IE issues

MrNightly
MrNightly Posts: 3,370
edited August 2007 in The Clubhouse
Ok, posting this from my wife's computer... My computer just started acting up. Well, specifically my IE browser. I can open my main page, but whenever I try to navigate away from it, it locks up. The icon has changed from the regular IE icon as well, to just a strange looking one.

Anybody have any idea how to fix this? I'd like to download Mozella or whatever it is, but obviously can't navigate to it.

I scanned and didn't find a virus... so I don't know...

Crazy computers!

HELP!! :D
Honoured to be, an original SOPA founding member
Stuff...

RTi12's - front
CSi5 - center
FXi3's - surrounds
RTi4's - surrounds
SVS PB12-NSD/2 - sub :D:D:D
Denon 3805
Rotel RB-985 5-Channel Amplifier

Post edited by MrNightly on
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Comments

  • clifselina
    clifselina Posts: 41
    edited August 2007
    Since your wife's computer is working, you can use it and a USB memory stick to download and then load Firefox.

    Then it is time to make sure you are virus and spyware free. www.download.com is a pretty good place to find free spyware and AVS software.

    Good luck.
    So what if those speakers are as big as a Subaru and cost twice as much? You'll never have to trade these babies in and when you die, they can bury you in them.

    And, if you can't afford them, F***ing FINANCE them!
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  • Serendipity
    Serendipity Posts: 6,975
    edited August 2007
    clifselina wrote: »
    Since your wife's computer is working, you can use it and a USB memory stick to download and then load Firefox.

    Then it is time to make sure you are virus and spyware free. www.download.com is a pretty good place to find free spyware and AVS software.

    Good luck.

    +1

    It could be spyware or something else, but did anything else occur on the computer prior to this happening? Such as any error messages, event log messages, etc?
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    Front projection, 2 channel, car audio... life is good!
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  • MrNightly
    MrNightly Posts: 3,370
    edited August 2007
    McAfree popped up and said a Virus had been found.. and when I tried to remove it, it didn't let me. Said it couldn't be deleted. I'll have to download it here... good idea :D

    The only thing out of the ordinary in the last week, was I did a Hijack this install and also downloaded a P2P of HardKnocks... I'm guessing that was the real culprit! Off with his head!

    Here's to Firefox! I'll have to burn it onto a CD, and then copy it over.. if that's possible. I don't have a usb card or anything fancy like that.

    Cheers!
    Honoured to be, an original SOPA founding member
    Stuff...

    RTi12's - front
    CSi5 - center
    FXi3's - surrounds
    RTi4's - surrounds
    SVS PB12-NSD/2 - sub :D:D:D
    Denon 3805
    Rotel RB-985 5-Channel Amplifier

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  • thejck
    thejck Posts: 849
    edited August 2007
    spybot search and destroy is great for cleaning out spyware and adware. show me the picture of the icon. there is also a program called hijack this which checks to see what other programs might have embedded themself into IE. finally there is a program called process explorer which will take a look at all the running proceses on ure computer and you can look for rogue ones. the programs are listed with the names of the corporations that make them so "Microsoft corporation" would be legit. but "Microsoft" would not. also look at the names of the files running and search on ure wifes computer in google to see it the file name could be assiociated with a virus good luck
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  • thejck
    thejck Posts: 849
    edited August 2007
    try this
    http://www.mozilla.com/products/download.html?product=firefox-2.0.0.6&os=win&lang=en-US

    thats the link to the firefox download. click on start run copy that in there and hit enter. that should go directly and download it. its worth a shot.
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  • thejck
    thejck Posts: 849
    edited August 2007
    since that is a long address for u to type i made it into a tiny url for you
    http://tinyurl.com/34lrlq
    which should be easy to type in but points to the above address
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  • Systems
    Systems Posts: 14,873
    edited August 2007
    We rarely get infections any more at work since I rolled out Symantec Corp antivirus but when we do, I can tell you this. I've spent half a day on a PC trying to remove spyware with just about every program out there. I've done every reg modify tweak and tray thing to kill some of them with absolutely no luck most the time. You may get lucky and get hit with an older knows spyware virus that can be removed but they update those things a lot and they are like spam, the makers constantly change them to defeat them from being removed.

    Even my network admins didn’t listen to me and thought they could remove a few (cocky sons of ****'s, like I haven’t been doing this "computer" thing for 15 years longer than them wippersnappers). They fail to after waisting a day. A few times they have claimed a defeat of one only to watch it all come back a day later.

    When I get one now at work, I don’t even screw with it.. Wipe the whole pc and roll it out as a typical blank build. This is easy for us to do (take maybe an hour) but its well worth not spending half a day trying to defeat these things and failing.
    Testing
    Testing
    Testing
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  • MrNightly
    MrNightly Posts: 3,370
    edited August 2007
    Ok now ^^^ that is scary ;) Just got Firefox installed on my computer... gotta search for a better spyware thingy and kill the bug now!!! DEATH TO SMOOTCHY!
    Honoured to be, an original SOPA founding member
    Stuff...

    RTi12's - front
    CSi5 - center
    FXi3's - surrounds
    RTi4's - surrounds
    SVS PB12-NSD/2 - sub :D:D:D
    Denon 3805
    Rotel RB-985 5-Channel Amplifier

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  • thejck
    thejck Posts: 849
    edited August 2007
    @silverti

    the whole point of the game is keeping life a little interesting. rebuilding a pc is easy for a person that has done it a number of times but for home use it gets tricky.
    there are tons of programs out there that can defeat a virus and spyware. you just need to know what sticks out at you. have u tried process explorer.
    there is also another program called tgi monitor. i used it to monitor network traffic out of a machine and when i saw it try to communicate with a foreign IP i had the sob in my sights.
    its hard work sometimes but if i was going to have multiple pc's infected on my hand I would rather know how to fix it and fix them all than have to rebuild each and every PC. but your right rebuilding a PC is the safest way to clean it out
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  • thejck
    thejck Posts: 849
    edited August 2007
    whats the name of the virus and infected file?
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  • MrNightly
    MrNightly Posts: 3,370
    edited August 2007
    Got SpywareDoctor... it's scanning now... got it from download.com... also has a key tracker.. maybe I should install that on my wifey's computer?!? hehehe.. never mind... what I don't know won't hurt me! :D
    Honoured to be, an original SOPA founding member
    Stuff...

    RTi12's - front
    CSi5 - center
    FXi3's - surrounds
    RTi4's - surrounds
    SVS PB12-NSD/2 - sub :D:D:D
    Denon 3805
    Rotel RB-985 5-Channel Amplifier

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  • MrNightly
    MrNightly Posts: 3,370
    edited August 2007
    30 threats, and 526 infections... from Spyware doctor. Of course, it won't let me clean any of them up, because you have to buy the program. stupid things... Anyone have a recommendation for a free virus/spyware cleaner?

    Thanks guys!!
    Honoured to be, an original SOPA founding member
    Stuff...

    RTi12's - front
    CSi5 - center
    FXi3's - surrounds
    RTi4's - surrounds
    SVS PB12-NSD/2 - sub :D:D:D
    Denon 3805
    Rotel RB-985 5-Channel Amplifier

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • snow
    snow Posts: 4,337
    edited August 2007
    MrNightly wrote: »
    30 threats, and 526 infections... from Spyware doctor. Of course, it won't let me clean any of them up, because you have to buy the program. stupid things... Anyone have a recommendation for a free virus/spyware cleaner?

    Thanks guys!!
    http://free.grisoft.com/doc/avg-anti-virus-free/lng/us/tpl/v5
    Well, I just pulled off the impossible by doing a double-blind comparison all by myself, purely by virtue of the fact that I completely and stupidly forgot what I did last. I guess that getting old does have its advantages after all :D
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  • thejck
    thejck Posts: 849
    edited August 2007
    avg that snow recommended is great for free. but try spybot search and destroy for a spyware cleaner
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  • MrNightly
    MrNightly Posts: 3,370
    edited August 2007
    thejck wrote: »
    avg that snow recommended is great for free. but try spybot search and destroy for a spyware cleaner

    Thanks man... I have used that before, and it is a pretty dangerous program! Will destroy your entire computer if you aren't on your toes :D I might give it another try though.. just for grins!
    Honoured to be, an original SOPA founding member
    Stuff...

    RTi12's - front
    CSi5 - center
    FXi3's - surrounds
    RTi4's - surrounds
    SVS PB12-NSD/2 - sub :D:D:D
    Denon 3805
    Rotel RB-985 5-Channel Amplifier

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  • shack
    shack Posts: 11,154
    edited August 2007
    Ad Aware
    "Just because you’re offended doesn’t mean you’re right." - Ricky Gervais

    "For those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who don't believe, no proof is possible." - Stuart Chase

    "Consistency requires you to be as ignorant today as you were a year ago." - Bernard Berenson
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  • SKsolutions
    SKsolutions Posts: 1,820
    edited August 2007
    Great functionality and light. It's free and has saved me many times.


    http://www.safer-networking.org/en/download/
    -Ignorance is strength -
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  • mhardy6647
    mhardy6647 Posts: 33,954
    edited August 2007
    AdAware and Spybot complement each other well.
    We use both, and McAfee or AVG, depending on the 'puter.
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  • thejck
    thejck Posts: 849
    edited August 2007
    http://www.clamwin.com/

    thats an open source antivirus in case anyone is interested. give it a shot.
    i have had issues where both norton and mcafee have slowed my computers down. avg has also given me similar problems. depends on how fast a computer you have. me i like to have that extra headroom when i need it. i cant stand an unresponsive computer
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  • MrNightly
    MrNightly Posts: 3,370
    edited August 2007
    Ok,

    This may be a dumb question, but now that I've installed Firefox, how do I set it as my default browser? Search and Help didn't reveal anything on this... my dad said it was super easy under internet preference, but I can't find it. Whenever I click a link from an email or whatever, it still tries to use IE.

    Any ideas?

    Thanks again guys!

    Cheers!
    Honoured to be, an original SOPA founding member
    Stuff...

    RTi12's - front
    CSi5 - center
    FXi3's - surrounds
    RTi4's - surrounds
    SVS PB12-NSD/2 - sub :D:D:D
    Denon 3805
    Rotel RB-985 5-Channel Amplifier

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • snow
    snow Posts: 4,337
    edited August 2007
    MrNightly wrote: »
    Ok,

    This may be a dumb question, but now that I've installed Firefox, how do I set it as my default browser? Search and Help didn't reveal anything on this... my dad said it was super easy under internet preference, but I can't find it. Whenever I click a link from an email or whatever, it still tries to use IE.

    Any ideas?

    Thanks again guys!

    Cheers!
    Try tools then internet options to set it as your homepage. Then programs to set it as your email preference. I also use CCleaner for cleaning cookies, internet browser cache, etc out. it helps with the pc running faster without all the crap slowing it down. http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/?2927

    REGARDS SNOW
    Well, I just pulled off the impossible by doing a double-blind comparison all by myself, purely by virtue of the fact that I completely and stupidly forgot what I did last. I guess that getting old does have its advantages after all :D
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  • clifselina
    clifselina Posts: 41
    edited August 2007
    In Firefox:

    Tools > Options > Main >

    Click "Always check to see if Firefox is the default browser on startup"
    So what if those speakers are as big as a Subaru and cost twice as much? You'll never have to trade these babies in and when you die, they can bury you in them.

    And, if you can't afford them, F***ing FINANCE them!
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  • MrNightly
    MrNightly Posts: 3,370
    edited August 2007
    Awesome... that did it clif!

    Thanks!!!

    Cheers. All is well in Schmuckville once again...
    Honoured to be, an original SOPA founding member
    Stuff...

    RTi12's - front
    CSi5 - center
    FXi3's - surrounds
    RTi4's - surrounds
    SVS PB12-NSD/2 - sub :D:D:D
    Denon 3805
    Rotel RB-985 5-Channel Amplifier

    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Bamadude
    Bamadude Posts: 245
    edited August 2007
    MrNightly wrote: »
    The only thing out of the ordinary in the last week, was I did a Hijack this install...

    Glad to hear things are getting better.

    When Adaware and Spybot S&D can't get rid of spyware I use HijackThis. If you know your way around the program, do a scan and paste the results here http://www.hijackthis.de/ It's an automated analyzer that gives feedback on all the entries based on other users input. My experience is that you can pretty much ignore the stuff marked as safe and focus on the problems to start with, followed by the unknowns. Do some research/googling on the problems before taking any action since hijack is very powerful which also makes it very unforgiving. Backups are a good idea. Good luck.

    bamadude

    Author's tutorial
    http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/htlogtutorial.php
    AVR: Pioneer VSX-84TXSi (RIP - lightening) / Amp: Sunfire Cinema Grand / Klipsh R-10B Sounbar, LC65fx / Sub: Elemental Designs LT/1300 / TV: Panasonic TH-50PH9UK /SIZE]
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