Internet Explorer mass openings

[Pete]

This is driving me crazy. Whenever I click on an email address on a web
page, Internet Explorer goes bonkers and opens as many windows as I have
memory available. This may be anything up to 50 or 60 over the course of
5 seconds or so. There are some other circumstance which cause this that
I haven't figured out yet but I know for sure it happens when I click on
an email address that normally opens a new message window in Outlook
Express. I'd love some assistance!

Specs:
Windows XP Pro SP1
Internet Explorer 6.0.28xxx
All IE windows display "Action Canceled"
From Task Manager, each window displays as "No page to display"

 

[DJ Borell]

This is driving me crazy. Whenever I click on an email address on a web
page, Internet Explorer goes bonkers and opens as many windows as I have
memory available. This may be anything up to 50 or 60 over the course of
5 seconds or so. There are some other circumstance which cause this that
I haven't figured out yet but I know for sure it happens when I click on
an email address that normally opens a new message window in Outlook
Express. I'd love some assistance!

Specs:
Windows XP Pro SP1
Internet Explorer 6.0.28xxx
All IE windows display "Action Canceled"
From Task Manager, each window displays as "No page to display"

Scan your system for spyware using AdAware, Spybot or most anything else.

 

[Malke]

Scan your system for spyware using AdAware, Spybot or most anything
else.

Just to elaborate on DJ's excellent advice - you undoubtedly have
malware on your system. Go through the following removal steps, doing
everything with updated tools in Safe Mode.

1) Scan in Safe Mode with current version (not earlier than 2004)
antivirus using updated definitions.

Before you remove malware, get LSPFix (or WinSockFix for XP which you
can get from MajorGeeks) - see links below.

2) Remove spyware with Spybot Search & Destroy and Ad-aware. These
programs are free, so use them both since they complement each other.
There is a new version of CWShredder from Intermute. I would not
install the other Intermute programs, however. Alternately, there are
CoolWebSearch malware removal steps at SilentRunners.

Be sure to update these programs before running, and it is a good idea
to do virus/spyware scans in Safe Mode. Make sure you are able to see
all hidden files and extensions (View tab in Folder Options).

If the malware remains even after you used Ad-aware and Spybot, you can
scan with HijackThis. HijackThis is an excellent tool to discover and
disable hijackers, but it requires expert skill. See below for
HijackThis links, including sites where you can post your HJT logs. A
combination of HijackThis and About:Buster works well in removing the
About:Blank homepage hijacker. Again, this is an expert tool and
novices should get help with it.

3) If you are running Windows ME or XP, you should disable/enable System
Restore after the system is clean because malware will be in the
Restore Points. With ME, you must disable System Restore completely.
With XP, you can delete all but the most recent (presumably clean)
System Restore point from the More Options section of Disk Cleanup
(Run>cleanmgr).

4) Make sure you've visited Windows Update and applied all security
patches. Do not install driver updates from Windows Update.

5) Run a firewall.

Links to help with malware:

Software/Methods:
http://www.safer-networking.org - Spybot Search & Destroy
http://www.lavasoftusa.com - Ad-aware
http://www.majorgeeks.com - good download site
http://www.intermute.com/spysubtract/cwshredder_download.html
http://www.silentrunners.org/sr_cwsremoval.html. - SilentRunners
http://www.cexx.org/lspfix.htm - Repair Winsock 2 settings after
removing spyware
http://www.spychecker.com/program/winsockxpfix.html - WinsockXPFix.exe

HijackThis:
http://www.aumha.org/a/hjttutor.htm - HijackThis tutorial by Jim
Eshelman
http://aumha.net - forums
http://spywarewarrior.com/viewforum.php?f=5 - Spyware Warrior HijackThis
forum
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/
http://forums.tomcoyote.org/

General:
http://aumha.net - look under "Security" for various forums
http://rgharper.mvps.org/cleanit.htm
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm
http://www.aumha.org/a/parasite.htm - The Parasite Fight
http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm

Malke

 

[Pete]

Thanks DJ and particularly Malke for your detailed response.

Malke, I have downloaded, updated, and run Spybot Search & Destroy,
Ad-aware, and Norton Antivirus 2005 (I have this installed) in safe
mode. Both Search & Destroy and Ad-aware reported a couple of problems
each, which I fixed. Norton reported all was ok. This did not fix the
problem. I next downloaded and used WinSockFix for XP. The problem
persisted after this also and I decided to reinstall the backed up
registry as it stuffed the settings for my PDA.

I have all the Windows updates except for resisting the upgrade to SP2
(I have the disk but am reluctant to do it).

I have not tried the HijackThis pathway as yet, but I did a bit of
Googling and found a similar problem reported by another user. The
solution was as follows:

"yes, I had the same thing happen to me, you need to go into IE
tools>Internet options>programs>and check to see if you have your
outlook express as your email program, if nothing is there, and you
click on a email link in IE, you get multiple windows opening."

Now this is interesting because the problem seemed to start after I made
Outlook Express my default email program from a window that appeared out
of the blue. When I follow the instructions above I find that "Microsoft
Outlook" is the only selectable option for the email program although
Outlook Express is available for news groups. This may well be the
problem. This must relate to a registry setting somewhere. Any clues??

 

[Pete]

FYI, I did even more Googling and found a solution at
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/oemissing.htm :

Click Start, Run and type the following commands one by one:

MSIMN.EXE /REG
regsvr32 "%ProgramFiles%\Outlook Express\msoe.dll"

This restores Outlook Express under the email clients list. The
above-said registry key is now recreated. The second command registers
the DLL Path for Outlook Express, as it's a requirement for MAPI calls *

So, not a spyware problem but a registry issue.

Thanks for your help!!!

 

[Malke]

FYI, I did even more Googling and found a solution at
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/oemissing.htm :

Click Start, Run and type the following commands one by one:

MSIMN.EXE /REG
regsvr32 "%ProgramFiles%\Outlook Express\msoe.dll"

This restores Outlook Express under the email clients list. The
above-said registry key is now recreated. The second command registers
the DLL Path for Outlook Express, as it's a requirement for MAPI calls
*

So, not a spyware problem but a registry issue.

Thanks for your help!!!

Excellent! I'm glad you got it fixed. Thanks for taking the time to post
the solution. This will help others.

Malke