Hello everyone,
I ran into your discussion after searching for a solution to a similar problem:
my browser settings, speciffically the search pane, get changed after every reboot to topsearcher.com. After a short interval, a new, impossible to close window pops with that site loaded. I tried using AdAware to remove the problem, namely the registry keys, similar to the ones discussed here, but the problem reoccurs after a reboot. I discovered the culprit to be a .reg file that gets loaded at startup. Here is the line:
C:/WINNT/REGEDIT.EXE -s C:/WINNT/system.reg
When I searched for topsearcher.com within files, I found it in this system.reg file. Here is what that file looks like:
REGEDIT4
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]
"SystemSearch"="C:/WINNT/REGEDIT.EXE -s C:/WINNT/system.reg"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer]
"SearchURL"="http://www.topsearcher.com/ie/"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main]
"Default_Search_URL"="http://www.topsearcher.com/ie/"
"Search Page"="http://www.topsearcher.com/ie/"
"Search Bar"="http://www.topsearcher.com/ie/"
"SearchURL"="http://www.topsearcher.com/ie/"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search]
"SearchAssistant"="http://www.topsearcher.com/ie/"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search]
"SearchAssistant"="http://www.topsearcher.com/ie/"
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main]
"Search Page"="http://www.topsearcher.com/ie/"
"Default_Search_URL"="http://www.topsearcher.com/ie/"
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar\WebBrowser]
"ITBarLayout"=hex:11,00,00,00,4c,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,30,00,00,00,1b,00,00,00,\
64,00,00,00,01,00,00,00,a0,06,00,00,e9,02,00,00,05,00,00,00,62,04,00,00,26,\
00,00,00,02,00,00,00,a1,06,00,00,f7,02,00,00,04,00,00,00,a1,00,00,00,11,03,\
00,00,03,00,00,00,a9,02,00,00,0b,03,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\
00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,01,24,d0,30,81,6a,d0,11,82,74,00,c0,4f,\
d5,ae,38,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00
I deleted the file, ran AdAware to remove the registry keys and rebooted. The problem went away. I hope this helps.
Strainul