IE problems

[Potato]

I've never been so glad to get zp back.

Now I need help.

My friend's computer is possessed... something got ahold of it and I can't get rid of it.

She had loads of pop ups, and I thought, "oh hey this is easy... run spybot and ad-aware and clean it up".... so I did that, cleaned up a bunch of crap (100+ from ad-aware, 0 from Spybot).... and yet there's this problem still. I ran AVG too, and deleted 2 viruses.

When you open IE, it goes to her homepage just fine, then it starts opening more windows.... endlessly. It's always trying to open http:/// and that doesn't exist, so there's just a million error page windows.

I went looking around, and I found a folder in her documents called "internet explorer" and it was so totally NOT IE. I found that her links to IE were going to that stupid thing, so I changed her paths, and the problem remained. I deleted that folder, and the problem remains.

This was last night and I gave up after a while and installed Firebird and told her to use that for now.

So now I'm here, and I uninstalled IE, and now I'm trying to install it again from the download I got from Microsoft's website. However, it keeps saying that something couldn't be downloaded, so it cancels setup.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I know my Windows threads never go anywhere, but it's worth a shot.

She's running XP home on a toshiba laptop.

[cheapprick]

It's a total guess, but if you got rid of the spy/adware, and zapped a few viruses already, I think it could be this. Thus far, it doesn't have a fix.

However, try running this (FREE) online virus checker through phoenix to see if the viruses you found created any additional instances.

housecall online

edit - Some spyware can hatch an O/S's browser indefinitely, if you can't download the browser, see if she can use her recovery disks from Toshiba to fix her O/S.

If it can't repair & you can't find anymore viruses that could be causing it, then you have a desicion. If it's the security issue I posted first, it should probably be fixed within a few days. If that's not it, a total reinstall may be in order.

IMHO - Burn any important files, then re-install the O/S. Reinstall an anti-virus engine as the second piece of software, then scan all of the files she burnt to make sure you aren't putting a virus back on. (the problem with this plan is that if it is the problem at the top, she could get reinfected before they have a fix available)

I hope that helps somewhat.

[Potato]

Thanks cp for the quick response. You need java to run that virus checker and I didn't have time to put it on there for her. I won't be seeing her until Monday but I still want to fix it. She's content as long as she can browse, and she can do that using Firebird or Mozilla now.

She doesn't know where her toshiba recovery disks are. :(

[fujow]

My son had the same problem and i pretty much did everything you did.
Unfortunately i had to reformat. My guess is you may have to go that route.

[Potato]

strange, when I left her room, I opened IE to see if it'd do anything (and I really don't think it should have since it was uninstalled... apparently not), and it opened just fine. But that little task thing on the bottom was moving along really slowly.... no windows popped up, but I didn't have time to wait and see.

[kw2k]

personally id format the harddrive and just start fresh...
if theres anything your bud really needs might have to sacrafice it....but then again...might be something he/she can get back...can spen hours/days/weeks getting it back to snuff if your lucky...wipe it and start over...

[origin]

it's best to first(I think) to look through reg entries for anything suspicous reg entries because if some are found lets say it would lead you in the direction of finding where the malicious software is located @. Some of the hot spots to looks in would be in my documents,my music, my pictures, also youre program files directory. The less likely places would be in the actual IE folder because the person who created this isn't dumb (obviously) they know that is the first place you would look for anything suspicous.Hope this helps somewhat.

l8

[RACKnRAIL]

I would try repairing IE before reformatting. I would also try these tools in the future to prevent this from happening again.

Spyware Blaster and Spyware Guard

[phalkon30]

It sounds like you got one of those "express installations" for IE. Try finding the network distribution pack for it. It will be a much larger file, but will not need to connect to the net when installing. Everything it needs will be in that one install pack.

She does have all windows updates to, correct?

Make sure she has a firewall running.

[Potato]

I saw her windows updates settings, and it is set to automatically download and ask to install, so I'm pretty sure she's up to date.

I'm talking to her on AIM now, asked how her computer was, and she said this: "it says i have a virus...but when it tells me how to make it go away...it won't locate it...so i have no idea"

Monday will be the next time I see her and her f*cked computer.

To me, reformatting is a last resort.

edit: I think the only firewall she has is the one in XP, and I just made her enable it. btw, we're on a large state university's network that's behind a firewall too.

[phalkon30]

Try manually updating anyway. Those are usually only critical updates, and sometimes take a while to get into the auto update list. Its allways nice to have the latest drivers also.

[Potato]

phalkon: once I get a chance I'm planning on going to the updates website and checking to see what she has and what she doesn't. Good idea or no?

[vipp]

I can see why you are going nuts Miss Spud. When I try and help someone, I like to follow all the way through and see success.

Back to topic, it seems like some form of browser hijack. Hope she doesn't get into too much trouble till you get back and help her.

[Krell]

Yah she's hijacked. Why hasnt anyone suggested the Restore Points yet?

Many times when a browser gets hijacked, the default start page will be changed to a certain site, and you can search by that, to determine if it is LOP etc, then get the LOP remover.

Dont fish in a barrel. Gather more facts, so some research, and formulate a plan.

[The Hunter]

Sorry old bean, but it was obviously from a lack of reading on my part. i should have seen the obvious. Also my popup blocker has an option to lock the home page. Never a bad thing.