Question Idownloaded Firefox about a month ago & have been using it successfully. I was getting excessive popups using IE. I needed to use IE today at a website that does not accept Firefox and clicked on it's icon. Nothing happened. Now I can't get on with either browser. No internet. I am running Windows XP on a standalone. I did not recently add any software, although I recently deleted a bunch of files from my Media Player not knowing what they were, only that they were not music and were cluttering the library. I am thinking perhaps I messed up by doing this. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I am writing this from a library computer but I will be checking my email for your reply. Thanks, Dave
Answer Hi Dave,
Sounds like spyware, I would suggest downloading Spybot - Search & Destroy 1.4, a program that removes spyware, available from:
Once installed, enable Tea Timer. Open the Spybot Search & Destroy, click the "+" sign next to Tools on the left side of the screen, click System Startup, then on the right side of the page check HK_CU Run Spybot Tea Timer.
The Resident TeaTimer is a new tool of Spybot-S&D which perpetually monitors the processes called/initiated. It immediately detects known malicious processes wanting to start and terminates them giving you some options, how to deal with this process in the future.
Check for updates before running. If you have trouble getting the updates, near the top of the Update Window, click the little arrow next See-Cure #1(Europe), highlight the next one on the list, See-Cure #2 and try to download the updates. If that doesn't work, try the next one the list. until you get one you can download from. Being a free program, if too many people are using the same site to download the updates, some people will not get them.
You can download the program onto a CD or floppy and install it on your computer, then run the scan.
Cannot open Internet Explorer? Just flashes and quits!
When you click the Internet Explorer icon, window may flash a second and quits. Or, it may show an Error-Reporting dialog. This may be due to a malware Browser Helper Object which causes Internet Explorer process to terminate. If you see the Error-Reporting dialog, click "to see what data this report contains" and identify the Module Name causing this error. In most cases, it may be the malware DLL; in which case, reinstalling Internet Explorer may not help.
1. Click Start, point to Settings, and then click Control Panel.
2. Double-click Internet Options.
3. Click the Advanced tab.
4. Under Browsing, clear the Enable third-party browser extensions (requires restart) check box.
5. Restart Internet Explorer.
Download Ad-Aware from www.lavasoftusa.com and follow this:
1. Start Ad-Aware.
2. Click "Check for Updates", "Connect" and download the latest pattern file if available. and click Finish
3. Click "Start", "Next"
4. After the scan is finished, click "Next"
5. Select all the items (checkboxes)
Right click on any object in the "Scan result" list and choose [Select all objects]
6. Click Next and click OK to confirm removal.
