IE trouble

[Jeff]

I can't get IE to remember the home page that i set --
each time i open IE, it stalls for 20 - 40 seconds (which
is unusually slow for this machine) and then opens
with "about:Blank" as my home page. i've tried changing
it back and reinstalling IE, but no luck...could this be
a virus?
thanks!

 

[Don Varnau]

Jeff,
This is being caused by a parasite.

From Control Panel> Internet Options> Advanced> uncheck "Enable third party
browser extensions." That should allow IE to work.

You might also be able to browse and download programs from the address bar
of Windows Explorer.

Download and run Run CWShredder from
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html
CWShredder is only about 125 KB so it could be downloaded from another
machine onto a floppy disk if necessary. CWShredder should fix the "about
blank" problem.

Then download, install, *update* and run both of these programs:
Ad-aware from http://www.lavasoft.de/software/adaware/
Spybot from http://security.kolla.de/ (Remove items listed in red-others are
optional.)
Both programs should be updated after installation- before use.

Security tips and other information at:
Dealing with Unwanted Spyware and Parasites:
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm

You should re-enable browser extensions after the cleanup.

Don