Prevent a program from launching my webbrowser?

[Deozaan]

Sometime during the past few months I noticed that when I boot up my computer the browser would sometimes launch to sh.com. Thinking I'd unknowingly been infested with malware, I googled around for what could be causing it.

The best that I could discover is that the culprit is a program called MotionInJoy which I have been using for a couple of years which allows me to be able to plug in my Playstation 3 controllers to my PC and use them as PC gamepads. The problem is that I don't want to uninstall MotionInJoy because I want to use my PS3 controller as a gamepad, but I do want to keep it from launching sh.com when my PC starts. Does anybody have any idea how to accomplish this?

[TaoPhoenix]

What if you change your default browser?

[app103]

You could use mouser's Browser Tray Switch and set a browser that doesn't have permission in your firewall (or a dummy executable) as your default browser. That way, anything that wants to automatically open a page without your permission, would fail in doing so.

(see mouser's last paragraph on the program's page)

Another alternative, without using additional software, could be blocking sh.com in your HOSTS file. This would only make that domain name fail, though, and would offer no protection against any other app that decides to act with similar behavior.

[Deozaan]

Uh... But what if I want my default browser to open up websites in other programs?

[app103]

Do you normally want it to do it on bootup? Probably not, so you'd just use Browser Tray Switch to change the default to the browser of your choice when you are ready, which would be after MotionInJoy failed its automatic attempt to open sh.com.

But if you do have pages that you want to be able to open at bootup, then use the HOSTS method that I mentioned. It won't stop MotionInJoy from attempting to open the page, it won't stop your browser from opening, but it will stop sh.com from loading.

[lanux128]

Sometime during the past few months I noticed that when I boot up my computer the browser would sometimes launch to sh.com. Thinking I'd unknowingly been infested with malware, I googled around for what could be causing it.

is it wise to use a software that injects irremovable start-up links without your knowledge?

i use xbox360 controllers on my PC so i'm not sure of any alternatives

but a quick google search lead to this: XInput Wrapper for DS3 and Play.com USB Dual DS2 Controller. maybe it would be use to you.

• http://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-XInput-Wrapper-for-DS3-and-Play-com-USB-Dual-DS2-Controller?pid=186161

[lanux128]

this app, x360ce, looks more reliable.

• http://code.google.com/p/x360ce/wiki/Whatisx360ceandhowuseIt

[Deozaan]

I've added sh.com to my hosts file, since I'd rather only have to close one tab occasionally when I boot up my PC (since it doesn't launch the website every time) than have to manually switch my default browser every single time I start up. But I'd still like a better solution, if possible..

this app, x360ce, looks more reliable.

• http://code.google.com/p/x360ce/wiki/Whatisx360ceandhowuseIt

Searching that project, the only mention I can see of using a PS3 controller is a 3rd party DS3 called the Afterglow, and a project member repeatedly says to use MotionInJoy for that.