Internet Explorer help

[n8orious]

Ever since I bought my computer I have been able to just type for example wackbag.com in my adress bar. Now when I attempt to do it I am taken to a search engine site. For me to access a sight now I have to type in http://www.wackbag.com/, that http shit. It is really pissing me off anyone know what I can do?

[bluecell]

It's funny that you mention that. I was at my cousin's house this week and IE was doing the same thing on his computer. He said that it had been doing that since he installed the last Windows update. Here's what I did, it corrected the situation:

Select Internet Options from the Tools menu...
Access the Advanced preferences and click on Restore Defaults.

BTW, you might want to take a look at Firebird from Mozilla (http://www.mozilla.org). It's light and it's the fastest browser I've seen on Windows. There's also an email client called Thunderbird that a lot of people are saying good things about. Both of them are free.

Good luck, hope this helps.

[Stingray]

Firebirds the way to go! I use that and opera for browsing

as for IE ... juse type in the name, then hit CTRL and ENTER at the same time.

[Ballbuster1]

Originally posted by bluecell
Select Internet Options from the Tools menu...
Access the Advanced preferences and click on Restore Defaults.
That should do it , but if it doesn't, under the advanced settings
is a line with a little magnifing glass that reads "Search from the tool bar".
Just make sure the sub line "Do not search from the toolbar " has no dot in the
center of it. If it does just click on it and make it go away, then click on "apply"
at the bottom of the page. You should be all set.

[drunkturkey]

Sounds like that Klez... something application that can easily take over IE. It's a bitch to get rid of. Once I have some time, I'll see if I can find the specifics of it. You'll need Adaware and a bit of tooling around on your machine to fix it. There is a tread somewhere in here that disucsses the IE takeover app.

Good luck!

[n8orious]

I guess I have the virus... this is really pissimg me off. I tried all of the suggestions and none of it is helping...

[bluecell]

Originally posted by n8orious
I guess I have the virus... this is really pissimg me off. I tried all of the suggestions and none of it is helping... I'm not entirely sure that it's a virus. Like I said, my cousin started noticing it after he installed that last Windows update. IE has a tendency of acting up for no apparent reason. My advice, switch to Firebird. You'll be a lot happier.

[MetalSign]

LOP.com was the one that got me. It sounds alot like this. Get Spybot. It got rid of it for me. Good luck...

[drunkturkey]

Check out this site:

http://www.doxdesk.com/parasite/

Has a list of IE parasites that take over the browser. Hope this helps.

[n8orious]

Something is definatley up. Every time I start my computer after about 10-15 minutes something pops up and says internal error your computer will shutdown in 1 minute and it gives me a fucking countdown. If my computer gives me enough time i'm gonna get spybot and firebird. Any more suggestions. Thanks to all I really appreciate it.

[Ballbuster1]

It does sound like you have a bug. I've used I.E. for
years and have had no problems. I still have it as my
primary browser because of my wife's link to her
company's network and have never had any trouble.

[drunkturkey]

Originally posted by n8orious
Something is definatley up. Every time I start my computer after about 10-15 minutes something pops up and says internal error your computer will shutdown in 1 minute and it gives me a fucking countdown. If my computer gives me enough time i'm gonna get spybot and firebird. Any more suggestions. Thanks to all I really appreciate it.

Ah ha! Figured it out. Here's some info you'll need to check out. This is an OS issue, not an IE issue.


Affected Software:

* Microsoft Windows NT® 4.0
* Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Services Edition
* Microsoft Windows 2000
* Microsoft Windows XP
* Microsoft Windows Server™ 2003

Not Affected Software:

* Microsoft Windows Millennium Edition (f'n exploits don't even work on ME!)


References:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-026.asp
http://www.computing.net/windows95/wwwboard/forum/139741.html
http://www.computing.net/hardware/wwwboard/forum/15396.html

Patch this thing, and get yerself a firewall!!!

[n8orious]

I will definatley patch and get the firewall. What I ended up doing was talked to my father in law and he also owns a HP. He told me about a feature under system tool called system recovery and I went to that and restored my pc to the way it was a week ago and all is fine. Do you still reccomend what you included in your last post Turkey. Thanks Yall

[bluecell]

Originally posted by drunkturkey
Ah ha! Figured it out. Here's some info you'll need to check out. This is an OS issue, not an IE issue.

References:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/security/bulletin/MS03-026.asp
http://www.computing.net/windows95/wwwboard/forum/139741.html
http://www.computing.net/hardware/wwwboard/forum/15396.html
Hmmm... I don't see how any of these vulnerabilities are related to his problem. The RPC flaw is a buffer overrun issue, a serious one at that, but it allows hackers to execute malicious code on your system remotely. Which means hacker can actually go in, change an account, give himself/herself privileges, install programs, etc. In most cases, the system's owner doesn't even know that it's happening. The other two aren't related to the problem that he's having in IE.

n8, if you're just being directed to a search engine (I imagine it's Microsoft's), it's an IE issue. IE is historically flaky and this is just another example of that. I wouldn't worry about it being a virus. Get up to date with all of the patches, run a virus check just to be sure. If you don't have an anti-virus program, I posted a nice free one here (http://www.wackbag.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9271). The other problems that you're having are actually pretty common in Windows. A system restore may not be the solution.

Good luck!

[drunkturkey]

I was working on the "the system will restart in X seconds" issue. I've seen that in a few other tech threads, and this was the solution for that. The exploit is out there, and will cause this windows "reaction" if it's from an automated attack source (apparently there are apps that find the hole, then report those IP addresses back to the hackers for further fun and excitement!). If you're tapped by the exploit, it causes your machine to restart.

As for the web browser thing, you're right - this should have zero effect. I guess, though, that someone could have launched some code on the machine to take over IE.

n8 - when you try to go to a sight, watch the status bar at the bottom if IE to find out if there is a site that IE is looking for before you reach whatever final destination the browser directs you to. If you see anything funky, either post it here, or do a search on that to see if you can find a solution.

As for the windows machines affected in my last post, I would definitely recommend patching your system.

-dt

[n8orious]

the IE problem is now fixed, the countdown is still going on I guess I'll try the reccomendations and then if it still is doing it should i call HP and get the factory settings restored? I ran a virus scan and nothing came up earlier but I'm gonna try and run the one that blue cell suggested!!

Thanx yall

[rangercheese]

Best way to avoid most Internet Explorer problems (it's very simple):

1. Hold down the [ALT] key.
2. With the [ALT] key depressed, press [F4].
3. Problem solved.