D
Dazza
Mr brother has an unusual problem that I personally think he should be
very concerned about.
About a year ago, the file Iexplorer.exe disaapeared from it's directory
and he can now only use Netscape to surf the internet.
I located a copy of the file in i386 and placed this in the Internet
Explorer directory. However, whenever it is launched, he just gets a
page not found/DNS error (all LAN settings for his broadband are
correct). Typing the URL in the address bar of Windows Explorer works
fine however.
Other problems he has is that when he clicks on the Internet Explorer
icon on the desktop, all it does is create a shortcut on the desktop (a
new shortcut is created each and every time!). Also he can no longer
use Messenger (Windows or MSN). When he attempts to sign in, it
instantly states no connection messages. I have run the troubleshoot on
this and all shows up as fine.
I have looked in the Event Logs for any messages that may give me clues
to the problem but found nothing.
I also note some other anomolies with his system. In Task Manager
processes named Fast and FastTask are running (fast user switching and
fast task switching). These I know are not normal in the task manager.
There are also anomolies in the registry. Navigating to
HKEY/Current_User/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion there is the
normal keys for Run and RunOnce but both are empty. Instead there are
extra keys named Run- and RunOnce- with all the startup keys in them.
The same applies to the local machine path.
Whilst Windows seems to be running fine and Norton AV shows no viruses,
I am concerned that something he may have installed has caused hidden
issues with his system. I tried to re-install IE6 but was unable to as
I get the message regards a newer version already being present. The
same problems applies when trying to run Windows Update and XP SP2.
Any pointers to where to start to resolve this problem (without doing a
system rebuild) is appreciated.
Regards
Dazza
very concerned about.
About a year ago, the file Iexplorer.exe disaapeared from it's directory
and he can now only use Netscape to surf the internet.
I located a copy of the file in i386 and placed this in the Internet
Explorer directory. However, whenever it is launched, he just gets a
page not found/DNS error (all LAN settings for his broadband are
correct). Typing the URL in the address bar of Windows Explorer works
fine however.
Other problems he has is that when he clicks on the Internet Explorer
icon on the desktop, all it does is create a shortcut on the desktop (a
new shortcut is created each and every time!). Also he can no longer
use Messenger (Windows or MSN). When he attempts to sign in, it
instantly states no connection messages. I have run the troubleshoot on
this and all shows up as fine.
I have looked in the Event Logs for any messages that may give me clues
to the problem but found nothing.
I also note some other anomolies with his system. In Task Manager
processes named Fast and FastTask are running (fast user switching and
fast task switching). These I know are not normal in the task manager.
There are also anomolies in the registry. Navigating to
HKEY/Current_User/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion there is the
normal keys for Run and RunOnce but both are empty. Instead there are
extra keys named Run- and RunOnce- with all the startup keys in them.
The same applies to the local machine path.
Whilst Windows seems to be running fine and Norton AV shows no viruses,
I am concerned that something he may have installed has caused hidden
issues with his system. I tried to re-install IE6 but was unable to as
I get the message regards a newer version already being present. The
same problems applies when trying to run Windows Update and XP SP2.
Any pointers to where to start to resolve this problem (without doing a
system rebuild) is appreciated.
Regards
Dazza