[WEB4LIB] Home Page Hijacking

[Andrew Mutch]

Linda,

The absence of registry entries in XP doesn't preclude you from adding them
in. However, I've found that registry hack outlined at Winguides to be less
that effective in stopping these home page changes. Apparently, it merely
blocks "physical" access to the home page setting. In fact, it effectively
blocks you out while still leaving the value open to be changed. Instead,
you'll want to go the permissions route as outlined in the Web4Lib archives
by Bob Sullivan here:

http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Web4Lib/archive/0203/0328.html

That should do the trick without having to resort to third-party software.

Andrew Mutch
Library Systems Technician
Waterford Township Public Library
Waterford, MI


Linda Schwartz wrote:

> Can anyone tell me how to prevent our home page from being changed by
> hijacking websites?  We are running IE 6.0 and WinXP Pro.  We are having
> more and more trouble with patrons visiting other sites and having our
> home page hijacked into bonzai.com, bolt.com etc. etc. I believe this is
> occurring without conscious patron activity, that is, it is simply
> surfing to the site that is causing the problem, not users deliberately
> attempting to change the home page --- Fortres locks them out from doing
> this manually. Every day I have to check all PACs and reset all of the
> ones that have been changed the preceeding day. Since we have icons for
> our home page, our news page and our pac on the desktop that's 3 checks
> per computer. TIME CONSUMING!
>
>
>
> So far, I've gotten suggestions to buy a different security program,
> install Centurion Guards or simply restrict every website that
> hijacks.We are planning on install Centurions but are not ready for that
> step yet.
>
>
>
> I found some info in the WEb4Lib archives and at
> www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/537 that tells how to edit the
> registry to prevent home page changes, but I do not find the
> corresponding files in the registry in WinXP so these instructions will
> probably not work.
>
>
>
> Linda Matula Schwartz
>
> Systems Librarian
>
> Whitehall Township Public Library
>
> 3700 Mechanicsville Road
>
> Whitehall, PA 18052
>
>
>
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