I can't change my IE homepage

Can't change from Dell/Google page

[ineedmoney]

As I'm sure many people know, Dell and Google struck up a Deal to have a Dell/Google homepage preloaded on all Dell computers in IE.

Well, whatever your opinion is on this, I'm having problems with it. I recently bought a new Dell laptop and this homepage cannot be changed right out of the box(I tried on the first boot up)

I go into tool/internet options and I have the choice to change it, but after I do so and hit apply, when I reload IE the same stupid Dell/Google homepage loads up? So basically Google has paid Dell to hijack their customers Browsers?

Anyhow, I thought to re-format my hardrive and re-install windows, but I feel that this will be a waste of time because it will just load back up the factory settings, I know I could just use a clean Microsoft xp install instead of what came from dell, but then I will loose media center which is the primary reason I bought this for.

Also, this seems to be blocking me from upgrading to IE7 beta, (which I really like by the way)

Has anyone else had this problem with their dells and IE6? Have any ideas on what else I should try? Would rather not use mozilla, opera, etc.. Thanks

[Compworld]

Nope. On my Dell laptop, I just changed it to a blank page and clicked on apply. After that it was fine. Did you click apply? Also, uninstall the Google toolbar, that could be a reason as well.

[ineedmoney]

Thanks, I tried that with no luck previously, but thank you for trying

[ineedmoney]

I have looked into this a bit more. I had a feeling it was a registry problem. So I reviewed the log from the attemped IE7 install and sure enough access to registry updates is being blocked on some level. Before some one gives me crap for blaming this on dell and google, I just want to say again that this condition has been present since the first bootup of my system, the day it was delivered. intentional or not, this was "built" into my system. Your experiences may vary. I took delivery of this system aug 2, so maybe this is their new deal. Maybe this is a fluke. I don't really care, i just want to fix it. Thanks. Anyone have any other ideas on how to change my homepage in IE6? Yes I am logged in as administrator

[ineedmoney]

This is the code I found in the log file referenced in my last post.

140.562: DoInstallation: Installing assemblies with source root path: c:\dd41dd7fdb52abf21a00dbcf6324\
140.562: Num Ticks for Copying files : 33344
144.468: DoRegistryUpdates:UpdSpInstallFromInfSection Failed for ProductInstall.GlobalRegistryChanges.Install error: 0x5
144.468: INF_REGISTRY Failed
144.468: DoInstallation:DoRegistryUpdates failed
144.578: Access is denied.
144.578: Internet Explorer 7 installation did not complete.

Select 'OK' to undo the changes that have been made.
144.593: Starting process: C:\WINDOWS\ie7beta3\spuninst\spuninst.exe /~ -q -z
191.875: Software Update Rollback has completed with return code 0xbc2. This rollback requires a reboot.
191.875: Internet Explorer 7 installation did not complete.

Internet Explorer 7 Beta 3 has been partially updated and may not work properly.
191.875: Update.exe extended error code = 0x5

I don't really even care about the homepage issue (really just mildly annoying) but it would be great to be able to install IE7 beta3. Can anyone make sense of this for me?

[confuzed2]

Boot into safe mode, then install IE7.

HTH,
CK

[ineedmoney]

good idea, I'm gonna give that a shot

[Fotiman]

How about the obvious answer... call Dell and tell them of the problem you're having. That's probably going to be the quickest route. Also, if you have Spybot installed, there is a "feature" to lock the IE Home page. Check to make sure that's not enabled.

[BetterSEO]

Recently setup a new Dell desktop for a family member and when I booted it up, I was surprised with all the junk on it. Like you, I really didn't want to go to all the trouble of formatting the HDD. I wish Dell had given an option during the order process to get a "clean" install instead of all that other stuff.

I was able to change the homepage and install other software with no problems though...

[edited by: BetterSEO at 2:23 pm (utc) on Aug. 14, 2006]

[ineedmoney]

Fotiman, have you ever called Dell? That will be the absolute last resort. I will wait on hold for 30 minutes, then I will get some random person who will ask me if my computer is plugged in, then when I tell them again that it is a problem with IE they will tell me to call microsoft, who then will tell me to call Dell. when I call Dell back, they will tell me it is a software issue and my warrenty doesn't cover it, then they will ask me to pay a ridiculus fee to fix a problem they created.

Anyhow, booting in safe mode, then installing IE7 worked, but I still have the Dell/Google homepage issue. No Spybot installed.

Oh well, all i really wanted, was to be able to install IE7 so I guess I will just deal with the homepage issue until I figure it out. Thanks everyone for your help and stories.

[vincevincevince]

Just checking... are you logged in as Administrator? If you are not using an Administrator account for security, grant your account Administrator status just to change the Homepage, then change it back.

And yes, all Dell machines now need immediate formatting before use. You'd be a fool not to do so. Such a shame they have decided to go down that route, I wonder how many customers it has lost them. Reformatting one machine is a pain, but if you are regularly provisioning machines in a commerical or academic setting it's a lot more than a pain.

[ineedmoney]

vince X 3

I wish it was that simple... although nothing so far has worked for me, I think everyone else who may have a similar problem will be covered by the great suggestions so far. Thanks everyone!

Yes, Dell LOADS their new computers with "crap" this is basically my last step in un-crapifying it. Although all that crap probaly helped with the great price I got it for. Oh well...

[Fotiman]

Try this. Go to Internet Options and change the home page. Hit OK. Then:

Start > Run...

Type regedt32 and hit enter. This starts the Registry editor.

Go to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main

In the right pane you should see a value for Start Page. Does it match the value you just entered? You can change that value here.

I'm curious also, after changing and hitting apply, if you click on the Home button, does it bring you to your new page, or continue to load the old one?

[ineedmoney]

"Cannot edit start page. Error writing the values new contents"

That is the messege recieved when attempting to change the start page in regedt32. It does not show what I changed it to via the browser either, rather it shows the same D/G URL

Fotiman, it continues to load the D/G, and not what I changed it to after hitting apply and then home. Frustrating huh?

[Fotiman]

I just did a search on this. It does not appear to be a Dell specify problem. That is, others have run into this as well. The fact that you can't manually change the registry leads me to wonder if perhaps you don't have administrator rights. Try going to Control Panel. Switch to Classic View, then double click User Accounts. Double click on the user you are logged in as. The "Other" radio button should be checked with Administrators selected in the drop down. Let me know if that's the case.

[jessejump]

I did a search also. There's many pages that deal with this matter.
Do you search on the web at all for answers?
MS even has a page about this.

[girl_friday]

I feel your frustration!
I can't change my homepage at work, either.
Home is fine.
When I got mad at Netscape for changing their homepage, I exhausted all possibilities to get to Yahoo, and it finally worked.
What worked then doesn't work now.
Now I want another one, and it's hopeless. ;)
Yes, I'm admin, No, reged32 doesn't work, tools doesn't work, yes, I've done a ton of searches...and tried many suggestions.
I'm too chicken to attempt MS suggestions.
Guess I'm going to live with it.

[ineedmoney]

thanks for all the help folks, yes, to be redundant, I am administrator with administrator privilleges

Yes, I have have searched the web for answers, including Microsoft

No, this is not spyware/adware related.

This problem has been around since the first boot, out of the package, on a new machine. Actually the first Thing I tried to do was change the homepage to my website.

Some background on me-
I actually consider myself somewhat accomplished and knowledgable of windows based OS as well as computers in general. I am quite frustrated and amazed (as well as I am sure you are) that I and others have not been able to solve what usually is such an easy problem to fix (not a knock on the help I have received, I am very grateful to this forum).

So please realize, I am not being reactionary here.

I have tried everything I can think of, short of formatting the hardrive, buying a clean version of XP Media center and going from there(which would be ridiculous for such a mildly annoying problem)

I don't want to get into an argument about weather or not Dell has done this or Dell has done that. I realize others have had this problem without a Dell machine, but they can be put usually within these 2 categories

1.Not administrator
2.Spyware/Adware Related

I also realize that people have bought Dell machines and have not had this problem. Good for you.

This is not my case.

I'm just looking for the answer. If you have an idea that has not been suggested please let me know. If I figure it out, I will let you know.

Thanks everyone, Like I said in an earlier post, I'm sure 99% of the people with this problem will find their answer in this topic. Thanks for all the effort, this really is a great community.

[Fotiman]

Here's a link to a Microsoft page. There are a couple more suggestions that were not mentioned here, involving different registry entries. You might take a look and give it a try:

[support.microsoft.com...]

Good luck.

[JAB Creations]

Your issue most likely is with the Windows registry. IE is implemented as part of Windows (in order to have put Netscape out of business) and so are many of it's registry values. I have two techniques you can try...

Technique #1
Step 1
Right+Click on obnoxious URL and COPY it

Step 2
Click Start --> Click Run --> Type "regedit" --> Press Enter

Step 3
Do a search for the URL inside the registry. If you find it overwrite it with the homepage URL you desire.

Technique #2

Step 1
Install Firefox. :)

- John

[edited by: JAB_Creations at 7:41 pm (utc) on Aug. 22, 2006]

[simonuk]

I rarely buy named brands but I really wanted the power of the Dell XPS laptop so I bought one.

First thing I did was make sure it had a driver CD.
Second thing I did was format and install windows before it even booted up.

Seeing the amount of gunk my friends have on named brands I'm so glad I went that route :)

[Fotiman]

Technique #2

Step 1
Install Firefox. :)

Hehehe... probably the best advice given in this thread! :-)

[ineedmoney]

JAB,
yea firefox is good for some, but I find it loads too slow. I also have some personal opinions about them that keep me from using there programs, Opera i feel would be a better suggestion since it is now free, but I would still like my IE to do what I tell it too. Thank you for your help, these long post get boring to read all the way through, but as posted above, and suggested by Fotiman, I have already tried your first suggestion with no positive results. But thank you none the less.

Once again thank you all for your help...I feel this thread is getting a bit long winded with no solution in sight so I'm gonna end it here before we all get too frustrated. thanks again