I never use Internet Explorer, only Firefox. Yet I keep getting pop-ups from Internet Explorer. These popups happen even when I’m not using a browser. A blank Internet Explorer screen pops up (my Internet Explorer won’t connect to the internet, another issue that has its own thred. Sorry for these stupid tech support threads, btw. I have a friend who usually helps me with this stuff but I don’t want to call him right now.)
Windows Explorer crashes for a few seconds when the pop-up comes, then starts up again. It’s driving me fucking nuts.
Ad-Aware, Spybot and AVG have failed to get rid of this problem. Is there some way of just blocking Internet Explorer from popping up, short of uninstalling the program?
IIRC you can go into the Control Panel, Add/Remove programs, Windows Components and stop IE functioning from there. You can’t remove it entirely though.
Good Lord, I thought I was the only one with this exact problem. It doesn’t matter if IE isn’t open – it just pops open a window and attempts to connect to some cookie-pushing site. Since I have cookies set to “always prompt,” I can usually block them from coming in, but still, it causes Windows Explorer to crash. And Ad-Aware, Spybot S&D, Norton Antivirus, AVG – none of them have done a thing. WTF??!
Sounds like a particularly nasty spyware infection. You will be better off addressing the root problem than dealing with just the symptoms. Download HijackThis to a folder on your desktop (not a temporary folder), scan with it, and save the log. Do not make any changes at this time. Post your log over at the SpywareInfo forums, and they will help you remove the baddies and cure the problem once and for all.
Spybot S&D - have you ‘Immunized’ and installed the hosts list from Spybot.
Firefox - have you installed Adblock Plus and the Adblock Filterset G.
Can’t remeber where but there is an extension that blocks flash popups too although I haven’t felt the need for it as I have never seen one (yet)
Why not try another browser and see if the same conditions apply. Opera 9 is excellent. There is also Maxthon and Slimbrowser but as they are both based on the IE engine they may not have sufficient detachment for you.
(the Opera link may be for Linux but I’m sure you can negotiate that)
You guys wouldn’t happen to be running Gigaget, the download manager? When I run that, it occasionally tosses up a blank IE popup (it’s trying to show ads and failing for some reason).
Also, some websites (ultimate-guitar.com) are made so that if you click any link on the site, it authorizes a pop-up…or at least that seems to be what happens on my machine, but that doesn’t seem like what the OP is experiencing…it sounds more like spyware…
Are you sure these are IE popups? It sounds like these could be Messenger Service popups. The Messenger Service is not the same as Windows/MSN Messenger, it is a “core” Windows service that is used for direct communication between computers. If you are not on a corporate network, you can turn it off with absolutely no ill effects, if it is running.
No, they’re absolutely IE popups. I disabled the messenger service a long time ago. Stupid useless junk… it’s some form of insidious spyware that’s extremely resiliant.
FYI, I do use Opera. But it doesn’t matter. Unless I delete the Internet Explorer executable, which I can’t do because sometimes I need to use it on certain parts of my university website that aren’t Opera- or Firefox-compatible yet, it constantly pops up IE windows. Even though IE isn’t the default web browser anymore, even.