I noticed this occurring after I first logged on and synced my iPod Touch with my computer and I was on Yahoo's mobile site on it.

Just a thought..,,

Answer 4

Dunno why you've got the extra stuff - going to m.www.yahoo.com just redirects me to http://au.yahoo.com/?p=us which is my local yahoo - the extra numbers mean that it's passing a variable to the website - but as you can see in the link they're gibberish - r425=1262415418 - means nothing to me and a quick search turned up nothing either - unless a virus has messed with your host file or something (check C:\windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts. for an entry that has m.www.yahoo.com in it using notepad) as well then i'd say you've got nothing to worry about