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I tried running SpyBot but that didn't help. Has anyone run into this yet? Have you been able to fix the problem?
Thanks for any help!
There has to be another way. Somehow... Someway... Another way.
If you aren't already running the most recent version of IE (v6 SP1, IIRC), you could try installing it -- it'll probably renew and replace most key system files and settings.
Alternatively, now might be a good time to investigate an alternative browser. Mozilla Firefox and Opera 7.x are quite nice, and I dare say even an IE shell like MyIE2 or Avant would fix your problem. I don't think you'd regret the switch.
You see, I *just* finished re-installing and getting my computer back up to speed the day before this happened. I would do almost anything to avoid that crap again. Just short of having to completely get rid of IE.
>> Just short of having to completely get rid of IE.
Good luck. I know someone who tried to uninstall IE back in the "old days". It dragged it's claws through that computer on the way out, taking chunks of the OS with it. These days it's even more embedded.
1a) One thing you could try is to create an 'ordinary user' account on your computer (requires Windows NT, 2000, XP or 2003), from which software cannot be modified and installed. This will limit the changes that rogue software can make to your computer, and also help protect you from viruses and trojans. The downside is a need to maintain a separate administrative account for making even small changes to your system.
1b) Alternatively, you could isolate your browser within a sandbox. When I was using Tiny Personal Firewall, risky applications like IE, OE and Outlook were automatically contained in a similar fashion to user account permissions -- but without the hassle.
2) Another thing would be to restrict the access rights within the browser, so that ActiveX and scripting can only run in trusted sites. This is easy, but tedious to maintain, and can break sites that you need, but haven't designated as trusted. It also relies on the browser maintaining internal consistency, which is by no means assured with IE.
3) You could change your browser. IE shells like MyIE and Avant may do little to enhance your security, and you'll be stuck with all the associated rendering and scripting bugs, but independent browsers like Mozilla Firefox, Konqueror and Opera will provide a better and more secure browsing experience. There aren't really any downsides for this option, except losing your saved passwords and history. Bookmarks should be automagically transfered.
Personally, I implement (1a) and (3). I don't bother with (2) because I hardly use IE at all, and since you should really never be connected to the internet as an Administrator unless you're patching your PC, I dare say you don't need to be told that (1a) is pretty much mandatory anyway.
