How to get rid of hao123 startpage in Firefox

I have installed an app and that app has set my Firefox start page at hao123.com. I searched my programs I found that baidu toolbar was installed to the Firefox without my permission

I have uninstalled the baidu toolbar and I still have the same problem. I searched all over the Internet I found many solutions and all didn't work. Solutions I did include the following:

Removing any suspicious addons
Uninstall recently installed apps
Searching the registry for hao123.com entries ( I found an entry called start page and it was set to hao123.com I edited it to make it to Google.com) and it didn't work
I erased my pc for hao123 I found an empty folder located in C:\Users\Abdul\AppData\Roaming

Really I got tired of trying to get rid of that thing. I hope someone could find a solution for this

Abdalla Mohamed Aly Ibrahim

Posted 2012-10-01T15:42:42.823

Reputation: 341

2Have you tried changing the start page within Firefox? Alt key brings up menu. Tools->Options and you can set the home page on the menu that pops up. – Ryan – 2012-10-01T15:47:59.620

1i did that and it didn't work – Abdalla Mohamed Aly Ibrahim – 2012-10-01T16:22:30.590

You can try running it with new profile it will not have this problem, ofcourse simple re-install is always an option, http://superuser.com/a/479960/153937

– Ankit – 2012-10-01T17:27:00.993

Try Restore to Default in Options window. – Ankit – 2012-10-01T17:58:28.443

i found a solution and it works fine until now i made Firefox Run As Administrator By Default and now it starts up at my home page – Abdalla Mohamed Aly Ibrahim – 2012-10-01T22:12:21.563

That's a bit of a scary solution. I wouldn't be running an application with administrator privileges if I suspected that it was infected with malware. – kad81 – 2013-01-25T00:10:17.503

that's the only working solution i found to solve this problem – Abdalla Mohamed Aly Ibrahim – 2013-01-26T00:35:19.987

Answers

The simplest and most foolproof way of dealing with this that I've found is to uninstall any software related to the page, and then reset firefox. This will wipe out all your plugins, but retain other personal settings. I'd suggest backing up what's important, with mozbackup if you are not absolutely sure this is safe but this has worked every time this has happened without losing user data. I personally use this in conjunction with my favourite anti malware tool (malwarebytes, but its rarely malware), and its routinely worked for me.

enter image description here

enter link description here

Journeyman Geek

Posted 2012-10-01T15:42:42.823

Reputation: 119 122

In the latest version (or maybe because we are using different OS'es, I don't know), things are very different. If you, like me, have trouble finding the button, go to: You want to google where to find the button because the current website listing the feature does not have a good permanent link.

– Domi – 2014-07-29T19:00:51.117

This worked for me, just like re-installing Firefox works. But after opening it a second time, the browser opening page is reset to hao123 again. – Domi – 2014-07-29T20:59:40.987

1That would indicate that the main issue - malware is still there. – Journeyman Geek – 2014-07-30T03:43:32.987

Indeed it does. I could not find a fix yet and I am guessing that they must be exploiting a Firefox bug because I tried everything I could find online. However, I came up with a work-around that will at least stop loading that site (which I condemn a security risk): I am using Windows 7, and what I did was, I added hao123.com and www.hao123.com to my hosts file with a Google IP (which you can get using nslookup).

– Domi – 2014-07-30T06:05:43.833

Try checking if hao123 URL was added as a parameter on the shortcut that lauches your browser.

On right-click on the browser shortcut, choose "proprieties", look for the destination field on the

villares

Posted 2012-10-01T15:42:42.823

Reputation: 415

I checked. that's not it. – Domi – 2014-07-29T18:58:06.817

I have used a program called AdwCleaner (although not for Hao123)

AdwCleaner is a program that searches for and deletes Adware, Toolbars, Potentially Unwanted Programs (PUP), and browser Hijackers from your computer. By using AdwCleaner you can easily remove many of these types of programs for a better user experience on your computer and while browsing the web.

The types of programs that AdwCleaner targets are typically bundled with free programs that you download from the web. In many cases when you download and install a program, the install will state that these programs will be installed along with the program you downloaded. Unless you perform a Custom install, these unwanted programs will automatically be installed on your computer leaving you with extra browser toolbars, adware, and other unwanted programs. AdwCleaner is designed to search for and remove these types of programs.

Download & instructions from here:

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/adwcleaner/

Simon

Posted 2012-10-01T15:42:42.823

Reputation: 4 193

Did not help. It found all kinds of crapware, including seemingly related spam addons by BaiDu and something called "sweet-page" or similar, but hao123 is still there. – Domi – 2014-07-29T18:58:42.740