About:Blank – Otherwise Known as the Hijacker

How many times have you tried to connect to a web page and nothing shows up except for a little message in the corner of the screen that says About:Blank, or something of the sort? This message can be a big problem for unsuspecting web browsers. Not only is it inconvenient, but it can cause a great deal of damage to your system.

The common definition of hijack means to take something by force. About:Blank does just that; it hijacks information from the web page you are trying to view and from your system. It is otherwise known as a homepage hijacker or the HoldOldSP hijacker. Basically, a hijacker is spyware or a virus that is seeking to damage your computer system or hack into information that you have on your system. There are several variations of the same hijacker that can cause different forms of damage to your computer. If you receive an About message, you can be fairly certain that you have some traces of spyware on your system.

The most common form of About messages are About: and About:Blank, with differences usually due to the browser being used. These messages are usually displayed either as blank pages or partial or unidentifiable information. There are many different about:blank spyware versions floating around. Being aware that About is a dirty word can keep you on the lookout for potential threats to your system.

What normally happens when you type a URL or address into your browser is that the browser uses the URL to identify where the information you need is located and retrieves it for you. If you receive an About:Blank message instead of the information you were searching for, chances are that a hijacker has taken the information you were looking for and replaced it with a blank document. The document may look empty to the user, but actually it is a URL scheme that is used to load blank pages into other browsing options. Once the blank page is loaded, it can then be modified by the spyware that now exists on your computer.

The About:Blank hijackers are difficult to remove manually and are persistent in their efforts to gain information from your computer system. Hijackers are known to make changes to the computer registry, which can cause havoc to your computer. Even the best spyware programs have been known to be unsuccessful in removing all of the traces of About:Blank hijackers.

If you receive an About:Blank message, you should take the following steps to rid your system of them right away:

• Close all of your browser windows.
• Go to the Start menu and select Run.
• Type cleanmgr and click OK.
• Download XoftSpySE and run this on your computer.
• Reboot your computer following the scan.
• Scan your system a second time using XoftSpySE, which should remove any leftover traces of the spyware on your system.

Some spyware can be difficult to remove and persistent in its efforts to gain information from your system. The best defense a computer user has against spyware is a good, up-to-date virus protection and spyware program. It may not prevent everything from leaking through, but it will offer more protection that you will have without it.