Help?

[emmagrant01]

Something has happened to my IE software. I can't open links from web pages when a new window is to be opened. That is, if the html code in the page directs that the link be opened in a new window, nothing happens. If I right-click to try to open a link in a new window, nothing happens. IE is also really, really slow now. This started on my laptop and then started happening on my desktop too, which made me first suspect it's a virus of some sort. (We have a wireless router.)

What I've tried: I went to Windows Update, but there were no updates for my system. I updated and ran my virus scan software, and it found nothing. I updated and ran my spyware, and it found nothing. The only thing that changed any time before this problem began was that we bought a new printer, which has a wireless connection to all of our computers.

I'm currently using Netscape, which works just fine. The next thing I was going to do was reinstall IE; however, it's unobvious to me how to do this. All I can find on the web are updates to download, which I did a while back. As usual, Microsquish is entirely unhelpful. Any advice?

Comments

[vala-amaris.livejournal.com]

It's in your Control Panel under Add Remove Programs and then under the Add Remove Windows Components.

[liesbyomission.livejournal.com]

Personally, I'd recommend dropping IE in favor of Firefox. Firefox is more secure and faster AND has tab browsing, which is very addictive. Also, it's free.

http://www.getfirefox.com

And you can import all your IE bookmarks and all that stuff.

[marryoh.livejournal.com]

I was just about to recommend Firefox as well.

You can also customize it to your liking by downloading extensions and themes. (I would probably die without the adblock extension)

https://addons.update.mozilla.org/

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Oooooh.

[wordplay.livejournal.com]

OMG yes. Firefox is teh shit. The tabs have completely changed the way I web browse.

OTOH, I still have to use IE on occasion - the class roster system at the university, for example, is one of the few things that just can't operate on Firefox. So you'll likely eventually have to deal with it, but the Firefox will buy you some time. (While we're on it, there an extension called Deepest Sender for Firefox that is a nice little LJ client.)

[wordplay.livejournal.com]

Also, what are you running to deal with your Spyware issues? This (http://www.geekradio.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=5&Itemid=2) is how I've always dealt with it, and with good luck.

Good luck! I hate that sinking feeling.

[miss-charmed.livejournal.com]

Haha! 'Was gonna say FIREFOX too! Cheers!

Yes dear, go try Firefox and forget about IE *nods* It's muuuuuuuuuuch cleaner, better. :)

[liesbyomission.livejournal.com]

Oooh, indeed. ^^ I could never go back to IE. The problem with IE is something called ActiveX. Originally it was meant so that you could easily get plugins for playing media files and the like, but of course, it's been abused so that evil people download evil code onto your computer. >_< Firefox doesn't allow that.

Yeah, tabs + the built in google search = love.

[sabrinagb.livejournal.com]

I have to follow up everyone else on this one. My comp had a major meltdown due to IE. My tech guy had to redo the entire thing over 2 days and it was all due to IE. He switched me to Firefox and I have never loved the web more. The tabs are awesome and the pop-up blocker is even better. Hope you get sorted soon.

[eponin10.livejournal.com]

Yes, definitely get firefox. It runs so much better. Also, try downloading AVG (free version) virus scanner. It'll scan through your emails and your desktop and it caught things for me that my regular virus software didn't. I'll dig up the URL for the site that has it when I get home. I'm currently at work and don't remember it! :)

[zhonnika.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'd just dump IE like the bloated, unsafe piece of crap that it is, really. Someone already commented about Firefox, and I don't know how I get along without it. Tabbed browsing rules, and if you are opening links in a new window a lot, you'll love tabs. You just right click on a link and 'open in a new tab' and bingo, there it is along the top (I hate that IE windows stack up at the bottom as I always ended up with 93843 of them).

But yeah, FF is the way to go. I know nothing helpful about IE; only that I stopped using it this summer and never looked back!

[phaballa.livejournal.com]

The other thing you can do is run Norton (if you have it) then manually delete all the virus files it finds. Or, go to add/remove programs and remove anything that doesn't look like systems file or you didn't install yourself. Anything by Gain Publishing is bad news, for example. I had the same problem with my lap top. It'll only get worse and eventually (even if you drop IE) you'll have to reinstall windows altogether. Good luck!

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Eeek! That's my fear, honestly. I didn't mention this above, but it all started when my computer started giving these weird "Generic Win 32 Service must close" errors. I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what was going on with that, and got nowhere. Googling the error didn't give me any useful information. *sighs*

[phaballa.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's not good. Do you have a virus detector? Otherwise I'd back up all your files immediately. If it's giving you weird errors like that you might end up having to format. *cringes*

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Yes, we've done all the virus checking we can. Symantec hasn't found anything. We've come at it from every angle possible, and nothing has come up. Whatever it is, our computer is shutting down certain basic things to keep it in check. The thing that is strange is that it spread from my laptop to our desktop.

[phaballa.livejournal.com]

It might not've spread. If it's a downloadable virus, it might just be something from a website you've been to on both computers. I'd just be very careful what websites you go to.

[helens78]

How about spyware checks? You can download Ad-Aware at LavaSoft (there's a freeware personal edition). If you've got anything truly heinous, that'll probably turn it up.

There's also Microsoft's Anti-Spyware Software (still in beta), which I've heard very good things about, but haven't bothered to install yet.

And Firefox is WONDERFUL. Especially for surfing LJ. Whereas IE will often eat my comments if I'm in the midst of posting something while JF or LJ is crashing, a quick hit of the back button has yet to fail me in Firefox. I use both browsers (so I can log in as two different users on LJ and JF), and wouldn't think of giving up IE (it's much faster than Firefox, in terms of pages loading), but it definitely has its merits. Why oh why doesn't IE have tabbed browsing? It's painful to be without it.

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Yeah, we did spyware too. *points to post above* I'm starting to think I'm just fucked! :-/

And yeah, I'm really liking Firefox so far!

[elocinoco.livejournal.com]

THis sounds alot like what happened when my computer downloaded a trojan/worm. It would change it's name in the registry so it wasn't detected by spyware or virus scanners. I finally got rid of it through Spy Sweeper and manually going into the registry and deleting keys. I don't recommend you start randoming fooling around in the registry, but there are good programs like Hijack This that help you with that. Both programs are easy, fast downloads.

Spy Sweeper is a subscription service, but they offer a free evaluation version. It's better than ADaware or Spybot...at least it's worked better in the situations I've had. I usually remove it when I'm done.
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download3263.html

Hijack This for seeing what might be lurking in your registry:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download3155.html

[emmagrant01.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'm checking this stuff out right now...

[thalia]

Just FYI, Netscape has tabbed browing, too, and it's based on Mozilla, which I think is also true of Firefox. If you already have Netscape installed you might be happy with it.

[moonglow-girl.livejournal.com]

I would get your computer checked out. That happened to me, and I eventually had to get the comp wiped, because of the internal errors and viruses which weren't caught by the virus scans.

[nmalfoy.livejournal.com]

IE does strange things to my computer. I highly recommend Firefox.

[smoonyc.livejournal.com]

I'd totally drop IE..I only use it when some things don't want to work with the browser I use now, which is Opera. It's really good -- it works in the same way as Firefox, with the tabs and all, but I didn't like Firefox as much.

[nattybear.livejournal.com]

Try computerhelp. They're really good, I'm sure they could tell you what's wrong. Otherwise, I reccoment downloading Mozilla Firefox, a new web browser. Everyone's been downloading it lately because it's almost impossible to get viruses from and there are no pop-ups. It's pretty fast, too. Good luck!