Need IE 6 help

[Daven_Port]

Ok folks, this will take a bit to explain, but please bear with me.

I have a HP Pavilion 1.3 gig w/ 1gig ram running "XP upgraded from ME"

Everything worked great for about 2 months. Then, all of a sudden links don't work in IE6, and I can't embed images into Outlook 2000 or print an email. I can't access Windows Update and various other websites. I have run spyware and adaware and they both come up clean.

Here is the real kicker: If I go to About Internet Explorer, there is no text. No version number, no cipher strenght, no update versions, no anything.

I have tried repairing IE6, uninstalling and restoring to previous version, changing the hexkey somethingorother, etc. I have searched all over the Internet and found nothing that would work,short of blowing out the harddrive and reinstalling windows.

Does / has any one know of or heard of anything like this?
Any and all help would be greatly appreciated!

[SnakEyez]

If you can't access Windows Update then there is a really good chance you have the virus that was going around for the longest time. Run some virus scans and check out Microsoft's website, and Symantec's website. Both have links to free patches to try and remove the virus and allow IE to patch Windows up for you.

Now with Outlook, I really don't think that the virus that affects IE will do anything to Outlook, from what i have read/heard. However, I could be wrong. But to be on the safe side you may want to repair Office or reinstall it to fix those problems.

[MattS]

There is an alteration on the virus that SnakEyez was referring to. The original version of the virus infects your computer and diables websites, such as certain virus scanners' websites, that will enable you to run scans on your computer. The other version also messes with Outlook, or Outlook Express (usually Outlook Express). But, in any event a website that I don't think is blocked, that you can use, is:

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

That website provides a free scan, so that you can see if you do or do not have the virus on your computer. My suggestion is to run that, and also Norton, McAfee or Symantec should you have one of them.

Keep us posted.

[Daven_Port]

I am using Symantic Antivirus corporate edition, with the current live updates installed, no viruses found. Have been to Norton's site, Trend Micro and many other sites that have been a result of google searching, to no avail.

BTW, what is the name of the virus that you two are referring to?

The system comes up clean on the Sasser worm and the Blaster worm.

[MattS]

Go ahead and do a tracert on one of the sites that you can't access. To do this:

1) Click on Start, and then Run
2) Type Command, hit OK
3) Type tracert followed by the site you can't access (for example, tracert hostrocket.com)
4) Paste the results into your reply, here on the boards

That way we can see if it's a virus, or just something wrong with a DNS somewhere.

I'll look up the NAME of the virus, as soon as I can, since I don't specifically recall.

[Daven_Port]

Thanks for the input, I'll try that tomorrow.

[Daven_Port2]

Ok, I'm on my other computer and I can't login due to the fact that I forgot my password, and HR has yet to send my my password so that I can login. (so I had to create a second account)

Anyway, I ran the tracert and the results are below. Also I have included the screenshot of the About Internet Explorer. Has anyone ever seen this. HELP.

[Daven_Port2]

About IE6 screen shot:

[MattS]

The fact that the tracert is successful, and that your IE is acting oddly, leads me to believe that it is some sort of virus or corruption within IE.

Let me look into it, talk to a few colleagues, and get back to you...

[Daven_Port2]

Any word yet?

[MattS]

Sorry about that. I lost track of the thread.

I recommend that you either reinstall, or repair Internet Explorer. To do this:

- From the Start menu, select Run.
- In the Open field, type sfc /scannow (Note: There is a space between sfc and /scannow)
- Select the OK button.
- Follow the prompts throughout the System File Checker process.
- Reboot the computer when System File Checker completes.

[a-pluspc]

This last week I've cleaned 2 different virus's off of people computers and I've had to fix their hosts file to allow them access back on to AV websites. Check that file and see if there are entries like:

127.0.0.1 http://symantec.com

The only thing that should be in there is:
127.0.0.1 localhost

[Daven_Port2]

# Copyright (c) 1993-1999 Microsoft Corp.
#
# This is a sample HOSTS file used by Microsoft TCP/IP for Windows.
#
# This file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. Each
# entry should be kept on an individual line. The IP address should
# be placed in the first column followed by the corresponding host name.
# The IP address and the host name should be separated by at least one
# space.
#
# Additionally, comments (such as these) may be inserted on individual
# lines or following the machine name denoted by a '#' symbol.
#
# For example:
#
# 102.54.94.97 rhino.acme.com # source server
# 38.25.63.10 x.acme.com # x client host

127.0.0.1 localhost

[a-pluspc]

Well there goes my idea. Your's looks fine. Did you make sure to scroll down though? On one computer I had to scroll down a few screens before I found the bad entries.

[Daven_Port2]

that was the entire file - thanks though.


Has anyone seen the IE6 screen shot I posted above?
I need an explanation for that.

[sznapsDOTcom]

You said you had Windows Xp Rite? Well my friend had windows 2000 and had same problem, Pictures wouldn't load in IE, So he tried Netscape to make sure it wasn't something else. After that, he scanned for ad-aware, and he had alot...erased those, was still there. After a while...it just went away, but i think its a different case for you...

[Jenn]

I hear that SpyBot-Search & Destroy is a good thing to have in addition to AdAware. Here's a link to it on download.com.
http://www.download.com/3000-2144-10122137.html?part=104443&subj=dlpage&tag=button

I have used it and it caught a few things that AdAware missed. It might be worth it for you to try it out (it's free).

[Daven_Port2]

Thanks to all that have posted. I've since done a clean install and all is good again.

[KLH]

Originally posted by MattS
The fact that the tracert is successful

The tracert wasn't successful. The "Request Timed Out" means it isn't successful, and by default, the tracert will only shows the first 30 hops. A normal tracert will never have "Request time out."
The first timeout that you get is where you are having problems connecting to, and since you cannot get past that, the rest would fail also.