Explorer Window Hangs / Process doesn't end

[Guest]

How do I resolve this issue? I can open IE, surf the web, and then close the
window. It appears normal until I try to open IE again. At this point
nothing happens. I can open other programs, but after a bit they too seem to
hang. When I do and Alt+Ctrl+Del, I get several windows popping up asking me
to end certain processes. These processes are for all the internet sites I
had visited. Even though I had closed down those windows the system, in the
background, thinks they are still going.

Now to avoid this problem and having to restart my computer every time I get
through surfing the web, I have to hit Alt+Ctrl+Del and "end task" the IE
function. I go through the process of clicking on several "ends" and then
next time I can reopen IE with no problems.

I have checked the knowledge base and found no assistance. I have updated
(auto updates every day) my virus software, I have all of MSN's "stuff" to
help protect my computer, and I've checked for adware/spyware.

Any assistance? I just don't have $100 to pay Microsoft to fix one of their
issues. I'm running IE6 on Windows XP home ed. and have all updates
available at this time. I found one issue that sounded like mine, but there
is suppose to be a hotfix in the xp svc pk 2, which I have! HELP

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP OE]

How do I resolve this issue? I can open IE, surf the web, and then
close the window. It appears normal until I try to open IE again.
At this point nothing happens. I can open other programs, but after
a bit they too seem to hang. When I do and Alt+Ctrl+Del, I get
several windows popping up asking me to end certain processes. These
processes are for all the internet sites I had visited. Even though
I had closed down those windows the system, in the background, thinks
they are still going.

Now to avoid this problem and having to restart my computer every
time I get through surfing the web, I have to hit Alt+Ctrl+Del and
"end task" the IE function. I go through the process of clicking on
several "ends" and then next time I can reopen IE with no problems.

I have checked the knowledge base and found no assistance. I have
updated (auto updates every day) my virus software, I have all of
MSN's "stuff" to help protect my computer, and I've checked for
adware/spyware.

Any assistance? I just don't have $100 to pay Microsoft to fix one
of their issues. I'm running IE6 on Windows XP home ed. and have all
updates available at this time. I found one issue that sounded like
mine, but there is suppose to be a hotfix in the xp svc pk 2, which I
have! HELP

You might be infested with malware.

So How Did I Get Infected Anyway?
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=27971

Help with Hijackware
All MS - MVP Sites.
http://aumha.org/a/parasite.htm
(http://aumha.org/a/quickfix.htm)
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware
(http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm)
(http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/darnit.html)
(http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k/Malware_Defence.htm)

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

 

[Guest]

I am running Windows Defender and supposedly do not have a spyware problem.
Any other recommendations?

 

[Jon Kennedy]

Windows Defender is in beta, and besides, one product doesn't necessarily
catch all malware - best to use two or three products like Ad-Aware and
Spybot S&D, for example. Even then, sometimes all that doesn't catch a new
or variant malware program and then you'll need HJT. I'd follow through
with all that Frank suggested.

 

[Guest]

Hi, Jon. Thanks so much for responding. I did try all of Frank's
suggestions, and I have used different programs to check for malware,
spyware, etc. Supposedly my computer is clean. I just don't know what else
to do at this point. I even removed some added programs thinking that may be
the culprit, but no such luck. Something I added undoubtedly caused this
problem, but having a hard time fixing it. I certainly don't want to start
my computer from "scratch" but will do it as a last resort if needed. I'm
hoping someone else has a solution or idea before I get to that point.

At this point, I have to close all internet explorer sessions by doing an
ALT+CTRL+DEL and "ending task" on the session. Otherwise the next explorer
session hangs up, and the previous sessions (websites) are still processing
in the background.

Thanks again for the insight!

 

[Jon Kennedy]

It could be a browser extension (aka BHO - Browser Helper Object or add-on)
that is not considered to be malware/spyware that is acting up. In IE go to
Tools...Internet Options...Advanced tab, Browsing section - uncheck "Enable
third-party browser extensions", click Apply, click Okay. Reboot. This
will disable all of them. If this helps, then in IE go back and enable them
again, and then go to Tools...Manage Add-ons and disable two or three at a
time to narrow down the culprit. If no joy, then run HiJackThis and post
the output to an appropriate forum for the experts to analyze.

My boilerplate reply on spyware/malware issues:

This may be caused by spyware/malware that's gotten installed on
your system. Use Ad-Aware, Windows Defender and/or Spybot Search & Destroy
to remove it.

Windows Defender (beta)
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx
Ad-Aware: http://www.lavasoftusa.com/
Spybot: http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html
Good sites on how to install and use Spybot -
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/tutorial/index.html
http://tomcoyote.com/SPYBOT/index1.php

Also download a winsock repair tool, to have just in case cleaning up
anything found breaks it -

Winsock repair tools:
LSPFix- all versions of Windows http://www.cexx.org/lspfix.zip
Winsock2 Fix- Win98, ME
http://www.bu.edu/pcsc/internetaccess/winsock2fix.html
LavaSoft- all versions of Windows-
http://digital-solutions.co.uk/lavasoft/whndnfix.zip

More information here:
http://www.spywareinfo.com/
http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/tshoot.html
http://spywarewarrior.com/sww-help.htm

If no joy, in IE go to Tools...Internet Options...Advanced tab, Browsing
section, uncheck "Enable third-party browser extensions", click Apply, click
Okay, reboot. If that solves your problem, then more troubleshooting is
needed to find out exactly which program, or Browser Helper Object (BHO) is
causing this problem. You don't want to leave it at that, as some BHOs are
useful or necessary - like Adobe Acrobat for reading .pdf files or an
essential component of Norton AV. Get BHODemon -
http://www.definitivesolutions.com/bhodemon.htm - read all about BHOs.
Disable all items, and then gradually replace one or two at a time to narrow
down the culprit.

Or if you have IE 6 SP-2 you can do this within the browser:
How to manage Internet Explorer add-ons in Windows XP Service Pack 2
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;883256

If all the above fails, then the problem could be something new that the
spyware cleaners above don't have in their databases yet. In that case....
HijackThis direct download:
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/files/hijackthis.zip
Tutorial on how to use HijackThis:
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/htlogtutorial.html
Then post it's output log to the forum here for analysis and feedback by the
parasite experts:
http://www.spywareinfo.com/forums/
Or the other HijackThis Logs forums listed here:
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/forums.html

Or try this program to get some of the most nasty malware:
CWShredder direct download:
http://aumha.org/downloads/cwshredder.zip

An alternate resource for all of this and more:
http://www.aumha.org/secure.htm

 

[Guest]

Well, before I could do this I saw there was IE 7.0b2 so I downloaded that to
try. So far I have not had this same problem. I did go and try disabling
several add-ons so I'm thinking you are right and that was the problem.