Internet Explorer home page does not change – problem

I have a perplexing and persistent problem with Internet Explorer. It’s related to changing of the home page. I read your tip on how to change the home page in Internet Explorer but it doesn’t work for me. This is driving me nuts as I would really like to have Google and Gmail as the two home pages in Internet Explorer. Could you please help me out?
Ahmed Adem

All popular web browsers, including Internet Explorer which comes bundled with the Windows operating system, let you set up one or more home pages. FYI, the home page is the page that’s displayed when one starts the program. I’ve detailed how to change the Internet Explorer home page in another article and based on the comments received, I learnt that a few users have been unsuccessful in implementing the tip.

The problems range from users not being able to change the settings or the settings being changed unexpectedly. Sometimes, even though the home page has been changed, it reverts back to what it was once the computer has been restarted. Though, it’s not possible to pin-point the exact problem without checking the computer myself, I offer a few suggestions as below:

• Check for spyware or viruses on your computer: If the Internet Explorer home page doesn’t change or goes back to the one you want to get rid of, chances are your computer is infected with spyware or a virus. Also someone could have run malicious code that has taken over the Internet Explorer home page settings. Run a trusted anti-virus and spyware removal tool.
• Reset Internet Explorer web browser: Badly written add-ons for the web browser can also change the home page settings. In such cases it’s recommended that you reset Internet Explorer web browser. Please remember that this takes the program to the factory settings and may remove all the add-ons you have installed.
• Upgrade Internet Explorer to the latest version.
• Change Internet Explorer home page in Safe mode: I have not tested this option and read it on an online forum. The author mentions a similar problem he had with the Internet Explorer home page *permanently* set to the web site of the computer company. He was able to resolve this issue by changing the settings when working from the Safe mode.