IE style sometimes changes to older look (version 5) in XP

[Jim S]

Randomly when IE is launched it looks different.? It’s strange; it almost
looks like an older version (a little like IE 5), kind of gray scale,
colorless, old toolbar icons/graphics and typically it’s smaller and not
maximized like healthy IE. Not only is IE different but the login prompt IE
displays for secure web sites also looks old, almost pre NT type login. This
is actually a big problem for us because it occurs on hospical clinical
kiosks and breaks SSO apps and other session management applications. Has
anyone ever seen this?
OS = XP SP2
IE - 6.0.2900.2180
Thanks,
Jim

 

[PA Bear]

Unexplained computer behavior may be caused by deceptive software
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/827315

Run a /thorough/ check for hijackware, including posting your hijackthis log
to an appropriate forum.

Checking for/Help with Hijackware
http://aumha.org/a/parasite.htm
http://aumha.org/a/quickfix.htm
http://aumha.net/viewtopic.php?t=5878
http://wiki.castlecops.com/Malware_Removal_and_Prevention:_Introduction
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm
http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/data/prevention.htm
http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/tshoot.html
http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k/Malware_Defence.htm
http://defendingyourmachine2.blogspot.com/
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

When all else fails, HijackThis v2.0.2
(http://aumha.org/downloads/hijackthis.exe) is the preferred tool to use.
It will help you to both identify and remove any hijackware/spyware with
assistance from an expert. **Post your log to
http://forums.spybot.info/forumdisplay.php?f=22,
http://castlecops.com/forum67.html,
http://forums.subratam.org/index.php?showforum=7,
http://aumha.net/viewforum.php?f=30, or other appropriate forums for expert
analysis, not here.**

If the procedures look too complex - and there is no shame in admitting this
isn't your cup of tea - take the machine to a local, reputable and
independent (i.e., not BigBoxStoreUSA) computer repair shop.

 

[Jim S]

I'm confident this behavior is not caused by malware. I'll try some of your
suggestions but this is happening on brand new locked down computers that
don't allow the users to do much of anything except run internal
applications. Additionally, these machines run exhaustive anitvirus and
antimalware measures. I appreciate your assistance.
Thank you,,
Jim

 

[Robert Aldwinckle]

Randomly when IE is launched it looks different.? It’s strange; it almost
looks like an older version (a little like IE 5), kind of gray scale,
colorless, old toolbar icons/graphics and typically it’s smaller and not
maximized like healthy IE. Not only is IE different but the login prompt IE
displays for secure web sites also looks old, almost pre NT type login. This
is actually a big problem for us because it occurs on hospical clinical
kiosks and breaks SSO apps and other session management applications. Has
anyone ever seen this?

Yes, in IE7. When FTP is involved from an Explorer window and it fails.
The error message is created by shdocvw.dll instead of ieframe.dll

How often does this happen? If it occurs frequently enough or if you are
sufficiently motivated to understand its cause use ProcMon to see which
modules are involved in the launch of the problem window.


Good luck

Robert Aldwinckle
---

 

[Jim S]

It's frequent enought to annoy and impede our users but not frequent enough
that I can reproduce it at will. I tried ftp from ie and can't reproduce
your issue. Maybe it's just ie7. Interesting what you found with
shdocvw.dll and ieframe.dll. I'll look for that. This issue has been a real
challenge.
thanks for the help,
Jim