Strange Browser Problem: Please Advise

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Okay. I’ve got a rather odd computer issue.

I’m on a PC running Windows XP and when I try to use a web browser it stops loading after one or two pages (per boot). Firefox and IE are both affected. I know it’s not my connection because E-Mail, AIM, even online multiplayer Halo all work fine This has been going on since late last night.

This morning, I did a scan for spyware (with ad-aware) and viruses (with avast!). ad-aware only came up with a handfull of cookies, but avast! found a trojan. I ordered it deleted but the problem persists.

Here’s the really weird thing: I tried running a boot scan, and it came up with nothing. However, once it was done, I can browse to my heart’s content (until my next reboot, that is). So, what’s the deal? A really sneaky virus that hides when scanned for and comes out later? The gods trying to cure my SD addiction and/or promote fanatical computer safety? What?

2

With any browser loading weirdness I usually delete all my temporary files, and that usually clears up the problem. I hope this helps.

For IE:

Tools -> Internet Options -> Temporary Internet Files -> Delete

(Sometimes this can take several minutes to complete.)

3

Huh. I had already done that with firefox, which is my only browser for the last few months, and it didn’t work. But I just cleared IE’s temp files, and now it seems to be working.

Weird.

Thanks!