Internet Explorer has encountered a problem and needs to close...

[BG250]

I get this message immediately upon starting IE. I downloaded Ad Aware and
found several pieces of spyware and nuked it. That did not help, so I
installed EI 6 spk1. It installed okay, but the I still get the error, Next
I turned off the Browser helper objects. I tried double clicking on a .htm
file on the local C:\ drive in Windows explorer to open and I receive some
message that xiexpl~1.exe is not found.

Okay, WTF?? usually reinstalling IE fixes the problem, but I'm stumped on
this one.

The OS is Windows 2000 spk3, 512MB RAM, 80Gb drive.
Thanks for any ideas. bg

 

[Mike Burgess]

BG250,
Some program (usually spyware\parasite) may have overridden the URL prefix
setting?
Dealing with Unwanted Spyware, Parasites, Toolbars and Search Engines
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm

Includes: Repair the corrupted or altered (spyware) HTTP prefixes
See section: Various Registry Fixes = "RepairDefaultPrefix.reg"
[or - manually]
Open Regedit to the following locations and verify the below default
entries:
Start | Run (type) "regedit" (no quotes)

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\URL\DefaultPre
fix]
@="http://"

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\URL\Prefixes]
"ftp"="ftp://"
"gopher"="gopher://"
"home"="http://"
"mosaic"="http://"
"www"="http://"

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\URLSearchHooks]
"{CFBFAE00-17A6-11D0-99CB-00C04FD64497}"=""

Note: edit as needed, *always* Export before editing.
____________________________________________________________
Mike Burgess [MVP Windows Shell\User] http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/
Blocking Spyware, Adware, Parasites, Hijackers, Trojans, with a HOSTS file
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm [updated 11-08-03]
Please post replies to this Newsgroup, email address is invalid

 

[BG250]

I found the solution. I had to delete the "search bar" line from under
Hkey_current_user\software\microsoft\internet explorer\main in the
registry.