Unable to change my homepage

[andydingdang]

I have just rebuilt my XP machine. I am running service pack 1 and have in install Zone Labs security firewall. I am unable to change the my home page in IE, always stuck on MSN hopepage.....any ideas, is really annoying me!!!

[hydrogoose]

i assume youve tried Tools>Internet options ?

[Buenchico]

Try starting IE when you're not online. (IE won't be able to load the MSN homepage, so you should just get a 'page not available' message).

From there, try changing your homepage to 'blank'. Close IE, reboot your computer and connect to the internet. Then start IE. With a bit of luck, it will now open as 'blank' and permit you to change to whatever you want by going to your chosen page and selecting 'Use current' as your new homepage.

I've no idea why that should work but I've managed to fix similar problems on friends' PCs by doing it!

Far better, though, would be to get a decent browser. Based on previous posts, I'd estimate that well over 80% of the regular contributors to AB's I&T section use Firefox:
http://www.mozilla.com/

Chris