Pocket IE Home Page Hack
Update Pocket IE’s Home page — the default AT&T MediaNet homepage sucks.
I’ve created a CAB file that will update your PocketIE’s home page to be “www.google.com”. Download the CAB file to your Blackjack2 and run it like any other CAB file.
Note: Your Blackjack2 must be Application Unlocked for this hack to work.
If you want to undo the Registry Hack, just go to Start > Settings > Remove Programs and remove the program.
If you would like to change it to something else use the Mobile Registry Editor (found in Applications > Utilities) and edit the follow key:
- HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\AboutURLs
- Change the “home” string’s value to point at any site you like.
Leave a comment if you would like me to make a CAB to update Pocket IE’s Home page to some other URL — If I get enough requests for a particular URL I’ll whip another CAB file up.
May 23rd, 2008 at 6:51 pm
Not too sure about anyone else, but when I tried uninstalling this it would let me in AT&T’s Media Mall, therefore if anyone needs the tutorial on how to fix it here is the link. Follow ALL the instructions
http://tinyurl.com/4thwb7
May 28th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
OK, I can’t change the default homepage from ATTs MediaNet.
I am using Internet Explorer and have application unlocked the phone and have downloaded
the PHM Registry Editor.
I go to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\AboutURLs
Here I see many values (blank, home, home_0409, version_0416 and others).
When I click the ‘home’ value I see the following:
Value name:
home
Value data:
http://home
Value type:
REG SZ
I change the entry for Value data to cnbc.com or weather.com. Then I press the hard internet key on my phone
and IE still goes to ATT MediaNet.
Whats up? Do I need to reboot the phone after the registry change.
May 28th, 2008 at 2:38 pm
koubaro,
I dont think you have to reboot your phone, but give it a try. You might have to exit out of PocketIE and relaunch it though. Try installing the CAB file in this post and see if you it changes your homepage to google.com … if it does it means you’re doing something wrong, if it doesnt, it means that your phone is still application locked (and the registry changes are taking effect).
May 28th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
I’ll try again but I’m sure it is app unlocked.
I ran the surreal networks cab to app unlock from:
http://mobile.surrealnetworks.com/AppUnlockReg.htm
In HKLM>Security>Policies>Policies
value = 0000101B DWORD = 1
May 28th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
kou, try running the MoDaCo or SDA Application Unlocker .. I’ve never used surreal networks’s app unlocker so can’t comment on its effectiveness.
There are about 6 registry keys that need to be changed to perform a FULL application unlock. It sounds as if the Surreal app unlocker only change 1. ???
May 31st, 2008 at 12:33 pm
If I install/run the SDA App Unlocker listed here, do I need to reinstall all the applications
currently on my phone, like PHM Reg Editor, Total Commander, etc.
I can see the registry files in both of these apps but not sure if my phone is fully app unlocked
using the Surreal Networks unlocker i mentioned earlier.
The other apps I have on the phone (LEDAlerts, Google Maps, Live Search, Viigo) work fine.
May 31st, 2008 at 2:37 pm
koubaroyou do not nee to reinstall any apps after app unlocking your phone. app unlocking your phone wil allow unsigned programs to run on your phone and allow you to modify retricted rsources on your phone. app unlocking will not effec previosly installed apps.
June 1st, 2008 at 10:07 pm
David.,
The SDA Unlock appication won’t install.
I went to the direct download site and saved the SDA_ApplicationUnlock.zip
file to my Windows XP PC.
I unzipped the file and the I used ActiveSync to copy the SDA_ApplicationUnlock.exe
file to the My Documents directory on my BJ2.
I then opened Total Commander, went to .exe file, and clicked center D-pad to execute/install.
I get an Alert message saying the following: ‘SDA_ApplicationUnlock’ is not a valid Windows CE application.
Whats up? Am i doing something wrong?
June 1st, 2008 at 11:29 pm
you run the SDA application unlocker in windows xp while your blackjack 2 is connected via activesync… dont run it from yor blackjack 2.
June 1st, 2008 at 11:45 pm
OK. I hope I didn’t screw anything up trying to run it orogianlly on the phone..
I connected the phone via ActiveSync and then double-clicked the
SDA_ApplicationUnlock.exe application on the PC. It gave me some warning
that is dangerous to install such apps, then I simply clicked the
REMOVE LOCK tab. The install was instantaneous.
How can I confirm a successful unlocking.
What are some typical security values that should have changed?
Anything else?
June 2nd, 2008 at 3:43 pm
David, as mentioned in my previuos posyt. How to confrirm it is app unlocked. Do you have
keys/values that would have been changed. i.e. 1001001b = 1
June 4th, 2008 at 10:06 am
Kou,
I have yet to find a way to check values that determine if a phone has been application unlocked. You can check by trying to Delete protected items from your Start Menu (like AT&T Mall) ..
January 13th, 2009 at 7:42 pm
This doesn’t seem to work for me.
How do I delete AT&T Mall?
I have installed other things that are compatible with WM6.1 but this is the only thing that doesn’t work…
January 13th, 2009 at 8:01 pm
mastershane, the Pocket IE Homepage Hack doesnt seem to work? Or you can’t delete AT&T Mall?
January 14th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Both.
First of all how do you delete AT&T Mall to test if my BJ2 was unlocked? Is through the phone or through a reg editor?
January 15th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
mastershane,
Check out http://www.myblackjack2.com/hacks-and-mods/other-hacks-and-mods/remove-default-shortcuts-from-start-menu/ to remove AT&T Mall
Its through the phone’s file system… If the Pocket IE Home page doesn’t appear, check the registry key thats mentioned in the post and see if its set to the page you want your home page to be!
January 17th, 2009 at 2:51 pm
Ok, it’s unlocked cause I was able to remove AT&T Mall and was able to see the Windows Directory with no problem.
And the values in the registry are correct. [PIC: http://img237.imageshack.us/my.php?image=regpiepz8.jpg ]
Still goes to device.home…
April 8th, 2009 at 11:29 pm
I was just wondering if there is a way to change the hard key for internet explorer to go straight to the home page I have chosen… it always seems to go to rogers mall first which is very annoying… I’m not saving anytime with this hack as of right now cause I still have to go to the menu and go to homepage… any help would be appreciated
thx
April 15th, 2009 at 11:10 pm
theburgerlerman – not sure if i follow. I must not be understanding you because this hack does what it sounds like what youre saying (when you open IE, it takes you to the designated home page) .. ? What am i missing here?
April 28th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
I installed App Unlock (SDA) and I still can’t delete things, example AT&T Mall. It told me it was successful, and I rebooted the phone. What next? I’m running 6.1)
April 28th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
Easiest method by far for changing your home page, worked like a charm!
http://www.mobilejaw.com/articles/2008/12/changing-the-media-net-and-cellular-video-buttons-on-the-blackjack-ii/#more-244
The following steps outline how to change the Media Net button.
1. ActiveSync your device with your computer
2. Open File Explorer on your computer and browse to the \Windows folder on your Mobile Device
3. Look for a file by the name “MediaNet”. The file type should indicate “Shortcut”
4. Copy this file to the desktop of your computer
5. Right click on the file and select properties and turn off Read-Only
6. Open Notepad and then open this file from within Notepad (ie: File \ Open \ {Browse to desktop} \ select the MediaNet file.
7. Once the file is open you will see the following line of text:
64#”\Windows\iexplore.exe” http://device.home?:Active_Icon\MediaNet
I’ll take a second and explain what this line of text is all about. The number followed by the hash symbol tells Windows Mobile how many characters to read after the hash. So if it has 1# Windows Mobile would only read the first quote – “
8. To change this button to direct to another website, just change the URL to be the site of your choice and then carefully count out all the characters after the has sign and then change the 64 to match that number. For example, to make it direct to MobileJaw, you would use the following:
48#”\Windows\iexplore.exe” http://www.MobileJaw.com
9. Save the file and then copy it back to your device.
10. Now press the AT&T Media Net button and it should open IE Mobile and start loading MobileJaw (or whatever URL you placed in the file).
The cool thing is that you’re not limited to launching IE Mobile with these keys. You could just as easily map Calculator, SlingBox Mobile, eWallet, or any other application. Just make sure you put the program along with the path, in quotes and count the number of characters after the hash sign carefully!
I did mention that this hack would work for both buttons. To change the functionality of the Media Net button, edit the MediaNet file in the \Windows folder. To change the functionality for the Cingular Video button, you need to edit the CellularVideo file, also found in the Windows folder. It’s the exact same process as described above.
Happy tweaking!
June 5th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
Telloman,
I followed your directions and When I got to the copy back to phone, win vista 64 told me i did not have permission to do that. I have 6.1 on my phone and am trying to change my hard att home button and cv button.
My phone is app unlocked using the modoco app unlocker. Also. could you post the ENTIRE string of what mobile jaw or msn or google so that i can confirm how I have done mine. Does device.home … still need to be in the string?, as your directions were not clear to me. i have tried both ways, with the device string and without, still do not have permission to make the copy BACK to the phone. Any ideas would be helpful, tia
gene
June 15th, 2009 at 9:30 am
im confused, is this a different browser from the ie?
June 15th, 2009 at 9:34 am
i changed my homepage in settings on ie
October 3rd, 2009 at 8:17 pm
I just used this and now I can’t access the internet, I uninstalled it and still can’t access the internet.
Do I have to do a hard reset to fix it?
October 11th, 2010 at 5:19 pm
Thats stupid
August 6th, 2011 at 9:02 pm
lol i did that a long time ago