11 replies to this topic

[mfenech]

I was helping out a friend set up Ad-Aware. After running it and cleaning out some spyware, she had to restart XP to finish. Once everything was back up, she found her IE had a new problem.

Whenever she opens IE, either by a bookmark or just opening IE to her homepage, it won't connect to the website initially, and just times out. Once she hits Refresh, the site comes up right away. If she has IE open and tries another URL, that comes up fine also.

Anyone know what this could be? Thanks.

[rridgely]

Tell her to get mozilla. See if that acts up too. If not get her to come here and post a hjt log and I will help her get all cleaned up.
(Try ewido first)

[mfenech]

I did have have her to the online scan from the ewido site. No change.

Getting her on Firefox might be asking too much of her, especially since I'm working with her over the phone. It was hard enough getting her to this point, trust me. I'll see what I can do.

[Andavari]

1. For starters use IE's tools to 'Delete Cookies', 'Delete Files', and 'Clear History'.
2. Follow up with using CCleaner to mark the index.dat files for deletion on the next reboot.
3. Reboot.

[mfenech]

I've had her run CCleaner initially...that's a given. Would that not clear the items in step 1?

She had the index.dat option checked already.


[EDIT: Sorry...had to figure out what you meant by step 2.]

Edited by mfenech, 09 November 2005 - 05:58 AM.

[Andavari]

mfenech, on Nov 8 2005, 11:48 PM, said:

I've had her run CCleaner initially...that's a given.   Would that not clear the items in step 1?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

CCleaner should but we are afterall talking about Internet Explorer which can be finicky about letting files be removed from it's cache. If her system has ever crashed with IE open there could be files stuck in the cache that are difficult to remove.

[rridgely]

mfenech how is it going on this pc? Did you get everything sorted out? If not do you live anywhere near your friend where you could get on her pc? I'm willing to help but I cant do much without a hjt log and some more info.

[mfenech]

She's in Cali, I'm in Texas. I should be hearing from her within a few hours. We'll try Firefox next (pray for me), to help isolate if the problem is with IE or not. I'll get a HJT log posted either way. Thanks.

[mfenech]

Ok...

I got her up on Firefox, had her set it as the default browser, and it was able to open and connect to site normally. She had to hit Refresh to access any link she selects using Start/Favorites/[link] to open IE.

I'll get a HJT log from her either later this evening or tomorrow. I confirmed she performed a Windows Update earlier this week.

I'm not sure how this could be a spyware-related problem, even though it started after removing spyware from her PC. It seems more like something got messed up in IE as a result. ???

[rridgely]

I'm thinking its a setting somewhere in IE but I don't know what. I will play around with IE some tomorrow and see if I can figure it out. At least she can use the net for a while without problems.

[mfenech]

Update:

Today she tells me a few other programs were acting up, so I had her just do a System Restore back to last Friday. Everything is working normal again. Later on tonight, I'll have her run CCleaner, Ad-Aware, and ewido again, hopefully without all the complications this time. Assuming that goes well, I'll get a HJT log posted here afterwards. Thanks for the help so far.

[mfenech]

HJT log moved to Spyware Hell forum...