Iexplore Services/iexplore.exe Problem

[Wayne]

Last week when booting up one morning, a windows message came up telling me
that I was trying to revert to a previous version of windows explorer. I
forget whether it gave me the ability to revert back or not but I did kill
the message without the system doing anything. My 'puter went ahead as
normal and booted up. I then went into startup, looking for something new.
There was an iexplore.exe startup that had not been there before. I then
did a search and found iexplore.exe in the windows\system folder. It was
similar in size but not exact to the real IE6 iexplore.exe in
c:\programfiles\internet explorer. In the startup folder, it's name was
iexplore services. After realizing that it may have come from a virus or
trojan, I scanned the file, along with the entire system with the latest
virus definitions from NAV 2002. Also Symantec Personal Firewall didn't
catch or find anything. So, I changed the name to iexplorerold.exe and ran
my system for a few days. No more startup problem or other problems. I
deleted the file from my system 2 days ago, still no problems.

Now, does anyone know what put this application on my computer and what may
have been the motive? Is there anyway that I could have kept this
application from getting on my computer because NAV and Symantec didn't do
it? Thanks in advance.

 

[Robin T Cox]

Last week when booting up one morning, a windows message came up
telling me that I was trying to revert to a previous version of
windows explorer. I forget whether it gave me the ability to revert
back or not but I did kill the message without the system doing
anything. My 'puter went ahead as normal and booted up. I then went
into startup, looking for something new. There was an iexplore.exe
startup that had not been there before. I then did a search and
found iexplore.exe in the windows\system folder. It was similar in
size but not exact to the real IE6 iexplore.exe in
c:\programfiles\internet explorer. In the startup folder, it's name
was iexplore services. After realizing that it may have come from a
virus or trojan, I scanned the file, along with the entire system
with the latest virus definitions from NAV 2002. Also Symantec
Personal Firewall didn't catch or find anything. So, I changed the
name to iexplorerold.exe and ran my system for a few days. No more
startup problem or other problems. I deleted the file from my system
2 days ago, still no problems.

Now, does anyone know what put this application on my computer and
what may have been the motive? Is there anyway that I could have
kept this application from getting on my computer because NAV and
Symantec didn't do it? Thanks in advance.

It's hard to tell what exactly might have caused your problem:
iexplore.exe gets used by various nasties as a cloak for their
activities, as you probably know. If you'd like an expert in-detail
examination of your system, do this:

If you don't already have it, get Spybot S&D. There's a short tutorial
and download link here:
http://tomcoyote.org/SPYBOT/

After installing, press Online, and search for, put a check mark at, and
install all updates.

Fix everything SpybotSD labels in red.

Reboot, and then test your system. If your problem isn't gone (or if
you're unsure)-

Download 'Hijack This!'. http://www.tomcoyote.org/hjt/
Unzip, doubleclick HijackThis.exe, and hit "Scan".

When the scan is finished, the "Scan" button will change into a "Save
Log"
button.
Press that, save the log, load it in Notepad, and copy its contents.
Most of what it lists will be harmless or even essential, don't fix
anything yet.

Then go to http://www.spywareinfo.com/forums/

Just Sign in, or post as a guest,and go to the Spyware and
Hijackware Removal section. Press "new topic", explain your problem,
and
copy and paste the contents of the Hijack This log into your new
message.

 

[Wayne]

Thanks for your reply, Robin. Before I do anything, I'm going to let my
system run normally for a few more days and see if I can notice anything out
of the norm. I think that I fixed my problem by 1) not letting it change my
IE6 iexplore to the other iexplorer at boot-up, 2) removing it from my
startup folder, 3) changing the name and observing for a few days, and 4)
finally deleting the file. I'll copy your post over to my IE folder because
I may need to follow your instructions later. Thanks once again.