I have been noticing this more and more, usually via links on Fark or other sites that have lots of advertisements. What happens is that as the page opens, a little grey box appears that says it is trying to access MS FrontPage. Since I don’t have the CD on my computer (why would I?) I get an error message that says FrontPage cannot be found and to either insert the disk or point to its location. This has been going on on two separate pcs, I have Norton anti-virus and keep it up to date, and there seems to be no ill effects to just hitting cancel a couple of times save for some ad (usually a pop-under) appearing with a little red x. Does anyone know what might be causing this trend, and if it has happened to anyone else?
Blame Microsoft. Certain web applications (e.g., Microsoft Web Access) require some component (it may have to do with the editing box in MSIE) that has something to do with FrontPage functions. But FrontPage does not load this element as part of its standard install. Thus, it asks for the disk to install it.
You can usually just cancel (often a couple of times) and get the editing box. Also, if you have the disk, you only need to use it once to install the component and never see the problem again.
I get it all the time around here. It’s annoying, but doesn’t have anything to do with a virus or spyware.