Multiple windows opening spontaneously in IE 6 under XP sp3

I recently upgraded to XP sp3 and have since then experienced IE opening multiple windows spontaneously. This is not repeatable and happens randomly, usually upon closing a window when multiple windows are open. They simply start opening one after the other at about 3 second intervals.

I am still using IE 6 because I experienced problems with IE 7. That was before the XP sp3 upgrade. Maybe I should retry IE 7.

To stop the windows opening I have to do a <ctrl-alt-delete> to open the Windows Task Manager and then simply use End Task on any of the open windows which immediately stops the problem and closes all of the open windows regardless of how many have opened. This also closes all other windows opened under that iteration of IE.

 

What protections are you using against viruses and spyware? What firewall are you using?

Have you tried clearing your browser's history? Do you any special disk cleanup tools such as CCleaner?

Yeah, I think a retry of IE7 might be a good move.

 

PestPatrol, Avira AntiVir, SpyBot Immunization.

XP factory firewall.

I usually don't clear the history but I will use CC to do so and get back. I have my IE settings set to erase all temporary files after each session.

PestPatrol, CC, AdAware, SpyBot.

I'll give it a go.

I also use CableNut ( www.cablenut.com ) to optimize my Internet connection. Anyone had any problems with that one? I haven't seen any problems and it does seem to work.

 

Okay ...

Cleared the history.

Ran Registry Cleaner in CCleaner.

Ran CCleaner.

Ran SpyBot.

Rebooted lots of times from shut off, not restart.

I loaded IE 7 and now, instead of loading multiple windows, it loads multiple tabs.

<sigh>

It hasta be sp3 doing this.

 

If you open and close IE several times, does it always open the same number of tabs? Does it always show the same web page in each IE tab?

If you go to Tools, Internet Options, General, and click the Settings button in the Tabs section, what settings do you see there? Can you post a screen print of it?

Edit: Does this shed any light?: http://www.tech-recipes.com/internet_explorer_ie7_tips1171.html

 

It always opens to the home page and that is all.

Checked:

• Tabbed browsing enabled
• Warn me when closing
• Enable quick tabs
• Open new tabs next to current tab
• Always open pop-ups in a new window
• Open links from other programs in a new tab in the current window

I don't really know how to do that although I have seen it done. I know how to do a prt scr but, like a dog chasing a car, don't know what to do with it once I have it.

I don't use that feature although I am aware of it. I don't like tabs at all. I like windows.

 

To be perfectly clear, IE displays multiple tabs when first started. Is that right? Again, does it always open the same number of tabs? How many?

 

No. It does not open multiple tabs when starting. It only starts opening multiple tabs during a session -- usually when I try to close a window.

See below.

Again, It always opens to the home page and that is all.

It opens one tab and one tab only. It has a second mini-tab-in-waiting that is clickable if I want to open another tab.

If I click the mini-tab it opens the "about:Tabs" window which shows the following:.

 

By the by, I have now turned off the tabs feature as I do not like them at all. I would be willing to bet that the program now starts exhibiting the same problem with multiple windows instread of tabs.

 

Well, all seems normal except, perhaps, this:

So, when you close an IE window, it then opens multiple tabs?

You're in a minority, then. Most people like them. Surely, that's why Microsoft added the feature to IE 7. Firefox started it and it was popular, so Microsoft needed to add them. I suggest you try using tabs for awhile; try them and you might start to like them.

Let us know. We'll leave the lights on.

 

Yes. The window, instead of closing, starts opening multiple tabs. The status bar at the bottom of the screen shows one window open; but that window has dozens of open tabs across the top of it all of the same webpage -- over and over.

Let's see what happens with them off. I can try them and see how they work out for me but at this point in time I do not have any use for them.

Thanks. I'll keep ya posted.