They're oh so fond of peppering your computer with things named "My" but my choice seems to have little to do with it. With all the security holes and ease of add-on programming in their programs, especially Internet Explorer and Outlook Express, the number of ways you can be waylaid, misdirected, and sent on a mystery tour grows daily.
The first time you open your Internet browser, on a new system; after installing an ISP's connection program; after a clean program install following a reformat; you can expect it to open with a "homepage" that is some kind of marketing page for someone. Some of these are even useful! Most ISP's have a directory portal page and many people will stick with that because of the useful links on it. However, many people like to choose which page their browser opens with. It might be your own website, it might be a links page you've created with all your favorite links, it might be just a blank page.
What ever you choose it's your choice and you don't expect it to change unless you change it. Right? So how is it that all of a sudden your browser is opening to a strange page and you did absolutely nothing?
Up to now the most likely reason is that you recently downloaded and installed a supposedly freeware program. You may or may not have noticed that it was described as "Homepageware". First of all these programs are Spyware and you can read all about that in a previous article. Secondly these programs insist on removing your right to choose your browser's start page, usually referred to as your "browser homepage".
Somewhere around, most probably well hidden on the website or in the EULA, is the information that your browser's homepage will be changed to one chosen by the program author. If you want the program to continue working, you must NOT alter that start page! It's the "price" you are expected to pay for the program. Every time you open your browser you will see their advertising, their links, and whatever else they want you to see. Plain and simple, it's an advertising/marketing ploy, you might not like it but at least you have a program to justify it!
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