Search Button no longer works with IE6

[Don Ferguson]

I had previously posted this message in
Microsoft.public.windows.inetexplorer, but I believe that this is a more
appropriate location. So sorry for the double post. I am running on
Windows XP Professional. All service packs and updates have been applied.

I have a new problem that has recently come up with IE6. It seems that when
I go to various search sites such as Google and click the search button,
nothing happens. If I log in with a different profile, it works fine. If I
create a new profile, the problem exists in the new profile. If I perform a
system restore to a point in time well before this problem started
occurring, it doesn't help. I have also queried for this problem (with the
working profile) in Google Groups. I do find reports of others who have
this problem, but no solutions that lead to a fix have been offered. I
suppose I could perform a clean install, but I am not ready to go to those
extreme measures yet. I have also tried reinstalling IE6, as well as
resetting web settings. If I am logged into the non working profile and
launch IE6 using "run as" with the good profile, searches also work. I also
tried Mozilla, which allows the search button to work. So this seems to be
an IE/profile issue. If anyone has come across a solution to this problem,
I would appreciate the help.

 

[H Leboeuf]

If unable to use any major Search Engines?
Qhosts virus/trojan, ALERT!.

http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/trojan.qhosts.html

http://vil.nai.com/vil/content/v_100719.htm

http://www.sophos.com/virusinfo/analyses/trojqhosts1.html

Removal tools that have been used with success.
http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/CIS/Software_Services/virus/index.html
http://software.brown.edu/dist/w-cleanqhosts.html

To protect against an other attack, be sure to install hotfix 828750 which
fixes the exploit that this virus uses.
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/downloads/critical/828750/default.asp

 

[Don Ferguson]

I checked for the footprint of qhosts on my computer and didn't find it.
Nevertheless, I went ahead and ran the cleanhosts utility, rebooted and
still have the problem.

Question:

Would a computer infected with QHOSTS be able to work fine with Mozilla?

 

[H Leboeuf]

Do not know about Mozilla.

Read this article and if applicable try the tool with the release switch.
The Syntax and Options for Using the Ipconfig Diagnostic Utility for Network
Connections
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314850 (XP 8/6/2002)

Or,

It may be a HOSTS file problem if only Google is affected.
Look for a file named HOSTS (no extension, could be hidden) rename it
OLDHOSTS.

If you did not create the file, then you may have parasites, or you are
using a web accelerator program that would be causing this problem.
--

Try this: Tools > Internet Options > Advanced > Browsing
Uncheck the Enable 3rd party browser extensions

If this clears your problem then find out who the culprit(s) is/are with
these tools.

Let AD-Aware Scan your system for advertising Spyware
http://www.lavasoftusa.com

and:

SpyBot-S&D
http://security.kolla.de/

p.s Reset the 3rd party browser setting.

More: This may be caused by a third-party program (adware, spyware,
parasite).
Get AdAware and SpyBot and run them both. Keep them up to date.
Dealing with Unwanted Spyware, Parasites, Toolbars and Search Engines
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm

Additional link:
http://aumha.org/a/quickfix.htm


You may need this removal tool.
More: Complete list by variant with up-to-date information.
http://www.merijn.org/cwschronicles.html
More: Removal tool: http://www.merijn.org/files/cwshredder.zip


Henri Leboeuf
Web page: http://www.colba.net/~hlebo49/index.htm
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