IE6 will not launch

[Dave Powlin]

For about a month now, I try to open IE and nothing happens. OS is Win XP
Home SP1. My browsing experience is fine with Firefox or I can use Windows
Explorer as an emergency browser, but IE is dead. Doubleclick the icon,
hourglass appears, hourglass disappears. No error message even appears.
Nothing shows up in my event logs. I am at wit's end.

About a month ago, I installed a couple audio converter programs, then
uninstalled them right away when I realized they didn't do what I needed
them to do. I think one left me with this nightmare. I used a few spy
sweepers and clean up programs, but nothing has worked so far. I updated to
the latest version of IE and that didn't worked. I did a repair install and
then a fresh install of WIn XP... nothing has worked.

Does anybody have any ideas? Are there any utilities I can run?

Thanks in advance...

Mike

 

[Dave Powlin]

As a follow-up, I have no goofy programs installed. There is nothing odd in
my program list and no strange services or processes are running. I am
usually pretty fanatical about this stuff and can't believe I got burned.
Anyway, just thought I should point that out in case that is where you were
gonna send me.

Thanks...

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP IE/OE]

For about a month now, I try to open IE and nothing happens. OS is
Win XP Home SP1. My browsing experience is fine with Firefox or I can
use Windows Explorer as an emergency browser, but IE is dead.
Doubleclick the icon, hourglass appears, hourglass disappears. No
error message even appears. Nothing shows up in my event logs. I am
at wit's end.

About a month ago, I installed a couple audio converter programs, then
uninstalled them right away when I realized they didn't do what I
needed them to do. I think one left me with this nightmare. I used a
few spy sweepers and clean up programs, but nothing has worked so
far. I updated to the latest version of IE and that didn't worked. I
did a repair install and then a fresh install of WIn XP... nothing
has worked.

Does anybody have any ideas? Are there any utilities I can run?

Thanks in advance...

Mike

Having no idea at all what you have tried:

What You Should Know About Spyware
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/devioussoftware.mspx

CAUTION!!!!! Before you try to remove spyware using any of these programs ,
download a copy of LSPFIX from any of the following sites:
http://www.cexx.org/lspfix.htm
http://www.spychecker.com/program/winsockxpfix.html
(if your OS is Win2k or XP) The process of removing certain malware may kill
your internet connection. If this should occur, this program, LSPFIX, will
enable you to regain your connection.

See
Dealing with Unwanted Malware, Parasites, Toolbars and Search Engines
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm

Note that AdAware and SpyBot S & D will each catch some things the other
won't. Also, each needs to be updated with the program's update function
before every use, even when just downloaded. There's also a lot more to do
than just those two programs. CWShredder is also available here:
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/regs_edits/cwshredder.zip
**Post your HijackThis log to
http://www.spywareinfo.com/forums/
http://forums.tomcoyote.org/
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/ or the Spyware forum at
http://forum.aumha.org/viewforum.php?f=30 for expert analysis, not here.**
Alternative download pages for Ad-Aware, Spybot, HijackThis and CWShredder
may be found on this page:
http://aumha.org/a/parasite.htm.


See this link for information about malware:
http://arstechnica.com/articles/paedia/malware.ars

If nothing there helps, please post back to this thread.

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP, IE/OE
Please respond in Newsgroup only. Do not send email
http://www.fjsmjs.com
Protect your PC
http://www.microsoft.com./athome/security/protect/default.aspx

 

[Guest]

Hi Dave,

I'm glad to know that I'm not loosing my mind. For about
four days now I haven't been able to launch IE6 either.
However, I have no clue right now and no one at Microsoft
or Hp will speak to me without paying a service fee. If
you find out anything please share here. I will do the
same.

Good-luck

Cheryl

 

[Dave Powlin]

No dice. Thanks anyway.

I do not believe I am suffering from a hijacking or from spyware. I believe
something was uninstalled or a reg setting changed or removed. The OS
re-install somehow didn't fix me. I'd love to download the IE files and
reinstall the program, but for some crazy reason, Microsoft doesn't like
that methodology. I need to download the setup, which detects my version,
then it tells me I am good to go! Beautiful.

I'd also like to run WIndows Update, but again, the short-sighted folks in
Redmond don't care to make their software work on anything but IE. So I am
out of luck there, too. Why that is even browser-based is beyond me.

I only use IE for WIndows Updates and picture uploads to dotPhoto.com. I
think the browser is an outdated, bloated piece of crap. Unfortunately, it
is basically part of the OS and I need it to maintain my system. I can FTP
my pictures, but I can't find an automated solution for staying current with
patches and such outside of WU.

 

[Dave Powlin]

I'm glad to know that I'm not loosing my mind. For about
four days now I haven't been able to launch IE6 either.
However, I have no clue right now and no one at Microsoft
or Hp will speak to me without paying a service fee. If
you find out anything please share here. I will do the
same.

Open Windows Explorer, type www.mozilla.org in the address bar, download
Firefox 1.0, and don't look back.

Seriously.

Mike

 

[Don Varnau]

Cheryl.
This is probably being caused by third party programs- malware/parasites.

From Control Panel> Internet Options> Advanced> uncheck "Enable third party
browser extensions." That may allow IE to work.
You should re-enable browser extensions after the cleanup.

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

Then work through the solutions (CWShredder, Ad-aware, Spybot) at
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm Also note the security tips on that
page.

Additional information at:
The Parasite Fight http://www.aumha.org/a/quickfix.htm
More security tips at http://www.aumha.org/a/parasite.htm
Bugs, Glitches & Stuffups: http://www.mvps.org/inetexplorer/Darnit.htm

If these programs don't remove the malware, HijackThis should be used to
post a log to the appropriate forum at one of these sites.
HijackThis instructions and download:
http://www.tomcoyote.org/hjt/
http://www.aumha.org/downloads/hijackthis.exe
(Additional information and warnings)
http://www.aumha.org/a/parasite.php#hjt
http://www.merijn.org/files/hijackthis.zip

Forums:
http://forum.mvps.org/ Excellent help- low traffic. Visit
http://forum.aumha.org/viewtopic.php?t=4075 before posting the log.

http://castlecops.com/forums.html
http://tomcoyote.com/forums/
http://www.lavasoftsupport.com/
http://www.spywareinfo.com/forums/
http://boards.cexx.org/
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/index.php

Hope this helps,
Don
[MS MVP- IE/OE]

I'm glad to know that I'm not loosing my mind. For about
four days now I haven't been able to launch IE6 either.
However, I have no clue right now and no one at Microsoft
or Hp will speak to me without paying a service fee. If
you find out anything please share here. I will do the
same.

Good-luck

Cheryl

[snip]