Hundreds of IE windows keep opening

[Wolverana]

Hiya,
I have had this problem for years actually but it's only
happened occassionally. Both with 2k and XP only. I'm on
a fresh reformat as of this weekend of 2k and it's
happened to me 2 times today now.

I'm surfing away and all of a sudden a zillion IE browser
windows open faster than I can possibly try to shut them
down and never ending openings of them. I eventually just
have to restart the computer, sometimes manually with the
off button when the windows don't always allow me to get
to the shut down screen.

I have run virus scans over the past couple years on more
than one computer for this exact problem and nothing is
ever found, no virus, no spyware but there is most
definitely a problem here and I sure would like to know
what.

Let me know what you may need to know from me for this and
I'll let you know more, here's basic specs:

Sony Vaio rx470ds, 1.5 ghz pentium, 60gb hd, Win2k, using
dialup (did it with cable also), mcafee virus program,
Incredimail email program, 528 mb RDRam, on board SoundMax
audio, smart explorer browser on default, has done it with
most all the software on and off but really couldn't say
whether it's something in a piece of software I have on it
or not.

Thanks for your help,
Wolverana

 

[DL]

Try Adaware and or SpyBot, both free www.lavasoft.nu
Not all AV apps identify Spyware.
David

 

[Chuck]

I saw this happen once, ran virus s/w and found nothing.
Then I found out there was a very elusive, sneaky Trojan
Horse virus on my computer in the MBR. Without a
fdisk/mbr command, i would have never eradicated it. It
was called w32.gadbot. or something like that.

 

[Guest]

DL: I ran the adaware (purchased it a while back already)
and nothing found with that either.

Chuck: I can't find anything on anything with even w32.ga
in google can you be more specific or find out what it was
called for sure? I have no clue where to go with it from
here myself so would surely appreciate the nudge in the
right direction, thanks

 

[Wolverana]

DL: I ran the adaware (purchased it a while back already)
and nothing found with that either.

Chuck: I can't find anything on anything with even w32.ga
in google can you be more specific or find out what it was
called for sure? I have no clue where to go with it from
here myself so would surely appreciate the nudge in the
right direction, thanks

 

[DL]

I guess I should have asked, are these IE windows to any particular series
of sites, or duplicates of what you happen to be browsing, at the time.
David

 

[Guest]

They aren't to anything that I can see, I'm really not
sure to be honest because they never ever finish loading
anything they just try loading a site forever and ever and
of course it goes so fast I can't really find out because
within about 20 seconds there are at least 50 to 100 IE
windows open. Sometimes it causes my Download Accelerator
to open and sometimes not. It could be that it's the site
I'm on but I'm just really not sure.

 

[Jay Somerset]

This can be caused by accessing a URL that actually contains a simple script
that makes your browser loop repeatedly opening up new windows and attaching
to another site. If you save the file and inspect it with a text editor,
you will probably see the script.

This is a typical "Denial of Service" (DOS) ploy that some malicious website
creators foist on the rest of the world. Just boycott that site, and/or
report the offender to the ISP that carries his web page.

 

[Wolverana]

OMG are you serious? It's not me but sites that I've
visited? That would be the best news I've heard in years
LOL I surely hope you are right and I will most definitely
be watching where I'm going from now on and trying not to
open too many windows while I'm doing so so I can see what
sites I am at to know.

As I mentioned below in the original message, it goes so
fast I can't do a thing to see where it is going or even
think to try to save any file or inspect it as I can't do
anything but restart my machine. I've tried shutting them
all down but they move to fast and in fact have only
succeeded in doing so once over the past years so I gave
up on trying and just shut down.

Is it possible to block this type of script without losing
functionality of my browser for other sites and such? If
so do you know how I would do this?

Thanks for this info and if anyone can verify this or has
any other explainations please don't stop here in case
this truly isn't the problem. Thanks again all for your
help

Wolv

 

[Jay Somerset]

The only way to block this (that I know of) is to disable scripting in your
browser. In IE, go to Tools>Security and click on "Custom Level". In the
drop down list, disable Active Scripting (fairly near the end of the list).
That should do it. If it doesn't, disable to two other scripting modes.

Good luck. Hope this was the cause of your trouble.

 

[Jisha]

I've been watching this thread for a while, because I have this problem, but
only when connecting to an ABCnews site... certainly not a "disreputable"
site... Only way to stop it is to shut it down in task manager.

Funny thing is that it _also_ happens on the same site with the built-in
browser in RealOne (I'm usually looking at video news...)

Curious...

 

[Jay Somerset]

I've been watching this thread for a while, because I have this problem, but
only when connecting to an ABCnews site... certainly not a "disreputable"
site... Only way to stop it is to shut it down in task manager.

Funny thing is that it _also_ happens on the same site with the built-in
browser in RealOne (I'm usually looking at video news...)

Curious...

This certainly sounds like something different, but clearly associated with
the ABCnews site. Please post the exact URL, and I will take a look at it.

 

[Jisha]

Hi Jay,

Thanks for the reply.
I've been trying to reproduce that error, and find that I can't.
But, I had _just_ done a repair to IE from Add/Remove Programs when I
saw your reply.
(Apparently it actually was a bit "broken".)
RealOne browser seems to be free of that glitch also.

Could be entirely coincidental.

Or, could also have been bad programming on the web-site... that got
fixed...
but my gut feeling doesn't agree... the problem had been happening for at
least a month before I altogether avoided the site for a few weeks.

Too many unknowns to really make any competent judgment here.
But, perhaps someone else with the problem on this thread can try the
Add/Remove Programs>>Repair for IE, and post back their results?

If it happens again, I'll post back.

Thanks again,
Chris

 

[Wolverana]

Thanks again, I will try that and see, I have set it to
prompt me (already getting annoyed with that so we'll see
how long that lasts LOL. I'll turn it off if it bugs me
too much to have to answer it all the time but maybe if I
leave it this way I will get the site that does it and be
able to try to replicate it. Thanks for the feedback and
lets hope this is really the trouble

Wolv