Internet Explorer Encounters Errors?

Hi.....I am running windows 98SE with IE6.0.....while browsing, I "repeatedly" get a popup window that says IE has encountered a problem and must shut down. This happens over and over about every 5-10 minutes. It's driving me nuts! I went to uninstall and chose to repair IE but that didn't help....I have run spybot, adaware, virus scan, etc. Nothing much shows up. Can someone help me solve this problem?
Katy

 

Try disabling IE's add-ons. In IE, click tools>internet options>programs. Then click on the button that says "manage add-ons ". Disable all of them and see if the problem goes away. If so, you can re-enable them few at time until you find the one that's causing the problem.

 

In my experience, most of the time this is caused by malware telling windows that it is an important part of Internet explorer. When the malware attempts to do something which is not allowed, windows blames IE and makes it close.

Please download
Mcafee stinger multivirus removal tool
Install and run
Spybot search and destroy
Ad aware personal form Lavasoft
Install, update, check for problems , fix problems.
A Squared trojan remover
Download, install, update, scan and fix.

If that fails to solve it get hijackthis
Hijackthis
Download, unzip and extract to a permanent folder of your creation such as C:\ProgramFiles\Hijackthis\Hijackthis.exe
Run and choose scan and save logfile. Copy the contents of the notepad window which opens and post it here.

 

I have run adaware and spybot. When I tried to install hijack this I get the following message ....... "a required .DLL file, MSVBVM60.DLL was not found" What does this mean?
thanks!

 

I have tried to install those other applications and am getting windows that say different DLL files are missing? Oh boy.....now what?

 

http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html
From the author

That may also be the cause of your problem, corrupt VBRuntime or not installed.

 

These latest DLL files missing?? they may be nothing......I was trying to install the applications from a cd on which I had backed them up.......I downloaded the stinger anew and it installed fine.....am getting the a-squared at present and then will do the hijackthis file......sorry for being such a boob!
back later with the information
Katy

 

Hi again!
I got the Visual Basic 6 runtime libraries and installed them. I got all the accessories installed and ran them. I haven't spent time browsing so don't know if it is going to help but hopefully it will!

Here is the Hijackthis log

Logfile of HijackThis v1.99.0
Scan saved at 8:00:47 PM, on 9/17/05
Platform: Windows 98 Gold (Win9x 4.10.1998)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP1 (6.00.2800.1106)

Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\KERNEL32.DLL
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSGSRV32.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MPREXE.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\mmtask.tsk
C:\WINDOWS\EXPLORER.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\TASKMON.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\SYSTRAY.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\DDHELP.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\MSN MESSENGER\MSNMSGR.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\RNAAPP.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\TAPISRV.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\WINZIP\WINZIP32.EXE
C:\UNZIPPED\HIJACKTHIS\HIJACKTHIS.EXE

R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Bar = http://www.eznsearch.com/index.htm
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://www.eznsearch.com/index.htm
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://www.nemr.net/
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchURL,(Default) = http://www.eznsearch.com/index.htm
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {FDD3B846-8D59-4ffb-8758-209B6AD74ACC} - (no file)
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {549B5CA7-4A86-11D7-A4DF-000874180BB3} - (no file)
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {53707962-6F74-2D53-2644-206D7942484F} - C:\PROGRA~1\SPYBOT~1\SDHELPER.DLL
O3 - Toolbar: &Radio - {8E718888-423F-11D2-876E-00A0C9082467} - C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSDXM.OCX
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ScanRegistry] C:\WINDOWS\scanregw.exe /autorun
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [TaskMonitor] C:\WINDOWS\taskmon.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SystemTray] SysTray.Exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [LoadPowerProfile] Rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,LoadCurrentPwrScheme
O4 - HKLM\..\RunServices: [LoadPowerProfile] Rundll32.exe powrprof.dll,LoadCurrentPwrScheme
O6 - HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Control Panel present
O16 - DPF: {89D75D39-5531-47BA-9E4F-B346BA9C362C} (CWDL_DownLoadControl Class) - http://www.callwave.com/include/cab/CWDL_DownLoad.CAB
O16 - DPF: {B38870E4-7ECB-40DA-8C6A-595F0A5519FF} (MsnMessengerSetupDownloadControl Class) - http://messenger.msn.com/download/MsnMessengerSetupDownloader.cab

I appreciate all this help.....this is one terrific forum

 

I am still getting error messages. Please advise me if the highjack log doesn't look ok??
thanks
Katy
p.s. why are those "links" in the highjack log?

 

From the info section in hijackthis

So, the links in the R1 entries are search engines you have added which created registry entries not originally there and the R0 entry is the one for your home page.

The 016 entries are active x controlls , which let web page content manipulate things on your computer. The url there is the site which installed it.




Please run hijackthis with all other windows closed choose scan only and put a check by this entry and choose fix
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {549B5CA7-4A86-11D7-A4DF-000874180BB3} - (no file)

Although many feel this is harmless, I have found this reference

So unless you are dead set on using Eznshopper for your searches I recommend runing hijackthis with all other windows closed, choose scan only select these entries and choose fix

R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Bar = http://www.eznsearch.com/index.htm
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://www.eznsearch.com/index.htm
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchURL,(Default) = http://www.eznsearch.com/index.htm


Other than that, there are no nasties showing, although it appears you may have used msconfig to disable startup items a proceedure I do not recommmend.


I see no running antivirus.
Avast antivirus free for home use with free registration

I see no firewall. These days even a dialup user should have a firewall.

http://soho.sygate.com/products/spf_standard.htm
Sygate personal firewall free for home use.

Do you have all your windows updates up to date? All IE security patches installed?

I also recommend trying a second browser. It is always best to have a second, non internet explorer based browser available so that if something goes bad with IE you can still get online.
The most popular and in my opinion best is Mozilla Firefox
It is a small download, and it is not only faster than IE, but very versatile (it lets you have multiple pages open in tabs within a single window instead of having to open several windows, it has a built in popup blocker, you can add adblocker extension to it to block ads, much more).
Click on the free download, and get Firefox 1.0.6

 

Hi katy.

I see you have a spyware guru on the case and he has found bad stuff so I'm moving this to the spyware removal forum section.

 

thanks so much for all this information. I will try my best to do all that you have suggested.

I do have AVG antivirus, it simply wasn't running. I keep it up to date and try to scan on a regular basis. I don't have a firewall, I was told that you didn't really need one with dialup. I will certainly check into getting the free one.

I have had firefox installed on my other computer and like using it. I have considered putting it on this machine also.

I have disabled items in msconfig. Most information I have read tend toward disabling items making your computer run with more resources free? It seemed when you installed anything it was added to that startup list. Does all of it really need to be enabled?

I update but am not 'dedicated' about it I know I should be. I hereby promise to try to do better in this area.

Again, thanks so much....the information passed on here is fabulous. It's my favorite place to look and ask for help and advice. Keep up the fabulous work

Katy

 

Avg is good, just remember to scan files with it before you open them. I prefer to see most users keep the antivirus running since there are now viruses which can install just by your visiting an infected web site or previewing an email in the preview pane. There are also network aware viruses which can install automatically to unprotected computers. A firewall really does not use that much resources and is good protection. With the types of viruses I described, I really feel you should use an antivirus and firewall regardless of how you connect.

There are a few reasons I asked about msconfig. One is that anything unchecked there will not show up in the hijackthis log. You have next to nothing showing, so for all I know you could be infested and just turned off the startup entry I would use to diagnose it.

That leads me to my prime objection to using msconfig to control startups. It just changes that one registry entry. Often there are entries in several other places made by a program, which remain unaltered.
Just as you cannot just delete a program, but must uninstall it with the uninstaller bundled with it (which is run when you choose add/remove programs and select it) you should whenever possible use the program authors own controls to control startup entries. The author knows how his program behaves. He knows what entry points and memory reservations it mad, he knows what dlls it called to be loaded and when . He knows what ports it opens etc. Just telling msconfig not to run the executable during startup does not necessarily cancel the calls and reservations. It is always best , if there is a tools/optins or edit / preferences to load with windows or not, to do it this way.
I have seen cases where unchecking things in msconfig and then running them causes system resource problems (memory leaks) where the memory addresses issued are not released when the program closes and if you relaunch it it requests and is issued new ones. Not good.

System resources (in win9x.me) refers to a two single 64KB pages of memory (one for system resources one for video resources) on which windows keeps track of what is running, what memory addresses it is assigned to use, and what ones it can access etc. Everythign about what is running is noted there. When the page fills up, you run out of resources. So sometimes unchecking in msconfig is actually counter productive.
In XP this is not the case, XP memory management is more complex, but you can just think of it as microsoft came up with the idea of letting windows add a second and third etc page if it needs them.

So while removing a program from running at startup may leave more space on the page to let you run other things, it does not really improve your overall performance. You will see far better improvement by adding another stick of RAM (although in reality win98 rarely sees much benefit to having over 256MB of RAM).