My Explorer won't boot...

[Easy 10]

Can anyone help ?
My piece of shit PC is riddled with all sorts of crap, and for about 3 months now, every time I boot up Explorer, it defaults to some shitty search engine which takes up the whole screen, so I always have to close it down and start it up again to get rid of it.

Well now when I double-click on Explorer, I get the egg timer for about 10 seconds while it thinks about it, and then...nothing. I can't stand this AOL browser, its like internet for six year olds or something. I just want my Explorer back.

Anyone ? Anyone ? Bueller ?

 

[Easy 10]

By the way, I am quite retarded when it comes to anything to do with computers, so if anyone can help, please explain it to me as though I am a six year old.

Thanks.

 

[Crawley Boy]

What search engine is it? If it's Xupiter I may be able to help as I have been riddled with that in the past.

 

[Beach Hut]

Looks like you have a virus Easy - suggest the PC is cleaned up and then start again

 

[Easy 10]

To be honest I couldn't even tell you. It pisses me off so much that immediatly it appears, I go Control-Alt-Delete and end task it straight away, so I can get on with re-booting Explorer (it doesn't come back again once I've done it, until I re-boot the PC again).

Now Explorer won't frigging boot at all.

 

[Easy 10]

Looks like you have a virus Easy - suggest the PC is cleaned up and then start again

Thought it might be. I've got a mate who's forgotten more about PC's than I'll ever know, might get him round to give it a bit of a once-over.

God I hate computers.

 

[Crawley Boy]

To be honest I couldn't even tell you.

You want help but can't tell us the exact issue?

Check next time, if it is Xupiter then it's spyware that can be removed following some simple instructions. A google search will provide details of what you need to do.

 

[beorhthelm]

download Spybot and Ad-aware and AVG Anti virus. Install and run. Go and make a cup of tea. Come back to find list of crap thats on your computer - sounds likly to be some adware/spyware (not strictly virus, but bloody annoying all the same). Remove everything thats found. also install a firewall, such as Zone Labs, but that might require you to do a bit of configuring to get normal stuff to work.
Reboot.
Install Mozilla and dont touch the trojan/gateway to crap that is IE/Aol* again - if there's a site that doesnt work properly with Mozilla, send them a snotty email telling them to be standards compliant. It wont do anything, but will make you feel better.
You might want to adjust the minimum font sizes in Mozilla so things are readable (default tends to be rather small for alot of sites), but apart from that most things are fine.
finally be carefull what you install when on the web, emails you open and if you like the p2p (ie kazza) be aware that some downloads have nasties in them. Treat your PC like a car, just like you check your car over (you do dont you?) run the antivirus and spybot/ad-aware once in a while just to keep it in check.
If you still have problems you might have some little bastard that does some cleaver reinstallation which might mean editing the registry by hand, but thats for another day.

* you dont need to use the AOL provided browser to use the web via AOL, once your connected you can use any browser

 

[turienzo's lovechild]

i recently did a scan and found 208 viruses on my pc

if you use internet porn and download stuff from kazaa etc. without sufficiant anti-virus you're gonna be littered with viruses

 

[NMH]

I hear that both are rife with viruses.
However, it should be noted that the whole internet is stuffed with worms, trojans, hi-jackers and allsorts of evil electronic codes.
All users MUST keep a firewall of some sort implemented, plus a continually updated antivirus with applicable settings to stop stuff getting in or signalling out. The advice for getting spyware is good - and there is so much for free, there's no reason not to be prepared to repel boarders.

Personally, I just had a 'hidden' file on my pc that Norton kept signalling, and it was very annoying and couldn't be erased by virus software alone. I had to get support by clicking on the 'found' file name that Norton gave me, then I was taken to the site that held instructions on how to go into SAFE reboot and find the dodgy file. I found another one while I was there, one that even Norton hadn't seen - and I'm sure it was responsible for flagging me for spam sites. All this was undertaken after identifying and tracing with the aid of Hijackthis, CWShredder and reglite.exe search engines (yes, it was a nightmare to plough through all the shit that had latched onto my p/c without my permission!)

I have now downloaded 'Ad-Aware' from Lavasoft, 'Stinger' from MacAfee, ZoneAlarms firewall, Mozilla Firefox browser, and updated Norton and done the full system scan - and I still feel a little insecure about what else is out there!

Pretty soon, some genius is going to find a way to bring the whole internet to a standstill with some brilliant supervirus that will confound (or simply shut down) every virus-fighter, and we'll all be going back to the pre-p/c plough that we now see as 'stone-age' circa ....about 1984.

Orwell did warn us, and perhaps I'm overstating things by suggesting that, "for you who are wise, the number of the beast is 666" could implicate the whole digital forum that is becoming the basis for much of our economy, our passtime, our communication.

Fellow Romans, enjoy your internet experiences, but don't forget how to fashion a bow, harden and temper a blade, stalk a deer and spear a fish.
Albeit metaphorical, you don't want to suddenly find the plentiful resources of our day suddenly unavailable and have no 'plan b'.

When you think about it, the western-world mankind is awfully reliant on technology and luxury, on the vacuum-packaged steak and microwave dinner. We can plump-up and muscle-down in front of a screen nowadays. Some get their adrenaline-rush from gameboy and nintendo then turn to pills and doctors when arteries are clogged and organs atrophied. This is becoming the world as we know it!

 

[Gwylan]

Wise words from beorthelm and NMH there. I ditched IE months ago and have not been bothered by spyware since. Mozilla Firefox is the way to go.

Only last month, the US security authority CERT advised users not to use Internet Explorer as it was insecure, but its share of the market has scarcely dropped.

And these days, you really should use a firewall, especially if you have broadband.

Keep your AV software updated and you should be all right.

 

[Easy 10]

Cheers for the advice guys. Will have a look at it when I get home tonight.

 

[Virgo's Haircut]

Also pressing F11 can sometimes make Internet Explorer return to it's normal state.

Gotta be worth a shot...

 

[Richy_Seagull]

Use Mozilla Firefox instead of Internet Explorer.

Can get it from here