IE calls home

[bo]

A friend has just gotten Zone Alarm and we have discovered that his computer
with windows ME
tries to access Internet Explorer as soon as he connects (via Earthlink
56K).

I have looked at it but can't find why IE is trying to get out.

I have checked for viruses (using AVG). (I had to remove 6 instances of Bug
Bear).
His system is clean of viruses (now) and I also used Spybot to clean his
system of
spyware. Still the machine tries to access IE. I allowed it to access IE
and it brought
up his home page.

But still, it shouldn't access the internet without clicking on IE. What
could the
problem be? How do I help him find the culprit??

Thanks

 

[bo]

It is.
Thanks

 

[Nick FitzGerald]

A friend has just gotten Zone Alarm and we have discovered that his computer
with windows ME
tries to access Internet Explorer as soon as he connects (via Earthlink
56K).

What do you mean "windows ME tries to access IE"?

Do you mean that ZA warns you that IE is trying to connect to the Internet?

I have looked at it but can't find why IE is trying to get out.

Sounds here like you do...

I have checked for viruses (using AVG). (I had to remove 6 instances of Bug
Bear).
His system is clean of viruses (now) and I also used Spybot to clean his
system of
spyware. Still the machine tries to access IE. I allowed it to access IE
and it brought
up his home page.

Well, maybe he has a shortcut to his homepage in his Startup folder?

Or one of the billion other ways of getting a program to run at startup may
have been set to start IE, which will naturally go to its configured start
page...

But still, it shouldn't access the internet without clicking on IE. What
could the
problem be? How do I help him find the culprit??

The "problem" could be that you think there is one...

 

[Eric]

What do you mean "windows ME tries to access IE"?

Do you mean that ZA warns you that IE is trying to connect to the Internet?

Sounds here like you do...


Well, maybe he has a shortcut to his homepage in his Startup folder?

Or one of the billion other ways of getting a program to run at startup may
have been set to start IE, which will naturally go to its configured start
page...


The "problem" could be that you think there is one...

the real question is how are you bringing up the connection? If you are
clicking on a link or something and IE is your default browser, then of
course ZA is going to say that IE is trying to connect. But if you are
going through dial-up connections out of the "My Computer" Menu, that
shouldn't happen. Sometimes though IE wants to "call home" when it is
looking for an updated version.

If you are connecting through an Earthlink connection icon on your desktop,
it could be running a batch file that opens IE automatically, and to correct
that you may have to get into the Earthlink file which I wouldn't recommend
unless you are well versed in code.

Eric

 

[bo]

Hi,
Thanks. But no shortcut in start. He selects Earthlink DUN shortcut first
thing. I have never seen
Earthlink open IE on it's own. I used to use Earthlink and have seen it on
many computers.
But you are right, it is as if something is calling up the home page on
startup. But I can't
figure out what.
Thanks again

 

[Stephen A]

| shouldn't happen. Sometimes though IE wants to "call home" when it is
| looking for an updated version.

It calls home to check for an updated version every 30 days by default.
You can disable this by modifying the registry as follows.

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Internet
Explorer\Infodelivery\Restrictions]
"NoUpdateCheck"=dword:00000001

Twinkle.

 

[Stephen A]

| Hi,
| Thanks. But no shortcut in start. He selects Earthlink DUN shortcut
first
| thing. I have never seen
| Earthlink open IE on it's own. I used to use Earthlink and have seen
it on
| many computers.
| But you are right, it is as if something is calling up the home page
on
| startup. But I can't
| figure out what.
| Thanks again

Check these registry entries. I have included my values so you know
what default setting is.

- Twinkle.


[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main]
"NoUpdateCheck"=dword:00000001
"Local Page"="C:\\WINNT\\System32\\blank.htm"
"Start Page"="http://www.google.co.uk/"
"Search
Page"="http://www.microsoft.com/isapi/redir.dll?prd=ie&ar=iesearch"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main]
"Default_Page_URL"="http://www.microsoft.com/isapi/redir.dll?prd=ie&pver
=6&ar=msnhome"
"Default_Search_URL"="http://www.microsoft.com/isapi/redir.dll?prd=ie&ar
=iesearch"
"Search
Page"="http://www.microsoft.com/isapi/redir.dll?prd=ie&ar=iesearch"
"Local
Page"=hex(2):25,00,53,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,52,00,6f,00,6f,\

00,74,00,25,00,5c,00,73,00,79,00,73,00,74,00,65,00,6d,00,33,00,32,00,5c,
00,\
62,00,6c,00,61,00,6e,00,6b,00,2e,00,68,00,74,00,6d,00,00,00
"Start
Page"="http://www.microsoft.com/isapi/redir.dll?prd={SUB_PRD}&clcid={SUB
_CLSID}&pver={SUB_PVER}&ar=home"

 

[dude]

Check yer "shell" entry in system.ini;Not sure but Windows ME may migrate
these entries intot he regostry upon boot, if that happens you may have to
search your registry for the shell=explorer.exe string and change it there
also.

C:\Windows\System.ini file: the [boot] section:

[boot]
shell=explorer.exe

I've seen nasty spyware make the above entry look like this:

[boot]
shell=explorer.exe
http:\\www.spywarepagebeingloadedfrombootoradvertisingpopupbeingloadedfromboot.com

Obviously you would put it back to explorer.exe and save it, then set the
"read-only" bit using the porperty window sheet.

Cheers,

Jon