So I thought I had this figured out.. Apparently not.

On one of my local racing forums, a bot posted some porn crap all over our threads and I had to delete em' all. After that time, is when this crap started happening.

Internet Explorer keeps opening new windows CONSTANTLY. And if I am on a website it will first refresh that page to the home page (whatever it is at that time) and open new ones from there on out. It is not consistent. There will be "down times" when I can browse a website without difficulty and then there will be times when 37 Internet Explorer pages will open at once and I have to close them all.

What I have done:

-Tried changing home page from google.com to nothing

-Tried disconnecting from the internet (but the pages still pop up just stating unable to connect to website)

-Opened Task List and noted processes going berzerk (all the iexplorer.exe processes for each window opened/refreshed is at like 15,000-20,000K Memory Usage.

-Ran multiple Windows Live OneCare Spyware and Virus scans (found no potentially unwanted thingies..)

-Downloaded Ad Aware SE and ran multiple Spyware/Adware scans (found a few critical items, quarantined and deleted but problem still persists).

-Changed Operating Systems (I was on a free version of Vista Ultimate and had to do a clean install of the full version because my free version was going to expire. That went fine, I backed up everything and install a REAL version of Vista Ultimate but the problem STILL persists).

What to do now? help? this is so annoying. I will be in the middle of a long e-mail and the page will refresh. I don't feel safe accessing my bank accounts with this problem, I can't even work in MS Word or something without internet explorer pages popping up.. ahhhhh...


Is there a way I can completely wipe my harddrive or something? (because that is where this problem would be hidding, correct? ..i think?)

I have all my files backed up, and can re-install my OS again if need be. I just want this damn problem gone. mad.gif

 

Um, it sounds to me like there's a virus on your forums. You should attempt a quick restore. If that fails, then re-install windows and do not visit that forum until they correct the problem.

You can also type msconfig in the run box (windows xp) and bring up the microsoft boot configuration tool. It will allow you to pick and choose the services and programs that load on startup.

In internet explorer under tools, there's an option to manage addons, or in tools/internet options/programs/mange addons. You can select the programs that internet explorer loads there. You should be able to find something.

If spyware programs are not picking this up yet, then it is too new. It will eventually be filtered by those spyware programs. You should get windows defender from microsoft. It is a good program and will monitor for problems like that, and it's free. It also alerts you when malicious spyware is installing itself.

 

I didn't try re-storing and it would be pointless now because I already RE-INSTALLED windows fresh.

I am not putting the forums/bot at fault (just assuming). All I did was simply click on the topic(s) it had posted and quickly clicked delete. Then I proceeded to delete their account.



I have Windows Defender (it's a part of Windows Vista Ultimate) and it's not picking up anything..

mad.gif

 

windows is a self contained package. If you re-install it, especially vista, it will be in it's origonal state, virus free. When you visit dirty pages on the internet, it can cause problems. This is something that you're installing or is being installed on your computer.

PM me the link to the speculative page and I'll see if it causes a problem for me. I have a desktop that I can restore to defaults. Don't post it because someone is bound to click it.

 

the page is useless now. it was a problem our website was having for a while. bots registering but they never posted). One finally did and the title was something stupid. i clicked and there were ad's for porn. i deleted the thread and then deleted his account on our forums. then changed it to admin approval only. i dont' know if that was the sole cause ...because the iexplorer.exe problem didn't start immediately after this. it was just "around" that time.

as I have stated to socks already, i don't visit dirty sites. I have a girlfriend and this is really HER computer. LOL. the other thing was limewire.exe was a proess that was going berzerk too. My girlfriend uses limewire to download music all the time. but the thing is, after re-installing windows limewire was no longer there (and the problem still persists).

Where does the problem lie, if I did a complete clean install of Windows... It started IMMEDIATELY after starting up the OS with the new Windows Vista (i.e. no chance to visit a site that would make the virus/apyware/whatever install onto my computer). Thus, I am so fvcking confused..

 

I don't think you understand... any site can be a dirty site when bots are involved. At one point RDTiburon was a dirty site.

 

In the future, you should use firefox. It is a lot more secure than iexplorer.

 

^^^^

agree with that!

NO IE (explorer is bad, full of security holes that malware use) use Firefox or another version of Mozilla browser
Use Spybot search & destroy (great anti-spyware program)

With just that and a good anti-virus software you should be ok

 

Get anti-virus and run a scan. My favorite is AVG Free. It's free. No charge for updates ever, and they update their definitions daily. Get it here.

Once you figure out what viruses you have, google the ones AVG doesn't fix automatically and you will find Symantec's removal instructions which are usually very good. Follow instructions carefully if you have to edit the registry!

 

ok, well since you JUST reinstalled an its still happening that means you did an upgrade or repair install. If you do a new install and format the partition first it will be gone (aka clean install). (if your not extra tech savvy this might be the best choice.)

The other option is to get spybot and scan with it. Then check under advanced tools and startup and I'm sure you'll find things in there to turn off. Spyware/malware removal can be tricky if you haven't done much of it.