malware?? infinite mutliple "internet explorer" windows till power off

[Maurice]

Hello:

may be it's a virus or a malware that's not detected by my free AVG9 always
up to date:

From time to time, the system go slow down, then a continuous burst of
internet explorer windows comes to screen until I press the power off button
for a long time.

can this be fixed without all re-formatting?

thank you

Maurice

[Shenan Stanley]

Maurice wrote:
> may be it's a virus or a malware that's not detected by my free
> AVG9 always up to date:
>
> From time to time, the system go slow down, then a continuous burst
> of internet explorer windows comes to screen until I press the
> power off button for a long time.
>
> can this be fixed without all re-formatting?


Start button --> RUN
(no "RUN"? Press the "Windows Key" + R on your keyboard)
--> type in:
winver
--> Click OK.

The picture at the top of the window that opens will give you the general
(Operating System name) while the line starting with the word "version" will
give you the rest of the story. Post _both_ in response to this message
verbatim. ;-)

Download, install, run, update and perform a full scan (separately) with the
following two applications (freeware versions are the ones to use for this):

SuperAntiSpyware
http://www.superantispyware.com/

MalwareBytes
http://www.malwarebytes.com/

After performing a full scan with one and then the other and removing
whatever they both find completely, you may uninstall these products,
if you wish.

Download and run the MSRT manually:
http://www.microsoft.com/security/malwareremove/default.mspx

Reboot.

Download/install this:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290301

After installing, do the following:

Start button --> RUN --> type in:
"%ProgramFiles%\Windows Installer Clean Up\msizap.exe" g!
--> Click OK.
(The quotation marks and percentage signs and spacing should be exact.)

Reboot.

Download/Install the latest Windows Installer (for your OS):
( Windows XP 32-bit : WindowsXP-KB942288-v3-x86.exe )
http://www.microsoft.com/downloadS/details.aspx?familyid=5A58B56F-60B6-4412-95B9-54D056D6F9F4&displaylang=en

Reboot.

and...

Download the latest version of the Windows Update agent from here (x86):
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=91237
.... and save it to the root of your C:\ drive. After saving it to the root
of the C:\ drive, do the following:

Close all Internet Explorer windows and other applications.

Start button --> RUN and type in:
%SystemDrive%\windowsupdateagent30-x86.exe /WUFORCE
--> Click OK.

(If asked, select "Run.) --> Click on NEXT --> Select "I agree" and click on
NEXT --> When it finishes installing, click on "Finish"...

Reboot.

Then follow the instructions here:

How do I reset Windows Update components?
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971058

Reboot.

CHKDSK
How to scan your disks for errors
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315265
* will take time and a reboot

Defragment
How to Defragment your hard drives
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314848
* will take time

Reboot.

Log on as an user with administrative rights and open Internet Explorer
and visit http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/ and select to do a
CUSTOM scan...

Every time you are about to click on something while at these web pages -
first press and hold down the CTRL key while you click on it. You can
release the CTRL key after clicking each time.

Once the scan is done, select just _ONE_ of the high priority updates
(deselect any others) and install it.

Reboot again.

If it did work - try the web page again - selecting no more than 3-5 at a
time. Rebooting as needed.

The Optional Software updates are generally safe - although I recommend
against the "Windows Search" one and any of the "Office Live" ones or
"Windows Live" ones for now. I would completely avoid the
Optional Hardware updates. Also - I do not see any urgent need to install
Internet Explorer 8 at this time.

Seriously - do all that. This is like antibiotics - don't skip a single
step, don't quit because you think things will be okay now - go through
until the end, until you have done everything given in the order given. If
you have a problem with a step come ask and let someone here get you
through that step. If you don't understand how to do a step, come back and
ask here about that step and let someone walk you through it.

Then - when done - let everyone here know if it worked for you - or if you
have more issues.

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

[VanguardLH[_2_]]

Maurice wrote:

> Hello:
>
> may be it's a virus or a malware that's not detected by my free AVG9 always
> up to date:
>
> From time to time, the system go slow down, then a continuous burst of
> internet explorer windows comes to screen until I press the power off button
> for a long time.
>
> can this be fixed without all re-formatting?

Do you happen to visit the same site? They could be using a script to
open those extra IE windows? That's one reason why I put a shortcut in
my Windows taskbar that runs the following to kill off all instances of
IE (so the one running the script also gets killed). Usually they open
so fast that there is no way for you to catch up in clicking their "X"
close button in their titlebar. They'll open faster than you can close
them.

taskkill.exe /im iexplore.exe /f

See if MalwareBytes fixes (or, at least, neuters) any malware that could
be causing that problem.

[Jose]

On Nov 16, 3:20*am, "Maurice" > wrote:
> Hello:
>
> may be it's a virus or a malware that's not detected by my free AVG9 always
> up to date:
>
> From time to time, the system go slow down, then a continuous burst of
> internet explorer windows comes to screen until I press the power off button
> for a long time.
>
> can this be fixed without all re-formatting?
>
> thank you
>
> Maurice

I would not count on a single scanning software, so run MBAM and SAS,
post up the msinfo32 information requested then troubleshoot any
remaining issues.

Reduce the chances of malicious software by running some scans.

Download, install, update and do a full scan with these free malware
detection programs:

Malwarebytes (MBAM): http://malwarebytes.org/
SUPERAntiSpyware: (SAS): http://www.superantispyware.com/

These can be uninstalled later if desired.

Reduce the number of questions, guessing and trying things that might
work by supplying more information:

Click Start, Run and in the box enter:

msinfo32

Click OK, and when the System Summary info appears, click Edit, Select
All, Copy and then paste
back here.

There would be some personal information (like System Name and User
Name) or whatever appears to
be only your business that you can delete from the paste.