Internet explorer keeps opening pages by itself

Discussion in 'Software' started by mazaprin, May 18, 2010.

  1. mazaprin

    mazaprin Private E-2

    I use IE 7 on my Pc and about the beginning od May IE went crazy for no apparent reason, it starts opening webpages by itself (or refreshing the same webpage), if you close it , after a few seconds the same webpage will open again. They are blank pages at first and then once they have loaded they are just the original page I’ve opened up.

    It only happens in IE (Firefox, msn, yahoo and chrome are OK) and also from within AOL, it will open IE and go to the page I was trying to browse in AOL and keep opening up tab after tab and after a few tabs a blank page tab opens then it goes back to opening up the page I was trying to browse. What’s interesting after closing it with Task Manager after a few seconds IE will reopen on its own and continue where it left off. This is maddening.
    The only way to stop it is to reboot the PC or to log off from Windows and Log In again. I have Trend Micro Internet Security 2010, Spybot Search and Destroy and SuperantiSpyware and I have scanned my entire computer with each and they did not find any troyans or malwares or viruses at all.

    This is the first time in ten years that I have been using different versions of IE that I see this strange issue. Many other people are posting the same complaint in other forums and to date nobody have found a solution. Some say it could be some virus named “vundu” or the conflickr, other say it could be some bug due to a bad recent microsoft update for IE7 (some people even says that IE8 is having the same problem), others say that they are Chinese hackers. Nobody knows. Trend Micro even provided me with link to download their HiJackThis and I ran it and sent them the Log and they only found 2 or 3 suspicious hidden files but I clarified to them that these were valid files from legit applications that I have, so they could not find anything related to a virus or malware and they finally suggested me to contact Microsoft Tech Support since IE belongs to them. I went to Microsoft support Knowledge Base and there is nothing there about this issue (and you have to pay to call support or chat)

    I would very much appreciate that If you have found the reason of this IE problem, or the culprit or the solution or fix, please share it with me. :(
     
  2. collinsl

    collinsl MajorGeek

    Just to be on the safe side I am going to refer you to our antivirus forum as this kind of activity does sound like malware to me. Please read this thread about the first steps you need to take: http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=35407
     
  3. pitviper

    pitviper Private E-2

    IE is the worst at controlling unwanted influences from the 'Net, but before you jump a lot of hoops, make sure you've got IE as 'tight' as you can with on-board settings:
    Tools> Internet Options> Privacy> Advanced:
    here check 'Override automatic....'; 'Allow session cookies'; 'Allow 1st party cookies' & 'Block 3rd Party Cookies'.
    Using IE (all flavors) and allowing "active scripting" is the single biggest mistake people make. "Drive by installs", "Opacity based attacks", and many other malware problems arise from this feature alone...(switch to Firefox).

    Once those settings are made, then you can better root out other sources, like malware.

    Be aware that many UK ISP's use 'phorm' data siphon methods to deliver ads, and that could be one source.

    regards, :)
     
  4. Break_Da

    Break_Da Sergeant

    Interested to learn or know more of your quotes above, any articles, attachments, readings, etc. you can send my way? thanks, cheers

    (IM is open)

    I have the cookie override already considered and known. There are more IE security practices too, I am interested in them... I have Firefox as well ;) tia
     

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