Adobe Flash Player is perhaps one of the most downloaded applications, which helps the users to enhance the quality of animations and enables the aspect of interactivity between the web pages. A flash player makes it easy for videos to be consolidated into html pages. With the help of a adobe flash player, users are able to view Internet pages in a rather rich format, which could not be possible otherwise. The flash player comes in many versions and as the version name suggests, you have got to have the latest to enjoy the whole experience of Internet surfing.

Now, the adobe flash player is constantly being modified to make it better than ever. In order to avail of these features, it is important that the user upgrade his flash player whenever required. One problem that is usually faced by the user is that if he using both Internet Explorer and Firefox at the same time, an upgrade will be prompted twice, i.e., individually for both Internet Explorer as well as Mozilla Firefox. Keeping this aspect aside, upgrading the adobe flash player is totally hassle free and the best thing is that the latest version hardly takes any time for the download making the installation process pretty fast.

The adobe flash player 9 is the latest that is available for upgrade at this stage thereby giving the user access to fast playing animations, games, videos and other multimedia content on the web sites. Upgrade isn’t all that difficult because as soon as you visit the flash website, you will be asked to download the latest version which in this case is Adobe Flash Player 9. Moreover, the users need not worry because every version of the flash player has backward compatibility. Apart from Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox, it also supports other platforms like Opera as well as Safari.

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Have you opened up Internet Explorer only to find that your browser re-directs and sends you off where you don’t want to be visiting?

If the answer is yes, the chances are high that you’ve been attacked by the notorious about:blank homepage hijacker. It’s likely that if you’ve been affected by the virus, you’ll know it as the Cool Web Search utility that appears on the desktop and in your web browser.

Make no mistake; there are many different homepage hijackers in circulation. They are used for several reasons, most notably for hackers to send traffic to websites of their choosing. Sometimes this’ll be to steal advertising revenue, other times it may be to fool a search engine. And of course, there are those occasions where the pesky hackers will attack for the sake of attacking.

You may have heard the about:blank problem described as a symptom of the HomeOldSP hacker. There is a simple reason for this, and to find it you only have to look as far as the Windows Registry where you’ll find the following key:

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,HomeOldSP = about:blank

While you might think that it’s possible to get rid of the about:blank virus by simply deleting the registry entry, it’s not quite as simple as that. Deleting the entry will temporarily disable the virus, but the infestation is designed to undo any attempt to delete it permanently. This means that within moments, you’ll be suffering from the same about:blank problems.

The good news is that the threat isn’t severe. It won’t render your system useless, although the same can’t be said for Internet Explorer which becomes extremely difficult to use with any variation of the Cool Web Search virus in place.

The DLL file at the root of the problem can be found hidden away at the key below:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\

WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Windows\\AppInit_DLLs

Once again, it’s not worth deleting the DLL because it will simply re-spawn. To remove it effectively, we need to download a copy of HijackThis and a comprehensive registry cleaner.

A good registry cleaner will scan and remove the about:blank hijacker. But it’s well known that the virus is capable of avoiding deletion across some anti-Virus platforms. Booting in safe mode is a good way of ensuring that you get to the root of the problem when you run your removal software.

It’s also possible to go in and correct the problem manually, if a little problematic to do so. You will need to use the Windows Registry Editor to locate a key named AppInit_DLLs. In its value entry, you will find the corrupt hidden DLL file that needs to be removed. The only problem is that you won’t be able to remove it unless you go through the Windows Recovery Console and rename the file first.

Before you can delete the file, you will need to lift the read-only protection that the hacker has placed on it.

Open up command prompt, find the stray DLL, and enter the following:

ATTRIB -R *file-name-here*.dll

Once the attribute has been changed, go ahead and delete the DLL file. Reboot the system and load up Internet Explorer. You should find that the about:blank problem is fixed.

We would strongly recommend that you purchase, or download, a sufficient spyware removal tool. There are many which sit in the web browser with the sole purpose of preventing intrusions such as the about:blank homepage hijacker.

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As the world’s most popular web browser, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer is used by over 80% of users on the Internet. This puts it way out in front of every other browser, but it also means that the software is required to reach out to the newest and obscurest of technologies.

While Internet Explorer is certainly the most popular, it’s not always the most reliable browser on the market. Each browser is different, and we’re going to look at some of the problems you could face while using Microsoft’s popular interface.

The biggest issue, and the source of most criticism directed at Internet Explorer, involves the danger of infecting your system through spyware and adware. There is no absolute way of eliminating malicious content from the web, but Internet Explorer is somewhat exposed to the dangers, more so than its rivals. This is due to the way that the program is structured, making it easier for hackers to attack your system.

It’s quite common to find the browser lagging - or even not working at all, after enabling an ActiveX control which isn’t as it seems. Whenever you load an ActiveX control in Internet Explorer, you’ll be given a warning about the content. It could seem completely innocuous, but after accepting, it’s possible for a malicious user to execute a “drive-by download” and effectively spam your computer without you so much as batting an eyelid.

Yes, this is still possible using Mozilla Firefox or any other browser. The difference is that Microsoft’s product is much more discrete about letting you know that you have a problem. Sometimes it won’t even tell you at all. The only way you’ll know for sure is by running a scan of your computer, or by using good ol’ common sense when the browser freezes up or overflows in third party advertisements.

A good spyware removal utility should clear up any issues related to the third party corruption of your browser, and believe us, there can be many. If you’ve been browsing the Net for a month without sufficient anti-Virus protection, the chances are that you’re harbouring some kind of malicious content.

It’s also good practice to delete your temporary Internet files on a regular basis. Every time you visit a website, a cookie is downloaded on to your computer. As you allow these to mount up, they can clog the system and ruin what was once a fresh browsing experience. They’re also very important when it comes to maintaining privacy in the websites that you’ve accessed.

Sometimes you’ll access websites and click on links which fail to load. This isn’t usually a trait of Internet Explorer, but of a toolbar that’s attached to it. Check to ensure that you have pop-ups enabled, since some sites will use the target=”_blank” key to open a page in a new window.

Other problems such as failed applets and scripting malfunctions can often be a sign that you’re Internet Options have been adjusted. Try going to Tools then Internet Options and under the access permissions, make sure that the three scripting boxes are checked. If they’re not, JavaScript will not run in the browser. This, as you can probably imagine if you have a web background, can cause a lot of difficulties.

With the release of Microsoft Internet Explorer 7, many of the security issues have been taken care of. But that’s not to say we should neglect the likelihood of opportunist attacks on the web. Be sure to browse safely with anti-Virus protection and clean your system regularly.

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