Iexplorer application error (0xc0000142)

hi hope someone can help. I'm running windows xp sp3. As soon as i switch my computer on i get multiple internet explorer pop up windows, at least 80, with a pop up box saying "the application failed to initialize properly (0xc0000142). Click on ok to terminate the application." at first i was able to close all the windows down and use my computer. I started to try using the windows xp cleaning procedure as detailed on this site. I managed to run the super anti spyware program, although the same thing happened again while anti spyware was running. After rebooting my computer. The computer loads and i am unable to do anything as I've been sat here for the last 20 minutes and the screen is being populated by internet explorer windows and the mouse is on constant egg timer. Please can anyone help. Many thanks

 

Hi ahmedrav,

Are you able to boot into Safe Mode with Networking? (Starting your computer in Safe mode)
If you can and the IE windows aren't popping up, please try to continue going through the Windows XP Malware Removal/Cleaning Procedure and then attach all the logs requested from it.

 

hi thisisu, got into safe mode via the msconfig route but still having the pop ups in safe boot and unable to carry on with the clean up procedure and also now can't seem to get out of safe boot. Tried running msconfig an choosing nomal start up but re booting takes me back into safe boot

 

Hi

Have finally managed to run all the scans as per the windows xp cleaning procedure.
Have attached all the logs as requested, 4 on this message and 1 on the next
F drive on my computer is my main drive and C drive is my secondary drive. I basically make a copy of all my important documents on to my C Drive so i don't lose it all incase F drive crashes. Anything else you want to know please ask.
Thanks

 

Hi

MG Tools log attached to this message

 

That is good news!

I will review your logs. Please be patient as there is a lot of information to review.

 

From Programs and Features (via Control Panel), please uninstall the following as per instructions from the READ & RUN ME FIRST. Malware Removal Guide

• AVG 2011
• AVG PC Tuneup 2011

Please also download MBRCheck to your Desktop.
See the download links under this icon http://forums.majorgeeks.com/chaslang/images/MGDownloadLoc.gif

• Double click MBRCheck.exe to run (Vista and Win7 right click and select Run as Administrator)
• It will show a Black screen with some information that will contain either the below line if no problem is found:
  • Done! Press ENTER to exit...
• Or you will see more information like below if a problem is found:
  • Found non-standard or infected MBR.
  • Enter 'Y' and hit ENTER for more options, or 'N' to exit:
• Either way, just choose to exit the program at this point since we want to see only the scan results to begin with.
• MBRCheck will create a log named similar to MBRCheck_07.16.10_00.32.33.txt which is random based on date and time.
• Attach this log to your next message. (How to attach items to your post)

Now run C:\MGtools\GetLogs.bat by double-clicking on it (Vista and Win7 right click and select Run as Administrator)

This will automatically update all the logs in MGlogs.zip!
Make sure you click Accept on the License Agreement from HiJackThis!/analyse.exe twice (yes twice) if prompted.

Then attach C:\MGlogs.zip to your next message (How to attach items to your post)

 

Hi
Have uninstalled AVG 2011 and AVG Tune up and run the MBR program and MGTools againg as instructed and attaching the logs to this message.
Many Thanks for your help, much appreciated.

 

Please disable all anti-virus and anti-spyware programs while we do the following (re-enable when you are finished):

Run C:\MGtools\analyse.exe by double-clicking it (Vista and Win7 right-click and select Run as Administrator)
Choose Do a system scan only and select the following lines but DO NOT CLICK FIX until you exit all browser sessions including the one you are reading in right now and all explorer windows!!:

After clicking Fix, exit HJT.

Please download Disable/Remove Windows Messenger to your Desktop.
See the download links under this icon http://forums.majorgeeks.com/chaslang/images/MGDownloadLoc.gif

1. Double-click MessengerDisable.exe
2. Place a check-mark in Uninstall Windows Messenger
3. Click Apply
4. Click Exit

Now we need to use ComboFix

• Make sure that ComboFix.exe that you downloaded while doing the READ & RUN ME is on your Desktop but Do not run it!
  • If it is not on your Desktop, the below will not work.
• Also make sure you have shut down all protection software (antivirus, antispyware...etc) or they may get in the way of allowing ComboFix to run properly.
• If ComboFix tells you it has expired or need to be updated to a new version, make sure you allow it to update.
• Open Notepad and copy/paste the text in the below quote box into it:

• Save the above as CFScript.txt and make sure you save it to the same location (should be on your Desktop) as ComboFix.exe
• At this point, you MUST EXIT ALL BROWSERS NOW before continuing!
• You should have both the ComboFix.exe and CFScript.txt icons on your Desktop.
• Now use your mouse to drag CFScript.txt on top of ComboFix.exe
  http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v666/sUBs/CFScriptB-4.gif
• Follow the prompts.
• When it finishes, a log will be produced named C:\ComboFix.txt
• Attach this log to your next message. (How to attach items to your post)

Note: Do not mouse-click ComboFix's window while it is running. That may cause it to stall.

If after running ComboFix you discover none of your programs will open up because you recieve the following error: Illegal operation attempted on a registry key that has been marked for deletion then you will need to reboot your computer which will normally fix this problem.

Now run C:\MGtools\GetLogs.bat by double-clicking on it (Vista and Win7 right click and select Run as Administrator)

This will automatically update all the logs in MGlogs.zip!
Make sure you click Accept on the License Agreement from HiJackThis!/analyse.exe twice (yes twice) if prompted.

Then attach C:\MGlogs.zip to your next message (How to attach items to your post)

 

Hi, carried out your instructions as requested and attching the logs.
one thing i should mention is that whilst i was running ComboFix, i stepped out the room for a few minutes and when i got back it Combo fix was still running but 30 internet explorer pages had popped up.

 

This is starting to look more like a software issue which I have a couple of ideas of what could be causing this. Please follow the below instructions.

Now we need to use ComboFix

• Make sure that ComboFix.exe that you downloaded while doing the READ & RUN ME is on your Desktop but Do not run it!
  • If it is not on your Desktop, the below will not work.
• Also make sure you have shut down all protection software (antivirus, antispyware...etc) or they may get in the way of allowing ComboFix to run properly.
• If ComboFix tells you it has expired or need to be updated to a new version, make sure you allow it to update.
• Open Notepad and copy/paste the text in the below quote box into it:

• Save the above as CFScript.txt and make sure you save it to the same location (should be on your Desktop) as ComboFix.exe
• At this point, you MUST EXIT ALL BROWSERS NOW before continuing!
• You should have both the ComboFix.exe and CFScript.txt icons on your Desktop.
• Now use your mouse to drag CFScript.txt on top of ComboFix.exe
  http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v666/sUBs/CFScriptB-4.gif
• Follow the prompts.
• When it finishes, a log will be produced named C:\ComboFix.txt
• Attach this log to your next message. (How to attach items to your post)

Note: Do not mouse-click ComboFix's window while it is running. That may cause it to stall.

If after running ComboFix you discover none of your programs will open up because you recieve the following error: Illegal operation attempted on a registry key that has been marked for deletion then you will need to reboot your computer which will normally fix this problem.

Go to the below link and follow the instructions for running TDSSKiller by Kaspersky

• 
  TDSSKiller - How to run
  Remember to attach your log from TDSSKiller (How to attach items to your post)

Please also download MBRCheck to your Desktop.
See the download links under this icon http://forums.majorgeeks.com/chaslang/images/MGDownloadLoc.gif

• Double click MBRCheck.exe to run (Vista and Win7 right click and select Run as Administrator)
• It will show a Black screen with some information that will contain either the below line if no problem is found:
  • Done! Press ENTER to exit...
• Or you will see more information like below if a problem is found:
  • Found non-standard or infected MBR.
  • Enter 'Y' and hit ENTER for more options, or 'N' to exit:
• Either way, just choose to exit the program at this point since we want to see only the scan results to begin with.
• MBRCheck will create a log named similar to MBRCheck_07.16.10_00.32.33.txt which is random based on date and time.
• Attach this log to your next message. (How to attach items to your post)

Now run C:\MGtools\GetLogs.bat by double-clicking on it (Vista and Win7 right click and select Run as Administrator)

This will automatically update all the logs in MGlogs.zip!
Make sure you click Accept on the License Agreement from HiJackThis!/analyse.exe twice (yes twice) if prompted.

Then attach C:\MGlogs.zip to your next message (How to attach items to your post)

 

Hi have ran the programs as requested and attaching the log files. Thanks for all your help

 

All of your logs are clean, ahmedrav. At this point, I believe your issue with IE is software related.

I would be interested in finding out if you still get pop-up IE windows if you were to install Internet Explorer 8. If you wish to continue, then please proceed to the following set of instructions, but do realize that the below is not going to remove any malware from your system. All it is doing is upgrading Internet Explorer from version 7 to 8. Alternatively, you can seek more help on this issue at the Software forum.

Windows Internet Explorer 8 for Windows XP

1. Click the http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/2695/downloadie8.jpg button on this page.
2. Save IE8-WindowsXP-x86-ENU.exe to your Desktop
3. When the download has finished, run IE8-WindowsXP-x86-ENU.exe by double-clicking it
4. Follow the prompts

 

Hi Thisisu

Many many thanks for all your help

I've noticed that since yesterday when i boot up the pc the pop ups haven't appeared straight away and in fact yesterday i left the computer on all day and no pop ups appeared, until in the evening, when i was using Google Chrome everytime i typed something into the address bar or the search bar, after i typed in a few letters they would disappear and when i was on a webpage, if i tried to type anything it would take me back to the previous page, but this was only happening every now and again, sometimes it would do this other times it worked fine. Then the pop ups started again.
I booted the computer up and no pop ups appeared fingers crosses they don't appear again

But once again wanted to say thanks for all your help, it is really really appreciated. Think I'll have a go at downloading IE8, see if that solves it.

Thanks
Ahmed

 

You're welcome I hope you get this issue resolved. Keep me posted if you would like.

If you are not having any other malware problems, it is time to do our final steps:

1. We recommend you keep SUPERAntiSpyware and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware for scanning/removal of malware. Unless you purchase them, they provide no protection. They do not use any significant amount of resources ( except a little disk space ) until you run a scan.
2. If we had you use ComboFix, uninstall ComboFix (This uninstall will only work as written if you installed ComboFix on your Desktop like we requested.)
   • Click START then RUN and enter the below into the run box and then click OK. Note the quotes are required
   • "%userprofile%\Desktop\combofix" /uninstall
     • Notes: The space between the combofix" and the /uninstall, it must be there.
     • This will uninstall ComboFix and also reset hidden files and folders settings back to Windows defaults.
3. Go back to step 6 oof the READ ME and renable your Disk Emulation software with Defogger if you had disabled it.
4. Any other miscellaneous tools we may have had you install or download can be uninstalled and deleted.
5. If we had you download any registry patches like fixme.reg or fixWLK.reg (or any others), you can delete these files now.
6. If running Vista, it is time to make sure you have reenabled UAC by double clicking on the C:\MGtools\enableUAC.reg file and allowing it to be added to the registry.
7. Go to add/remove programs and uninstall HijackThis if it present
8. Goto the C:\MGtools folder and find the MGclean.bat file. Double click on this file to run this cleanup program that will remove files and folders
   related to MGtools and some other items from our cleaning procedures.
9. If you are running Win 7, Vista, Windows XP or Windows ME, do the below:
   • Refer to the cleaning procedures pointed to by step 7 of the READ ME
     for your Window version and see the instructions to Disable System Restore which will flush your Restore Points.
   • Then reboot and Enable System Restore to create a new clean Restore Point.
10. After doing the above, you should work thru the below link:
    • How to Protect yourself from malware!