How to prevent a highjack

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I use a program called " Spysweeper". It runs in your system tray. It will automatically fix the hijacks AND scan for spyware at scheduled intervals. A small memory usage footprint that is a true time saver.

get it here,

Only $29.95

What is spyware and how did it get on your PC? Adware and spyware programs, also called malware or trackware, quietly and secretly monitor everything you do online, and can communicate your activities to a third party such as an online advertiser. It is commonly installed on your PC as a hidden addition to a legitimate program, by visiting websites, or through spam email. Unlike the instant impact of a virus, well-written spyware and adware programs never reveal their presence on your PC. Pop-up ad problems, a different homepage that you can't change, and a slower PC or online experience are indications of a spyware problem. No one is immune from spyware infection. A recent study by Earthlink and Webroot found an average of 26.5 spyware and adware traces per SpyAudit scan.     Why do you need protection from spyware? Spyware is everywhere: It infects 9 out of 10 Internet-connected computers. It can seriously disrupt your computer operations and compromise your privacy: Spyware makes your computer's performance and Internet access slow to a crawl. Serious infections can lead to a corrupt hard drive, and exposure of private information, usernames and passwords, or, at its worst, identity theft. Anti-virus and firewall fail to protect: Anti-virus software and firewalls are not capable of stopping spyware. Firewalls can't detect spyware that is embedded in legitimate programs, or protect a user from already existing internal threats. Anti-virus software is not programmed to recognize or remove spyware programs, which possess different signature files and behaviors.       How does Spy Sweeper protect you from spyware?   Powerful spyware detection: Spy Sweeper scans your entire system using a constantly updated database of thousands of known spyware threats. You can schedule regular scans or perform one manually to find and remove spyware and adware from your PC. Enhanced! Proactive protection: New real-time browser and system shields actively monitor for spyware invasions, and stop these programs before they can infect your PC. Browser shields protect against redirected web searches, unauthorized favorites list additions, and homepage hijackers. The system shields prevent spies from installing on your system, protect your startup list, and block pop ups of phony Windows Messenger Service windows. Frequent updates to threat definitions: Spy Sweeper subscribers are regularly prompted to download updated definitions to ensure up-to-date protection from new adware and spyware threats, which emerge daily. Safe spyware quarantine: If any files or traces of spyware match the threat definitions database, Spy Sweeper immediately quarantines them. Quarantining disables spyware functionality for immediate protection, while giving you the option to review and permanently delete suspect files or safely restore them if they are essential to the operation of desirable applications.

There is also a terrific program called " Pest Patrol"

It does averything that spysweeper does AND gives you anti-trojan protection, runs in the background.

pest patrol never stays cracked for long ,that means the programers are very good and do their home work

 How To Clear a Hijack

A Hijacker is any software that resets your browser's settings to point to other sites. Hijacks may reroute your info and address requests through an unseen site, capturing that info. In such hijacks, your browser may behave normally, but be slower. Search Hijackers change your search settings. Homepage Hijackers will change your home page to some other site. Error Hijackers will display a new error page when a requested URL is not found. Hijacking has become very common, as these examples illustrate. This document explains how to clear such hijacks of Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) manually and how to prevent it by disabling scripting

Search Hijacks

   your Search capability has been hijacked, your use of IE's Search Button (see below) will lead to unexpected (and usually unwanted) results. What the hijacker has done is to change four registry keys

1 . In the Root key HKEY_CURRENT_USER, the key Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main has a value "Search Page" that has likely been reset to something like "http://www.secret-crush.com/search/search.php"
2. The value "Search Bar" in this key has also likely been reset to something.
3. In the Root key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, the key Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search has a value "SearchAssistant" that has likely been reset to something
4 .The value "CustomizeSearch" in this key has also likely been reset to something.
Fixing this is simple. From IE's top menu bar, select the Tools menu. On this menu, choose "Internet Options". It will display a popup dialog box. Click on the Programs tab, to see a display like that on the right.

Find the button near the bottom labeled "Reset Web Settings". Give it a click, and these four registry settings will be corrected.

Preventing this is simple, too. Follow the instructions in Disabling Scripting below.


 

HomePage Hijacks
If your Home page changes unexpectedly, you have a "HomePage hijack", and will see this page each time you invoke your browser. What the hijacker has done is to change the registry key:

In the Root key HKEY_CURRENT_USER, the key Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main has a value "Start Page" that has likely been reset to something.
In the Root key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, the key Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main has a value "Start Page" that has likely been reset to something like http://yourbookmarks.ws/
Fixing this seems simple, but some pests make repair a bit more difficult. For instance, CWS.Bootconf sets the first of these entries to http://%77%77%77%2e%63%6f%6f%6c%77%77%77%73%65%61%72%63 %68%2e%63%6f%6d/%7a/%61/%78%31%2e%63%67%69?%36%35%36%33%38%37 This is "encrypted"; its decryption works out to http://www.searchv.com/





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Disabling Scripting
IE supports "scripting", a useful but dangerous capability that you will want to disable if you ever visit unknown sites. The scripts that can be run will be Javascript or VBScript, often embedded in a web page you visit. Such scripts can execute ActiveX controls, which can do anything in your machine that any software can do.

To be stop scripting the easy way, do this: From IE's top menu bar, select the Tools menu. On this menu, choose "Internet Options". It will display a popup dialog box. Click on the Security tab, to see a display like that to the right.

Each zone has four security levels available, ranging from Low Security to High. IE is configured for Low Security when it is first installed. Medium or High is what you need.

High (most secure) Exclude content that could damage your computer.
Medium (more secure) Warn before running potentially damaging content.
Medium-Low (Same as Medium) No warning before running potentially damaging content.
Low Minimal safeguard and warning before running potentially damaging content.
For the Internet Setting, move the slider to "Medium" This will ensure that you are prompted before signed ActiveX controls are run, and unsigned ActiveX controls will not run.

But it will still allow active scripting. So click on the "Custom Level" button, and follow these instructions:

Configure IE so that it does not run Active scripts automatically:
On the Tools menu, click Internet Options, click the Security tab, click the Internet Web content zone, and then click Custom Level.
In the Settings box, scroll down to the Scripting section, and click Disable under Active scripting and Scripting of Java applets.
Click OK, and then click OK again.
Configure IE so that it does not automatically use items that show active content, such as vertical marquees or animations:
On the Tools menu, click Internet Options, click the Security tab, click the Internet Web content zone, and then click Custom Level.
In the Settings box, click Disable under Download signed ActiveX controls, Download unsigned ActiveX controls, Initialize and script ActiveX controls not marked as safe, Run ActiveX controls and plugins, and Script ActiveX controls marked safe for scripting.
Click OK, and then click OK again.
Verify that IE's internal Java Just-In-Time (JIT) compiler is disabled:

On the Tools menu, click Internet Options, click the Advanced tab, and then click to clear the JIT compiler for virtual machine enabled (requires restart) check box under Java VM.
Click OK.
Configure IE so that it does not run Java programs automatically.
On the Tools menu, click Internet Options, click the Security tab, click the Internet Web content zone, and then click Custom Level.
In the Settings box, click Disable Java under Java Permissions, click OK and then click OK again.
If you have an earlier version of IE, please see How to Disable Active Content in Internet Explorer, from which this section is adapted.


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Edit Your Hosts File
All Windows computers are designed to use a HOSTS file that is loaded, by default, into your computers procedures for finding other computers. This file can guide the lookup of a Domain Name Server. The file can contain entries that hijack your connections so that when you try to visit one web site, you actually visit another.

Editing the hosts file can be done with Notepad. First find it using Search. Now edit it by opening it in Notepad. Find any lines which redirect to some IP address you do not want to visit. Such entries may be removed, or they may be turned to comments by inserting a "#" as the first character of their line.


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