wierd problem

[dcfromva]

My son has a wierd problem with his computer. Everytime he clicks on internet explorer button, a couple of pop up windows appear and the screen freezes and the only way to clear this up is to turn off the power to the computer--reboot and scan disk. He thought the solution to this problem would be to use MY computer instead, but I told him that is not an option :).

Is there someway to clear out these settings or do I really have to go to his second solution (buy him a new computer) to solve this problem?

Has anyone ever encountered such an annoying problem?

-DC :ears:

[Dawn]

Can you clarify on the pop-up windows? Are they adverts, error message, etc?

[dcfromva]

Originally posted by Dawn
Can you clarify on the pop-up windows? Are they adverts, error message, etc?

It's an advert for a web site. DS said prior to this when he had limited control, he tried to change his home page back to msn.com, but it would always revert back to this other web site.

I can't even get to the controls on the IE to clear out cookies (or whatever it is that a person would have to clear out) I can see where DS would be frustrated.

-DC :ears:

[Dawn]

It should be possible to change the Internet Explorer settings without actually opening IE.

By right-clicking the Internet Explorer icon on your windows desktop you should get a pop-up menu appear.

From this menu, select 'Properties'. This brings up the IE Settings window. From that you can clear the cache, change the homepage etc...

As to his 'solution' of buying a new pc, this is not necessary at all (although i am sure he will argue the point to get a flashy new system) :)

If the above does not work, you can try downloading and installing the latest version of IE (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default.asp) as it may be possible that somehow a piece of spyware has been downloaded without anyone's knowledge on to the hard drive.

The absoulute worse case scenario would be that you need to re-install windows on his pc.

[JacksDad]

That's definetly spyware next time it pops up hit CTR ALT DELETE all at he same time. It will show you what programs are running. Find the offensive one and end task. Now, go to your control panel Add/Remove Programs. Find the nasty and remove it. If it isn't there do a search for the program that you did the end task to and delete it. Finally, do as Dawn said and get the latest version of IE.

[dcfromva]

Thanks! I'd never heard of spyware before... My BIL helped me find some software that clears out this stuff:
Ad Away 2003 1.1
Tu Cows web site (http://tucows.keyaccess.nl/preview/309381.html)

It seemed to have cleared up the problem for now...



-DC :ears:

[pissels]

Something like this happened to myself as well. I did a virus scan and it was a worm. AFter it killed the worm I no longer had any problems.

So if you haven't done it do a virus scan as well.

****els
:ears:

I also have ad-aware 6.0 which is a great program to get rid of unwanted adds.

[uscwest]

I am just about ready to give Geeks on Call a call and see if they can figure out what is wrong with my PC. I don't see any strange software in the Add/Remove programs arena. However, we get lots of messages about programs that won't close or can't run when trying to startup or shutdown. Outlook Express has slowed to such a crawl that we can't even use it anymore and I can't even download critical updates or software updates any more. And I'm on cable modem so it isn't a telephone problem.

[JacksDad]

USC, sounds like your hard drive needs an enema. What size is it and what kind of processor are you running?

[utilidorman101]

What kind of computer do you have?

[uscwest]

Utilidorman do you realize that you have resurrected a 3 year old thread? I am going to close this.