Windows Update: IE6 hijacked

wthrman · 23rd August 2005

I manually updated Windows with one of the non-critical updates and now when I start IE 6 the Microsoft update page appears, even though I have set the Explorer options to 'about: blank'. This happens even after re-booting.

Is there any way to turn this off so I get my blank page back again? I don't want to have the update screen appearing every time I use IE6.

Thanks

**PeteC** · 23rd August 2005

Quote:

I manually updated Windows with one of the non-critical updates

Which one?

Have you tried Tools > Internet Options > Home Page > Use blank?

wthrman · 23rd August 2005

Quote:

Originally Posted by wthrman

I manually updated Windows with one of the non-critical updates and now when I start IE 6 the Microsoft update page appears, even though I have set the Explorer options to 'about: blank'. This happens even after re-booting.
Thanks

Yes, as above. The update was a sound driver, as it happened, the wrong one, even though it had a similar name.

**PeteC** · 23rd August 2005

It would be helpful to know which update caused your problem - as I posted above.

**PeteC** · 23rd August 2005

Two options .....

In Device Manager try a Rollback of the driver for your sound device, or...

System Restore to a point prior to installing the driver.

wthrman · 23rd August 2005

It was this one:
C Media Electronics Incorporation - Sound - C-Media AC97 Audio Device
C-Media multimedia software update released on May 20 2005.

And sorry, I forgot I'd also downloaded this:
Update for Windows XP (KB900930), which addresses certain security issues.

I uninstalled the audio device, so presumably that leaves me with the other as the culprit? It says I can uninstall it, but I don't want to do that if there's another way around the problem (assuming that's the cause).

Thanks

**PeteC** · 23rd August 2005

KB900930 relates to Outlook Express, which figures as that is part of IE, but is hardly a critical update and does not appear to be security related.

I would still try the System Restore option.

wthrman · 24th August 2005

Thanks for that but I haven't enabled System Restore (as I don't like it).

I found 2 other alternative solutions:

1. Use a filtering program (in my case it was AdAware SE Plus) to block the offending Microsoft page

2. More simply, go into IE6 Properties (right-click its icon), then, in the Target box, after the filename, type a space then 'about:blank'. This boots it to a blank screen, and gets around the issue of this Microsoft update effectively disabling that setting when it is selected in IE Internet Options.

Doing either of the above has no effect on getting Windows Updates. It seems that the issue is specific to this particular update. The filtering program will prompt you to accept or block unless it's set to Automatic. I imagine other programs would behave similarly. Going directly to the update site, however, doesn't pose that problem as no attempt is being made to write to the Registry, as the update was doing.

Hope people find this helpful.

**PeteC** · 24th August 2005

Thanks for posting your solution/workaround to this. It will be interesting to see if anyone else has this problem or whether it is specific to your system.