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What Is Emergency Browser Reset?
Some Scoundrels do bad things to change your web browser. They can reset your home page to their website, and turn off the ability for you to change it. Some programs (or Internet Service Providers) will change Internet Explorer to show their own logos or title. Emergency Browser Reset can fix these and other things. It sets a number of Internet Explorer settings back to the default values, or to known good values. Resetting things that aren't wrong won't cause problems--you just might need to fix your homepage if you reset that one. Reset Web Pages: does your home page, and all the search page options. Reset Restrictions: makes sure the Internet Options is available in the Tools menu and from the Windows Control Panel, makes sure that you are allowed to change your home page, and that you are allowed to use the Windows Update item in the Tools menu. Reset Branding: resets so Internet Explorer uses the normal animated icon in the right of the toolbar, and that it uses the normal "- Microsoft Internet Explorer" in the window titles.
Reset Proxy: A proxy server is a pretty common way to connect to the Internet, expecially in
a business office, so be aware before resetting this one. All the computers in the company connect to one server
that the company controls...then that one server accesses the Internet to
get what you requested. There are advantages for a business to do this.
Reset Other Settings: resets some internal things for Internet Explorer. It turns off any custom stylesheets (which is normally used for things like visually impaired people to set so every page shows bigger text or high contrast for easier reading. But a malicious program can use this special style sheet to change other settings in Internet Explorer every time it starts.) And it makes sure that no odd "prefix" settings are used. If an address you type starts with "www." these prefix settings let Internet Explorer know to add "http://". But it can be changed to somthing like "http://evil.net/" so everything is redirected through some other servers! Reset "HOSTS" File: Your HOSTS file is used to map between Internet addresses that are easy for you to read (like www.geeksuperhero.com) and the real numbers that are used by computers to connect (123.123.123.123). Scoundrels can add bad entries to your HOSTS file to make addresses you type go to the wrong spot--so that www.microsoft.com always goes to them for example. This will reset your HOSTS file back to the default one that is installed by Windows. |