Resolved one specific web page takes over the CPU

Not sure this shouldn't be in the Anti-Virus forum, but what the heck? I've run Avast! and Ad-Aware and Sophos Rootkit and MRT without results. Anyway, here's what happens...

Browsing Ask Metafilter (http://ask.metafilter.com/) yesterday just for idle curiosity as I often do, I came across a fascinating thread a couple of days ago called "Is my husband trying to kill me?" (http://ask.metafilter.com/111950/Is-my-husband-trying-to-kill-me). Got part-way through reading this saga and the replies, and my IE7 locked up tight. I crash closed IE with Task Manager, reopened, went back to the page - same thing happened.

It got late, I left it and went to bed. This afternoon I remembered it and tried again - exactly the same thing happened.

I got suspicious and started tracking it on Task Manager. Sure enough, every time I go to that page, the graph in TM shoots straight up to 100% and stays there, the network activity goes wild, and IE7 locks up. Occasionally I get a window in the activity where I just have time to scroll down another couple of replies, but then it locks up again just like before. As soon as I could, I got out of there, went to some other favourite sites, and monitored: this doesn't happen happen to me on any other site, or on any other page in Metafilter, only on that one specific page.

OK, so there were over 130 replies to that thread, and somebody might have put some heavy script in there somewhere. But the MetaFilter moderators are pretty hot and would have spotted that and jumped on it. I'm not registered with MetaFilter, so I couldn't put the question to them.

Is this something so glaringly obvious that I'm just too stupid to know? Does it happen to you on that page? Was it the poster's husband running some interference, like radio jamming during the Cold War?

I'm really curious, as I've never seen anything like this before. Plus I want to know the end of the story...

 

I went to the doctor's the other day and told him it hurts when I do this, he replied well don't do it then

Seriously, have you tried a browser other than IE? If you start IE in No addons mode (start->All Programs->Accessories->System Tools) does the same thing happen?

 

Many thanks for swift reply, Pete. And for actually trying it out - I was wondering whether I should have put that link in there and exposed other, curious WBBS users to risk of infection!

It's just done it again to me. And I'm still dying to know the end of the story...

Darn, you guys are fast - was just previewing this before posting and Steve and wildfire have also kindly checked it out.

Steve: I believe I'm all updated, but I'll check - thanks!

wildfire: good one - maybe I should change my doctor No, I have no other browser to try with. But I'll give it a whirl with no add-ons and report back.

 

OK, wildfire has won! I tried IE without add-ons, as you suggested, and the page loaded perfectly. Went back to IE with add-ons (where I am now) and the same old problem with that one specific page.

Now, how do I go about finding which add-on to dump? If I just have to go through them all one by one, so be it - I'll take a morning out and do it.

(And darn - while I was there I forgot to look at the end of the story...)

 

Probably your best option, if you do find the culprit it would be appreciated if you post your findings.

 

OK, but it may not be today or tomorrow -- there must be a hundred in there -- but I'll be sure to post it.

 

If there's that many (why? ) do a binary search...

Disable half of the unknowns. If you still have the problem then enable those just disabled and disable the other half, if you don't have the problem then enable that half and disable the other. Now go back and do the same with the remaining unknowns.

You should be able to find the problem addon within 7 checks.

I am wondering though if the amount of addons rather than a particular addon is the problem.

Anyway, keep us informed and good luck.

 

Solved!

Bingo! Many thanks, wildfire - I owe you a haggis next Burns Bight.

For the record, it was that Skype add-on which, when enabled, makes phone numbers show up with an extra little icon that you can click on to initiate a phone-call using Skype. It's listed with the name "Skype add-on (Mastermind) ". Pretty useless, really - I had it on to check a website I'm editing, and had just left it there and forgotten it.

And your binary-search tip should have occurred to me, too

When I said "there must be a hundred ", I was referring also to the list of those that have ever been used (my system's in Italian, so I don't have the exact wording in English). But just the ones actually in use at this time were only 11, so it was no big deal to identify the culprit.

I need to tell Skype about this, and then I can get back to reading that fascinating real-life soap-opera (or was it just somebody posting a weird story to harvest some comments to use in a thriller...?)

 

You'd better get up the mountains and start hunting then, it's only five days till Rab's birthday and those haggis aren't easy to catch

Thanks for the feedback.