Found the problem, cant fix it

[cavity]

After much cursing and head banging, I finally located what was causing my random pauses.  It is my Internet Exp, the problem is, when I try to shut it down using FSautostart, all my icons disappear and I have to restart.  Any ideas on how to stop IE before flying without everything magically disappearing?  Todd

[JBaymore]

Cavity,

Hummmmmmmm,........

That sounds TOTALLY abnormal to me.  But I am by FAR not an expert at theis stuff.  Never heard of that.  But my FIRST guess would be to look for a SPYWARE or a VIRUS that is keeping that internet connection "live" at all costs.

I run three separate spyware programs including the new Microsoft one, which is in the "block" mode, the XP firewall, the dsl firewall, and AVG antivirus....which runs twice a day and checks for updates evey evening.   Occasionally something STILL gets thru.

best,

.......................john

[cavity]

Hey John,
I thought it was some other stuff, but after shutting things down, it was still happening.  Then I got lucky and clicked on the little box that appears for a split second before pausing, and it took me right to yahoo web page.  I stopped IE in FSautostart, but again, all icons disappear, so I cant use that option.  Not sure where to turn at this point.  Todd

[JBaymore]

Unless YOU set Yahoo as your default homepage... it sounds like a brouser hijack has occurred.  That is usuallt a Trojan that does it.

Scan the computer for ALL files.  If you find something you MIGHT have to turn off "restore" and then clean the machine again.  Sometimes they "hide" in the restore flies.

You need to do some cleanup work there, I am afraid.

[hatter]

Hello.

What OS are you using?

[eno]

Cavity .................. what you're actually shutting down sounds like Explorer not Internet explorer and it is safe to shut down whilst using FS.

If you want to get your desktop back whilst using the sim either reconfigure FSAutostart so that Explorer isn't shut down or once the sim is started ..... ctrl+alt+delete and in the applications tab click on the start task and type explorer.exe in the prompt that comes up.

Hope this sorts your irritation.

cheers
eno

[JBaymore]

Brillinat Eno!  


best,

................john

[cavity]

Thanks for all the help.  I do have Yahoo set as my default page, and I have run all my stuff that is updated and no viruses or such gremlins that I can find.  Under FSautostart, they have a programs button.  When you click on that, it brings up the explorer.exe, but when I shut it down, icons disappear.  I will try using ctrl/alt/delete and see what happens.  I am using Win XP with SP2.  Todd