Firefox crashes and IE is invaded

[Drd]

Hello: I use Windows XP Service Pack 2. I use it in an HP Pavillion Laptop. My windows is authentic.  I have overall 55 Gig memory with 17 Gig free. That's all I know about my computer, I think.

I have both Firefox Version 3.0.1 and IE installed.  My Firefox browser crashes  often, like every couple of days. It shuts down and I get a message from the Firefox people, "Sorry, your browser has crashed, would you like to report this?" I do, but nothing gets better. I never had this problem with whatever version was before Firefox 3. That worked  just great.

Also, my IE doesn't work right. The version is 7.0.5730.13. Whenever I go to the IE, and then go to a site, immediately some sort of bogus site comes up that warns me that my computer is infected, and that I must immediately download something or other program to be safe again. My McAfee site advisor flashes a warning on that saying that this site itself is dangerous.

More info: There is a small red shield on the right bottom of my tool bar (is that the horizontal blue bar that runs across the bottom of the page, next to the clock?) When I roll the mouse over this it says " Windows Security Alerts".  The shield is red, meaning that it is turned off, but I can't get it turned back on again. I went to my Control Panel and tried both "System" where it says to turn it on, and also the Security section, but nothing works. I am telling you this because maybe this is why I get this problem with my IE, I don't know.

Also, a couple of months ago, I free downloaded from ZDNET a program called shampoo that offered to help clean my register.  I may have turned off the Security myself, I'm not sure. The program expired after only about 2 weeks, so I couldn't go back and fix whatever may have happened there.

So, this is my problem. Also, another weird thing that happens with my browsers is that sometimes I can't enter the main site of something. For example, if I want to read the NYTimes, I can't just use, www.nytimes.com. Instead, I have to go to my history, click on an old page of the Times that I've read, and enter that way. The same thing goes for my online university. Often, I can't connect to my sign in page and have to use some such backdoor.

Thanks so much for your help. I look forward to clearing this up. In peace, Dr. D.

[!~*:.Pink Floyd.:*~!]

http://www.computerhope.com/forum/index.php/topic,46313.0.html

We should have this cleared up I personally think Its a virus.

so if it is I need you to follow the instructions posted in the Link I provided at the top.

When your done make sure we have all three logs (provided in link).

[Drd]

Hello Pink Floyd and others. Why doesn't  my McAfee pick this up when I do a virus scan? Of course, I haven't updated it recently..

Anyway, I will try what you suggest and then be back to let you know if it worked.

In peace Dr D

[!~*:.Pink Floyd.:*~!]

Hello Pink Floyd and others. Why doesn't  my McAfee pick this up when I do a virus scan? Of course, I haven't updated it recently..

Anyway, I will try what you suggest and then be back to let you know if it worked.

In peace Dr D

Things can still get past Antivirus program I have a trojan on my Other PC and Norton, AVG, and Kaspersky all wont Detect it.

The reason we need the logs is so we can see everything thats on your PC and running on your PC.

!~*:.Pink Floyd.:*~!

[Drd]

Hello again, Mr. Pink Floyd. Actually I went to a Pink Floyd concert in around 1972 and am glad to still have my hearing!  Anyway, what you are suggesting sounds very complicated but I'm glad to give it a try. I trust the computer hope people and have always gotten good results. So here goes...

Downloading AVG at this very moment. It says it will take 2 hours. So, can I check over the list of my add and delete programs while we're waiting for that to get your advice on what should be deleted or should we just wait. By the way I do have AVG spyware but not AVG virus scan.

Thanks
Dr. D.

[Drd]

OK. Here is the stuff I'm wondering about deleting:

ABBYY Fine Reader Professional Edition
Activation manager
ALPS Touch Pad Driver
Applian FLV Player
DV Z2
Flash Player 7
Flash Player Pro v3.51
FLV Converter 3
Microsoft.NET Framework 1.1
MIK SOF Mobile 3GP Converter
MIK SOF Mobile AMR converter
MIK SOF mobile media converter
MSXML 4.0 SP2 (KB 927978)
MSXML 4.0 SP2 (KB 936181)
Omni PagePro 9.0
Quick Launch Button 5.10 BS
Rhapsody Player Engine
Speed Optimizer
Windows Registry Cleaner 2.6

Can I delete all of these? Or which of these do I need to save?

Thanks. Dr.D

[evilfantasy]

Just concentrate on getting the malware scan logs. Those are all either needed or legitimate programs.

[Drd]

OK. It will take me a while to download the programs and then make the scans and post the logs here. I'm still 2 hours and 2 minutes away from the AVG download being finished. I see I"ll need to download a couple of more programs to complete this project. Should I download them all simultaneously? Do you have a suggestion as to how to do the downloads quicker?

Thanks again. Dr.D

[evilfantasy]

Download then one at a time that way it should be faster.

[Drd]

OK thanks, then I'll just have to wait to get these all downloaded and will post the logs here when ready. See you then. Dr. D.

[!~*:.Pink Floyd.:*~!]

OK thanks, then I'll just have to wait to get these all downloaded and will post the logs here when ready. See you then. Dr. D.

Well stick bye your side

Also Theres no need to download AVG or any other of the programs I talked about With the trojan I had.

Just get the logs like Evil fantasy said.

[Drd]

Hello again: I  downloaded AVG because in the instructions on dealing with malware that you linked to, it said to follow all the steps, and step A was for people with expired anti-virus programs, like me, so I had to download the program. I don't know enough about what goes to know when to skip a step, so I didn't skip that. And, to get the logs, do I have to download the programs, or just somehow run them on my computer? I'm getting a little confused that maybe I don't need to do these downloads. Please explain.

Thank you

Dr. D.

[Drd]

Specifically, I see that downloading and running CCSlim is part of the instructions. Yet, Mr. Pink Floyd said to just stick to getting the logs. So, does that mean I can skip the CCSlim step, and save time through one less download, or should I do that step anyway? Thanks. Dr. D.

[evilfantasy]

Download and run CCleaner. It's a small download and shouldn't take long.

[Drd]

Hello helping friends: I gotta tell you that I've finished the AVG download and am scanning. So far I've found a series of about 6 Trojan Horses. I"ll keep you posted. I've downloaded the CC thing and will go to that next. Thanks for everything and stay tuned! Dr. D.