How to get rid of unwanted homepage

Question

Level 1

13 points

How to get rid of unwanted homepage

I have installed Safari 4 on my MacBook and something very annoying is happening that I hope someone can tell me how to fix.

About a year ago, I was in France and was helping a friend set up an internet account with some outfit called Darty. At one time I installed some stuff from them on my computer. Somehow, some computer whiz has figured out how to permanently leave an internet link on my computer that I can't get rid of.

Whenever I open Safari, I am directed to http://www.dartybox.com/redbox-frontoffice-web/accueil.html as my homepage. I go to preferences and change the homepage. The next time I open Safari, there I am again directed to the dartybox site as my homepage. No matter how many times I change the homepage in Safari, this keeps happening.

I have tried everything I can think of to fix this:
Delete Safari, download the latest version and reinstall. Nothing.
Use a search program to find the link on my computer. No results.

Can anyone tell me how to get this really annoying site OFF my computer.

Thanks for any help.

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.4.10)

Posted on Jul 4, 2009 5:12 AM

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Answer 1

Jul 4, 2009 6:12 AM in response to afteryouwho

Hi afteryouwho;

Have you tried creating a new user to see if it is there also?

Allan

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Answer 2

afteryouwho Author

Level 1

13 points

Jul 4, 2009 8:08 AM in response to Allan Eckert

Hi Allan.

Thanks for the reply.

I am not too computer-savvy (older guy).

Could you elaborate a little? A new user where? On my computer or for Safari?

Thanks.

Richard

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Answer 3

afteryouwho Author

Level 1

13 points

Jul 4, 2009 8:39 AM in response to Allan Eckert

Hey Allan.

It's me answering again.

I think I figured out what you meant. I created a new user, logged in and, no, Safari works just fine on the new user.

Where do I go from here?

Thanks.

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Answer 4

Jul 4, 2009 8:56 AM in response to afteryouwho

Hi afteryouwho;

That indicates there is something wrong with the other other account. This is usually a corrupt plist file for the application in question. In this case if you go to the Preferences folder in the account with the problem and look for plist files that start out with "com.apple" and contain Safari also. You can move then to the desktop and restart Safari and see if that solves the problem for you. If it does you can delete the files.

Allan

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Answer 5

afteryouwho Author

Level 1

13 points

Jul 5, 2009 1:14 AM in response to Allan Eckert

Allan,
First off, thank you for your time, responses and interest.

This is getting stranger by the moment.

As far as I can figure, Darty has managed to embed something in my computer related to Safari that forces this situation. (It does not effect Firefox)

As you suggest, I went to Library>preferences and found the plist file com.apple.Safari.plist which I moved to my desktop. I then opened Safari and, sure enough, it opens with the Apple Safari start page. I then closed Safari and reopened it and, surprise, the Darty site has once again positioned itself as my homepage and put a new plist file in preferences. I once again removed that plist and the whole process repeats itself; first time open, Safari; second opening, Darty once again my homepage.

I scoured the preference list for anything called Darty and find nothing. I did a Spotlight search for "darty" and nothing shows up.

I then went to the new user to search for some file that does not seem to compare but as all my other programs have preferences in my original user it is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

But it seems to me that Darty has put something (program, script, ?) that forces Safari to use them as homepage once you open Safari.

Any ideas on this?

Thanks again.

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Answer 6

TildeBee

Level 7

31,917 points

Jul 5, 2009 9:43 AM in response to afteryouwho

Quick question, after . . .

When you changed the homepage to another one,
did you go down and click on the "Save" button???

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Answer 7

afteryouwho Author

Level 1

13 points

Jul 5, 2009 10:33 AM in response to TildeBee

Hi Bee.

Thanks for your reply.

There is no "save" button. Just one that reads "Set to current page".

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Answer 8

TildeBee

Level 7

31,917 points

Jul 5, 2009 10:59 AM in response to afteryouwho

Oh good grief!
I think I need to either have a nap, or clean the house.
Sorry.

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Answer 9

afteryouwho Author

Level 1

13 points

Jul 5, 2009 11:11 AM in response to TildeBee

FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I managed to solve this on my own with your helpful hints.

So we can close this problem but just in case it can help someone in the future, here is what I did:

I used the application AppCleaner to delete Safari. Then I went to Library>Preferences and found a folder "ByHost" that contained a Safari plist file. I moved that file to my desktop in case it was something that Safari needs. (It didn't).
Then I went to Library and trashed the Safari file manually. (It didn't come up in AppCleaner).
I re-installed Safari and everything is fine now.

Once again, thanks for the replies. Bee, I hope you enjoyed your nap and cleaned the house!

Richard

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Answer 10

Jul 5, 2009 11:15 AM in response to afteryouwho

Hi

Yes, those types of nasty redirects are usually written to the Preferences>ByHost folder. Do you recall the name of the file?

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Answer 11

TildeBee

Level 7

31,917 points

Jul 5, 2009 11:20 AM in response to afteryouwho

Hehehehe.
Very glad for you, after.
Good sleuthing there!
And thanks for coming back with the solution.
I know it will help a whole bunch of other readers here.
(Including me, LOL)

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Answer 12

afteryouwho Author

Level 1

13 points

Jul 5, 2009 1:04 PM in response to Hawaiian_Starman

com.apple.Safari.0019e33a22bd.plist

the culprit

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