How to remove MSN Dell redirect?

If you have recently bought a Dell laptop (like me), you may have noticed that browsing to http://msn.com will result in a redirection to http://dell.msn.com. The fact that it's redirecting isn't such a big issue for me personally, however I do not like the fact that there is no transparent way of disabling this.

After diving into some Internet Explorer log files, I discovered that some custom branding was applied when first running the browser.
In C:\Users\\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\brndlog.txt something like this will be present:

The file "install.ins" is executed when Internet Explorer is ran for the first time or when all IE settings are reset (Extra -> Options -> Advanced -> Reset Internet Explorer Settings). Ok now it's time to fix this:

• click Windows 7 Orb (former "Start"-button)
• in the search field, type (do not hit enter): notepad
• right click notepad and choose "Run as Administrator"
• click "File" and than "Open"
• browse to C:\Program Files (x86)\Internet Explorer\Signup\install.ins (64 bit) or C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\Signup\install.ins (32 bit)
• remove the following piece of code:
  
  
  Code

  1. NoDial=0
  2. FavoritesDelete=0
  3. FavoritesOnTop=1
  4. User Agent=
  5. [URL]
  6. NoWelcome=1
  7. NoWelcomePage=1
  8. NoFirstRunWizard=0Help_Page=http://support.euro.dell.com/support/index.aspx?c=be&l=nl&s=gen
  9. Home_Page=http://g.uk.msn.com/USCON/4[FavoritesEx]Offline1=0Title1=Dell\
  10. DellURL1=http://www1.euro.dell.com/content/default.aspx?c=be&l=nl&s=gen
  11. Offline2=0
  12. Title2=Dell\Support.Dell.Com.url
  13. URL2=http://support.euro.dell.com/support/index.aspx?c=be&l=nl&s=gen

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• save the file and open Internet Explorer
• now reset Internet Explorer by following these steps: Extra -> Options -> Advanced -> Reset Internet Explorer Settings
• restart internet explorer and you should be all set and ready to go!

That concludes my first blog post here, more to follow soon!