I have windows 7 home premium. Recently, every time I open internet explorer a message comes up telling me that a file on my computer has corrupted my default search provider for IE and that it default to the original provider (google) and take me to the add on page so I could choose a default. Once there, google is set to default and I can't change it. The computer is working great other than having to go through this process each time. Not letting me change providers and not responding when trying to change the default feels like a virus because it steers you away and makes choices unavailable. It doesn't bother me that much to push a button a couple of extra times but if a virus is causing this I need to stop it.
What I was wondering about is how permissions work and what should be listed when you go to int explorer properties and click security. What should this list look like? Mine starts with
System
Owner(owner pc owner)
Home users (owner pc\home users)
Administrators (owner pc\administrators)
WMP network serv
When I first click on security, the middle line for home users has a long line of numbers and switches to the text quickly right after I open it. Is this right? It feels like someone doesn't want me to see the numbers and disappears. Could this be someone getting into my computer by using the permissions set by this slot and could it have anything to do with the corrupted search provider? I have norton internet security and it says secure. I tried to run the windows safety scanner and I couldn't download it. I saw on some forums that the search provider issue has happened to a lot of people. Does microsoft have a fix for this? A shortcut showed up on my desktop for MATS IE addon install and I don't know where it came from. Do I need this?
Thank you