HP System Recovery plants Webslice virus on Firefox. How to get rid of it? W7 Desktop

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philessense

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Mar 17, 2013
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Got my System Recovery Disks and install was smooth as any (I must use the HP disks or some of my USB ports don't work). However, the inimitable HP forces A WEBslice Ad to take over my Firefox! Every time I open Firefox, The below link is shown. I've done everything I can that I know to block or prevent this. Further, the link doesn't work, so I can't go to No way to do anything but annoy. No way to delete or block. No matter what I do, it is the PRIMARY page showing up.

http://www.hp.com/psgesb/trans/slices/hpd1c-en-us-smb-1.0.htm#highlights-slice
What file can I delete or uninstall on my computer? Well, they won't allow me to uninstall a 1.4 M
HP Support information program that is 1.68M

I am beyond frustrated. Why does HP do this to us?
 
Solution
ingtar33
oi... right firefox... then some of those steps (relating to internet explorer) won't work...

hang on a sec, for firefox you can try these steps

1) go to your bookmarks inside the firefox web browser, and remove all HP links
2) click on the options menu (three horizontal bars) navigate to addons then the extensions tab and remove all "HP" related extensions
3) same menu, click on the addons tab, and remove all HP addons
4) click on the options menu, then options, set your homepage to be "www.google.com" or whatever it is you use with firefox

check your desktop shortcut as well, and make sure the target looks something like this, "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe"; if there are extra stuff after that firefox.exe...
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ingtar33

ingtar33

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Dec 17, 2012
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well, i'm drawing a blank on that particular ad and i work on pcs, which means either i've never seen it (unlikely) or its something that's very easy to remove.

here is a suggestion, HP spams your pc with a bunch of junkware, go into control panel->programs and features and uninstall everything that says "HP" in front of it or has "HP" in the name. There isn't a single thing in the program file list with HP in it that you can't remove safely.

removing every last one of them will insure the webslice ad doesn't come bad after you clear it out of your browser. then reboot your pc, open internet explorer, check if the ad is still there.

-check your internet explorer SHORTCUT, make sure the target looks something like this "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe"; if there are extra stuff after the iexplorer.exe, delete it and save it

-check control panel-> internet options; make sure your homepage is your homepage without any additional stuff (www.google.com, or www.msn.com, or whatever you like to use), sellect the "programs" tab and chose the addons button, make sure there are no HP anything running in the addons, then save out of there, and open IE

if you still have an issue, close IE, navigate to c:\users\[username]\favorites\ open your "favorites" and delete all HP related shortcuts out of the favorites folder. then open internet explorer and see what happens.

if you still have an issue, you can try running adwcleaner (located at bleepingcomputers.com), that's a pretty good program for fixing IE after something has messed with it. Though i doubt you'll need to, i suspect one of the previous steps would knock this things out, as i don't really recall this particular issue with HP pcs, which probably means removal is pretty straight forward and can be accomplished by one of the previous steps.
 
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philessense

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Mar 17, 2013
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Thanks for the ideas. Already did malwarebytes. No custom install options. Web page does nothing.

No information on hp site (they want either a device or "webs lice") nothing on google. Posted on HP forum, but HP website and forum are ridiculously unusable and I never got a useful answer from them.

I have found some Hewlett Packard stuff under programs but I'm not sure what I can delete! I'm afraid of affecting the HD or the backup / restore or something I don't know about. It's craaazy.

 
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ingtar33

ingtar33

Glorious
Dec 17, 2012
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assuming that you're on a desktop (not a laptop) you can safely remove EVERY SINGLE HP program without issue. Laptops are a little different and you want to be careful about removing stuff related to your wireless as that can sometimes disable your wifi.
 
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philessense

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Mar 17, 2013
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10,510
Good info. Can I delete anything there that is HP? Is there any reason to have any HP programs on the computer.
I don't have IE on my computer. This is a problem with Firefox. I will try your ideas with fingers crossed. I'm impaired by my present fury!




 
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ingtar33

ingtar33

Glorious
Dec 17, 2012
9,017
198
45,840
oi... right firefox... then some of those steps (relating to internet explorer) won't work...

hang on a sec, for firefox you can try these steps

1) go to your bookmarks inside the firefox web browser, and remove all HP links
2) click on the options menu (three horizontal bars) navigate to addons then the extensions tab and remove all "HP" related extensions
3) same menu, click on the addons tab, and remove all HP addons
4) click on the options menu, then options, set your homepage to be "www.google.com" or whatever it is you use with firefox

check your desktop shortcut as well, and make sure the target looks something like this, "C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe"; if there are extra stuff after that firefox.exe, delete them and save.
 
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Solution
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philessense

Honorable
Mar 17, 2013
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10,510
HAH! When I got to your suggestion to check the SHORTCUT, and it said: "http://redirect.hp.com/svs/rdr?TYPE=4&s=webslice&tp=iefavbar&pf=cmdt&locale=en_us&bd=all&c=134 " I knew you had the answer!!
How theF did that get there? Was there a virus? I use malwarebytes and SAS, and nothing was out of the ordinary. This is the first DAY of this installation.

I've already deleted all HP programs permitted, including MOM and CEC (?) and might reinstall that to get the monitor looking right.

Most important, it's gone, and my fury is gone and I'm feeling better already!



 
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ingtar33

ingtar33

Glorious
Dec 17, 2012
9,017
198
45,840


well i work in IT, virus removal is sorta part of the job. And in my experience shortcut corruption is one of the few things most antivirus programs don't check (i know malwarebytes doesn't). As a result many clever virus and virus like programs tend to corrupt your shortcuts to direct you to an alternate page.

and no... that hp thing was "adware" not a true virus. by removing all the hp software you probably have prevented that from ever coming back. if you want to be doubly certain you can check msconfig for startup items and just turn off all remaining HP services and startup programs. but by uninstalling everything hp related you probably already resolved that issue.
 
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philessense

Honorable
Mar 17, 2013
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10,510
Where does it come from . . . the adware? It was there from the start, and the only links that worked were direct to HP.

Sigh. Doesn't matter. Will also put checking msconfig in my armamentarium!

Thanks so much for pointing me in the right direction and for your knowledge! Bravo!
 
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