Internet Explorer Browser comes on and disappears

[Janet]

When I click on my Internet Explorer Browser it will come
on for a about 1 1/2 seconds and then disappears. I've
downloaded the latest 6.0 pack. My operating system is
Windows XP Home Edition 2002, and my computer is a Sony
VAIO PCG-GRV670 laptop. Why is this happening? Since
this operating system came installed on my computer, do I
have to do a whole "system recovery?" I'm afraid I'll
lose whatever I've added on to my computer. HELP! Any
solution would be appreciated. I've called Sony and they
were nice but not very helpful and told me to call
Microsoft, which I did, but they weren't helpful either.
Thank you--Janet

 

[Don Varnau]

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

From Control Panel> Internet Options> Advanced> uncheck "Enable third party
browser extensions." That should allow IE to work.

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

Download and run Run CWShredder from
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html
CWShredder is only about 125 KB so it could be downloaded from another
machine onto a floppy disk if necessary.

Then download, install, *update* and run both of these programs:
Ad-aware from http://www.lavasoft.de/software/adaware/
Spybot from http://security.kolla.de/ (Remove items listed in red-others are
optional.)
Both programs should be updated after installation- before use.

Security tips and other information at:
Dealing with Unwanted Spyware and Parasites:
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm

You should re-enable browser extensions after the cleanup.

There are other possible solutions in this MSKB article:
276393 - Understanding and Troubleshooting Unrecoverable Errors (Faults) in
Internet Explorer: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=276393

Don