Automatically Set Homepage for all browsers to pre-defined one

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TheLaptopFixers
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Joined: Tue Feb 16, 2016 11:30 am

Automatically Set Homepage for all browsers to pre-defined one

Post by TheLaptopFixers »

It would be great to have an option on the System Repair to remove all existing homepages and from all the browsers (IE, Edge, Chrome, Firefox etc) and set a specified one i.e. google.co.uk or my own customer landing page URL such as www.Mysite/customer.html

(if this is already here, my apologies - I have not found it!)
Charger440
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Location: Missouri

Re: Automatically Set Homepage for all browsers to pre-defined one

Post by Charger440 »

Fred, is this one confirmed? Never seen a response from you and don't want to call it confirmed if it's not.
Jim

It is not "Can it be done?" but rather, "How can we do it?"
Fred
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Re: Automatically Set Homepage for all browsers to pre-defined one

Post by Fred »

This is exactly the type of feature that I would like to avoid. It's an adware-like behavior. And if chrome or firefox are set to sync from the cloud, it will not have any effect on those browsers. Also, this can not be easily done for MS Edge. So, what have we got left? IE? That can be done from the Autoruns manager section.
One thing we humans have in common is that we are all different. So, if you think you're weird because you're different from everyone else, then we are all weird.

Fred
Charger440
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Re: Automatically Set Homepage for all browsers to pre-defined one

Post by Charger440 »

OK, it didn't matter to me anyway. I just wanted to know if I should add it to the confirmed section. Seems like that is a big ole NO :)

I usually just leave those settings the default anyway unless someone says they want a specific homepage.
Jim

It is not "Can it be done?" but rather, "How can we do it?"
Brink
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Re: Automatically Set Homepage for all browsers to pre-defined one

Post by Brink »

Actually, this sounds like a great feature and by the time a customer finally gives up trying to repair it themselves the homepage is already jacked up to some adware/malware landing page anyway. Plus it should not be something that is automatically done at runtime. This would be the adware/malware behaviour that you would rightfully like to avoid. A manually initiated setable feature though would be great. We are having to go to each browser and set the customer's home page after repair. A feature to do that for us would be an appreciated effort. Just don't make it an automatic thing. (but pulling a preset address from cloud sync would be nice for when we manually run the feature)
Charger440
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Location: Missouri

Re: Automatically Set Homepage for all browsers to pre-defined one

Post by Charger440 »

UAK actually already does this. If you reset the browser then it sets the browser defaults for home page. That is what I always use.
Jim

It is not "Can it be done?" but rather, "How can we do it?"
TheLaptopFixers
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Joined: Tue Feb 16, 2016 11:30 am

Re: Automatically Set Homepage for all browsers to pre-defined one

Post by TheLaptopFixers »

The reason I raised the feature request is that on completion of a computer service / virus removal etc I am actually looking to set my own default homepage i.e. a landing page on my website for my customers containing the standard google search box, plus a link to our website / facebook page etc and useful links such as gmail, hotmail etc instead of the defaults (such as bing!)
Charger440
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Location: Missouri

Re: Automatically Set Homepage for all browsers to pre-defined one

Post by Charger440 »

Fred was very cautious about letting us add link on the desktop to our page for fear that he would be doing the very thing he wrote software to get rid of. To be honest with you, this seems more like something Fred would remove rather than add. But you never know as it's ultimately up to Fred, I'm just not sure he will do it based on prior experiences.
Jim

It is not "Can it be done?" but rather, "How can we do it?"
wmmiller
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Re: Automatically Set Homepage for all browsers to pre-defined one

Post by wmmiller »

Can't say I love it.
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Xander
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Re: Automatically Set Homepage for all browsers to pre-defined one

Post by Xander »

If we take over the client's homepage, are we any different than the browser hijackers we clean up from their system?
wmmiller
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Re: Automatically Set Homepage for all browsers to pre-defined one

Post by wmmiller »

That’s what I’m thinking Xander. Personally I would be annoyed at best if I took my computer in for repair and it came back with my home page tied to the repair facility that did the work. That’s the kind of thing Geek Squad might do.

No sir, I don’t like it!
Play stupid games….win stupid prizes
Charger440
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Location: Missouri

Re: Automatically Set Homepage for all browsers to pre-defined one

Post by Charger440 »

Fred has not chimed in on this but I'm starting to think he just letting us answer that for him.
Jim

It is not "Can it be done?" but rather, "How can we do it?"
wmmiller
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Re: Automatically Set Homepage for all browsers to pre-defined one

Post by wmmiller »

Well, Fred did chime in above and I would venture to say he is definitely not tickled with the idea. I feel like we had this conversation about a year ago and nixed it then. I bet there’s an app for that. Oh, I mean script. :lol:
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Fred
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Re: Automatically Set Homepage for all browsers to pre-defined one

Post by Fred »

I actually wanted to see more replies, just to see if everyone wanted this. I only take feature requests in account if they have overall usefulness. And since it's against my principles, I guess I'll skip it.
One thing we humans have in common is that we are all different. So, if you think you're weird because you're different from everyone else, then we are all weird.

Fred
TheLaptopFixers
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Re: Automatically Set Homepage for all browsers to pre-defined one

Post by TheLaptopFixers »

I'll write a script to do this, no worries. Thanks.
wmmiller
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Re: Automatically Set Homepage for all browsers to pre-defined one

Post by wmmiller »

Thanks for your feedback Fred. :)
Play stupid games….win stupid prizes
Charger440
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Location: Missouri

Re: Automatically Set Homepage for all browsers to pre-defined one

Post by Charger440 »

Agree.
Jim

It is not "Can it be done?" but rather, "How can we do it?"
Brink
Posts: 283
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Re: Automatically Set Homepage for all browsers to pre-defined one

Post by Brink »

TheLaptopFixers wrote:I'll write a script to do this, no worries. Thanks.
@TheLaptopFixers>
Could you share the script with us when you get it ready and debuged?

@ Everyone else>
I'm not trying to take over customer homepages but like I said the homepage has already been hijacked by the time I get hold of one to fix. It would be great to have the option to set all browser's homepages to an URL besides google. For example many of my customers like MSN or yahoo for a homepage. I just think that it would be a nice feature. Sure it does have the potential for abuse. The customer is trusting us to repair their machine. There is already tremendous potential for abuse while we have their machines. There is also much potential to build trust and get referrals by not abusing your customer's trust. I prefer the latter. There is no substitute for integrity when building relationships with your customers. I think that there is no reason why a "set homepages to (custom)" should not a feature of UVK but then I'm not Fred so Fred can do what he wants with his software. UVK is still an awesome software without the feature of topic. It would just be more convenient for it to have the feature so we don't have to go find property settings dialog for each browser and set the homepages manually or run TheLaptopFixers' script. We have control of the machine when it is in our care and we can set the homepage to whatever we want. The ability to do it in an automated fashion through UVK would be nice.
Brink
Posts: 283
Joined: Thu Jun 12, 2014 3:36 pm

Re: Automatically Set Homepage for all browsers to pre-defined one

Post by Brink »

Actually, a really great feature would be for the UVK to dig through the history list of browsers, filter the results for malware sites, then remove them from the presented list ranked by most visited sites so we can make a good guess for what they want their homepage to be. Now THAT would be an awesome feature. for example:

1. MSN.com
2. Reddit.com/user
3. Youtube.com
4. Ebay.com
5. blah blah
6.
On up to the top ten visited sites. Mindspark might be number 1 but would have gotten filtered out before the list was presented to us. Then we can see that they visit MSN the most and would likely prefer MSN as a homepage.
Charger440
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Location: Missouri

Re: Automatically Set Homepage for all browsers to pre-defined one

Post by Charger440 »

Now that might be an idea worth more discussion. Actually, I really don't think setting the home page to OUR website is a good idea and I agree with Fred on that but setting it to a "major" search provider I see no issue with. Although I think UVK already gives that option. However, being able to see what legit sites the browser loads most might be helpful and almost as good as just asking them. :)
Jim

It is not "Can it be done?" but rather, "How can we do it?"
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