How I Resolved an Annoying Browser Startup Problem Linked to an Unsafe Website

If you’ve experienced an irritating issue where a command prompt window briefly flashes during startup and your browser unexpectedly navigates to a suspicious site (for instance, “ururgisha[.]net”), you’re not alone. Fortunately, I found a solution that worked effectively for me, and I’m here to share the step-by-step process.

Step 1: Inspecting the Windows Registry for Unwanted Startup Entries

The first thing I did was check the Windows Registry, where unnecessary programs can often set themselves to run at startup. Here’s how I did it:

1. Press Win + R to open the Run dialog, then type regedit and hit Enter to launch the Registry Editor.
2. In the Registry Editor, I navigated to the following path: "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run".
3. There, I discovered an entry that appeared suspicious: “YourUserName” REG_SZ “cmd.exe /c start www[.]dongdonger[.]org”.
4. I right-clicked that entry and selected Delete to eliminate it.

Step 2: Checking Task Scheduler for Unwanted Tasks

Next, I turned to Task Scheduler, which can also host tasks designed to open unwanted sites or applications during startup. Here are the steps I followed:

1. Open Task Scheduler by pressing Win + R, then type taskschd.msc and press Enter.
2. In the Task Scheduler, I explored the “Task Scheduler Library” to identify any suspicious tasks.
3. I came across a task that was named after my username.
4. After right-clicking the task and choosing Properties, I found it was configured to run “cmd.exe /c start www[.]dongdonger[.]org”.
5. To remove this troubling task, I right-clicked it again and selected Delete.

Step 3: Restarting My Computer

Once I completed the above steps, I restarted my computer to ensure the issue had been properly resolved.

To my relief, the browser no longer redirected to the unwanted site upon startup!

Conclusion

This simple yet effective process worked for me, and I hope it can help others facing the same frustrating problem. Eliminating these unwanted entries can streamline your startup experience and enhance the security of your system. If you find yourself in a similar situation,