IE 9 Homepage Won't Change

A couple of years ago new software installed crapware that captured my homepage and wouldn't allow me to change it back to my preferred. I ultimately found the appropriate steps in a forum to rectify that. As I recall, it called for removal of a startup program and a registry change, but I'm not certain.

I recently removed a few unused programs and ran a registry cleaner. My IE 9 homepage was immediately changed to about:blank (no caps & no space). I used WinPatrol Plus to look at my startup programs and I don't see anything obvious. I also searched my registry for keywords homepage and blank. There was nothing obvious there, either.

I'm confident that this isn't a redirect virus.

Any suggestions for recovering my homepage?

Here's an MS Support article on repairing/reinstalling IE in Win7:

How to reinstall or repair Internet Explorer in Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP

braddersz said:

You havn't mentioned anything about manually changing the Page yourserf within IE9.

Internet Explorer Home Page - Add or Change

Open your browser, Click on Tools, - Internet Options, Under the Home Page option, in the white box, Type www.myhomepage.com

Then press Ok. CLose IE, then re-open. Your home page should have changed from AboutBlank to what ever you typed in.?

Oh! Dumb me! I thought that it was implied in the thread subject: IE 9 Homepage Won't Change. I'll try to make myself clear the next time.

I installed IE 10. I was then able to use Tools/Internet Options/General-Home page to return to my preferred. Neither Tools/Internet Options/General-Home page nor the pull-down associated with the Home (Alt + M) icon would allow it when I was using IE 9.