Question

[Mel]

Hi !  When I try to access www.msn.com on the address bar, I keep getting "My Handy Search" page. I deleted internet temporary & cookies files, but this page still comes up. Any suggestions?  Thanks, Mel

[Despised]

Try typing, http://www.msn.com and it should work fine

or alternatively type "msn" (without the quotes) and press ctrl + return

[Mel]

Hi Despised,

Thank you for your suggestions. I still keep getting MyHandySearch.com.

I ran my Norton virus scan and it showed no virus found. I also uninstalled & reinstalled my Internet Explorer.  Best wishes, Mel

[Crispy]

Hey... I also have the next page appearing at very many times http://www.myhandysearch.com/. It automatically becomes my startpage and is added to my favourites every time i restart my pc. It is very annoying. Somebody knows what it is or how to remove it? I can't see any supisious in my 'installed software section' or in the 'startup' of windows. Please help... thnx

[Cripsy]

I tried ad-aware, but this also didn't work. Every time I restart my pc I have a changed startpage in IE......  http://images.thetechguide.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/sad.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\'\' />   http://images.thetechguide.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/mad.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\':angry:\' />

[Bob]

Every time I tried to go to msn.com I was redirected to My Handy Search.
   I listened to the "tekkies", did what I understood, threw out the hard stuff & faked it. My computer works fine now.
   This is what I did. (I'm running windows ME). Right click START, left click SEARCH. Search for files called hosts located in your hard drives (C&D?). You will get 2 or 3 hits. But only one will have a recent  inception date. The others will have inception dates before you bought your computer.
   Just delete the newer one to your Recycle Bin & restart your computer.
   Hey, it worked for me. Besides, whatever you deleted will just be in your Recycle Bin. Just leave it there for a couple days until you're sure everything works. Best of luck.
                         Bob

[Guest_alex]

[quote name=\'Mel\' date=\'Nov 30 2003, 11:28 AM\']Hi !  When I try to access www.msn.com on the address bar, I keep getting "My Handy Search" page. I deleted internet temporary & cookies files, but this page still comes up. Any suggestions?  Thanks, Mel[/quote]
HEY MEL. I ALSO HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM. I HAVE TRIED SPYCOP,AD-AWARE 6.0
SPYBOT ETC.  AND NOTHING. HOWEVER,DOING SEARCH I FOUND AN EMAIL OS SOMEBODY WHOM I THINK THEY ARE THE WEBMASTER:
THIS IS WHAT THEY SENT ME,AFTER SENDING NASTY F... LETTERS. I HAD COMPLAINT TO VERIZIN DSL,MSN AND AOL AS WELL. I TOLD THIS "MY HANDY SERACH" TO HELP ME OUT IN GETTING RID OFF THEIR  TRASH. I GAVE THEM A CHANCE. BUT TODAY,NOTHING.

THIS IS WHAT I WAS EMAILED BACK AFTER I EMAIL THEM,WHICH IS WAY BELOW:

Hello tueresmireligion,

Hello!
I'm very sorry for this, it's just one of my partners site
(myhandysearch).

All you have to do is CLEAN 'hosts' file:
C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc  ==>file 'hosts' (with no extension)
This file need to open by any text editor like 'notepad' and clean all
it's content.
Than needed to reboot the computer and all should work fine.
Sorry again.


Friday, January 16, 2004, 11:59:35 PM, you wrote:

tmc> to whom it may concern;
tmc>   I have tried to contact with someone to help me out in getting this "myhandysearch.com"out of my system since I first got my Verizon DSL and MSN.  The problem is,once again, When I am at
tmc> MSN,and click "MSN SEARCH"    THE FREAKING "MYHANDY SEARCH COMES UP". I have called VERIZON DSL and MSN. They explained it must be MSN SEARCH not "MY HANDY SEARCH" I WAS TOLD THE WAS An IMPROPER
tmc> DOWNLOAD INTO MY SYSTEM(spyware)  . MSN,VERIZON DOES NOT HAVE "MY HANDY SEARCH". I was told to get a spyware,ad-ware etc. and try to eliminate it. I don't think it is fair I have to go through
tmc> this BULL [censored] to get rid off something I NEVER ASKED FOR,and that does not come with my MSN. This is my 3rd email. My first 2 emails I was asking politely to help me out in order to get this
tmc> [censored] "MY HANDY SEARCH.COM" out of my system,or have them ass holes !!!! to email me and tell me how to take that [censored] out of my dell.  if not respond,ONCE AGAIN, I WILL GO ON WITH verizon dsl
tmc> and MSN AND MAKE IT AN OFFCIAL COMPLAINT.
tmc>       I found the below information from a good source. please stop harassing and forcing consumers to get into a web address. That is not the way to do business,or better yet to bring people's
tmc> attention. I am a business owner. And If I don't hear from you,specially "MY HANDY [censored] SEARCH",you will hear from other associates of mine.

tmc> thank you. Hope you understand.



Hello tueresmireligion,

All removal infomation You can find on the bottom of myhandysearch.com
now.


--
Best regards,
 KtoNado                            mailto:[email protected] THIS IS "MY HANDY SEARCH " EMAIL. GHIVE IT TO EVERYONE IN TH E NET !!!!

[dave]

Help me!  I've have done all of the following suggestions.  I've also been using HijackThis to remove entries recommended by another site.  All this does is fix the problem temporarily.  I can access MSN and all, but as soon as I reboot, my home page is changed to "My Handy Search", three porn shortcuts are added to my internet Favorites folder, and I can no longer access MSN.  So do I just have to delete that hosts filed each time I reboot, or is there a way to PERMANENTLY get rid of this problem?  Thanks in advance!

[Bert]

All,

Look in the C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup for a program called winlogon.exe

This file is a trojan horse of sorts.  There is an actual winlogon.exe application, but it is located in C:\Windows or C:\WINNT  system32 subdirectory.  It is never located in the startup folder for all users.

Once I moved this application from the startup folder (to the desktop folder) and rebooted, my registery was no longer hacked with all of the myhandysearch crap.  Notice I said move.  You cannot delete this file until after it is moved because you'll get an error stating that the file is in use.

This should work for everyone.

/Bert

[The One]

You need to go into IE and go to Internet options. I am assuming you are using IE 6. go to Tools | Internet options  When the internet options window comes up go to the advanced button and then scroll down to the bottom to security.  Right above the security options there will be some options that say " When Searching "  Click on the radio button that says " Do not search from the address bar"  If you have scanned your computer for Trojans viruses etc deleting everything out of the host file is not always recommened depending on who your ISP is.  When you enter in a web page IE auto searches from the address bar if this option is selected and then goes to cookies/cache.  if it cannot find what page you are looking for it goes to a search page that is part of an ISP's " Partner sites " this is not always the same for a ISP they could have several.   Hope this helps

The One  http://images.thetechguide.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/ph34r.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\':ph34r:\' />

[Guest]

Hey guys, I had to system restore my computer because of this spyware crap.....when I looked at the source files of myhandysearch.com....it had http://shinobiresources.com on the bottom with a spybot.exe for download.

Let these guys know about it and they will trace whoever is responsible from there url referrers guide. Or who knows maybe they are doing it themselves!

 http://images.thetechguide.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/mad.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\':angry:\' />

[Shinobi Resources]

[quote name=\'Guest\' date=\'Feb 27 2004, 02:57 AM\']Hey guys, I had to system restore my computer because of this spyware crap.....when I looked at the source files of myhandysearch.com....it had http://shinobiresources.com on the bottom with a spybot.exe for download.

Let these guys know about it and they will trace whoever is responsible from there url referrers guide. Or who knows maybe they are doing it themselves!

 http://images.thetechguide.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/mad.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\':angry:\' />[/quote]
 Just to be clear - we provide many useful tools for free download to keep your PC running efficiently, including the award-winning "Spybot Search & Destroy".
http://shinobiresources.com/downloads

We also provide many other computer/website related products and services http://images.thetechguide.com/forum/public/style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cool.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\'B)\' />
We do NOT approve of spyware, spam or other "malware" of any kind, and have been members for some time of many groups responsible for trying to stop these problems (CAUCE, Alliance For Internet Security, Symantec Solutions Alliance Program...).

Surf safely,
Shinobi Resources
Hamilton, ON [Canada]

[AP]

[quote name=\'Bob\' date=\'Jan 27 2004, 04:41 PM\']Every time I tried to go to msn.com I was redirected to My Handy Search.
   I listened to the "tekkies", did what I understood, threw out the hard stuff & faked it. My computer works fine now.
   This is what I did. (I'm running windows ME). Right click START, left click SEARCH. Search for files called hosts located in your hard drives (C&D?). You will get 2 or 3 hits. But only one will have a recent  inception date. The others will have inception dates before you bought your computer.
   Just delete the newer one to your Recycle Bin & restart your computer.
   Hey, it worked for me. Besides, whatever you deleted will just be in your Recycle Bin. Just leave it there for a couple days until you're sure everything works. Best of luck.
                         Bob[/quote]
 That is correct.  I was also getting the "my handy search" web page which would get redirected by visiting www.msn.com.

To resolve just as Bob stated, search for a file called "hosts".  It will be in the c:/WINNT/system32.  DELETE THIS FILE....

[matevich]

Removing the winlogon.exe from the startup is working great ...thanks for the tip. This thing has bugged me for 2 months ....