a computer question

[Freet]

a computer question

I am going to Dallas tomorrow for whatever reason. As a coincident, a friend in Dallas called me in a bit of a tizzy because his computer is experiencing a pretty nasty problem. I told him I would stop by and see if I can assist but I could use some advice from the geeks here.

He described the problem as follows:

When he opens IE (I know...I know) and tries to load a page the page will begin loading and then IE will close as though he x'ed out of it. In simple words, he cannot surf the web. He has tried re-booting, cold booting and every other idea he could come up with. He even tried system restore but windows keeps telling him that there were no changes so there is no restore point to go to.

I suspect an IE file got corrupted and would normally just bring the exe file to either re-load IE or, IMO, a better idea, load Firefox but there is yet another issue. He is on *gasp* dial up. Yes, there are those in the world that still suffer from the plague.

Since I am not going to be there for a full week, I do not have time for him to dl an entire browser at 5kb/sec.

Would my best bet to re-load xp or does anyone know of a fix for this?

 

[SuggestiveName]

Does it happen if he boots to safe mode with networking?

 

[Freet]

Does it happen if he boots to safe mode with networking?

I will check that when I get there.

 

[rare]

well you can download firefox now (assuming that now you have broadband), put it on a flashdrive, and install it on that other computer.

also try to reinstall IE. control panel, add/remove, on the left click on windows component, uncheck IE, restart, repeat except this time check IE, and reboot if prompted.

 

[Freet]

well you can download firefox now (assuming that now you have broadband), put it on a flashdrive, and install it on that other computer.

also try to reinstall IE. control panel, add/remove, on the left click on windows component, uncheck IE, restart, repeat except this time check IE, and reboot if prompted.

I thought about dl'ing FF but all it will let me dl is the exe file that begins the install which includes dl'ing the browser.

I will try your second suggestion though.

Thanks

 

[rare]

np, you can also try to open any window..like My documents, My pictures..., and go to the address bar that's on there, and type in any website and see if it takes you.

it should take you to the website you typed in, and if it all goes well, this could be a workaround to launching IE, and instead just opening websites from windows explorer.

also I recently heard of a very simliar case of spyware. What it was is that a messenger program somehow corrupts any IE icon or shortcut. Even the standard IE icon on the desktop behaves the same way you described; it kind of opens, but then just closes by itself. The only workaround to this that I know of is to open up that messenger program, and find someway to open IE. This might be done by choosing an option to "update account info" or something that sounds like it should take you to the messenger's website. By doing that, it usually lets you open IE and succesfully browse.

 

[Oscuro]

I thought about dl'ing FF but all it will let me dl is the exe file that begins the install which includes dl'ing the browser.

I just checked, and the 4.9mB package you get from clicking the big "Download Firefox" button on this page seems to be a full install with no further download required.

 

[vdzele]

Sometime this helps: copy your (or anybodies that works) entire IE folder on flash / CD. Delete many files that you can from his IE and copy yours in his directory.

So far I learned that the best solution of taking out malicious scripts is Norton AV (their latest editions). Though having NAV (or any) on pc is xxxx. I don’t use any AV or spyware removers.

Teach him to use Acronis true image or Norton Ghost. They make a clone of a hard drive properly, not like windows restore point.

 

[ffejrxx]

or download spybot, adaware, hijackthis from another computer, burn them onto a cd and bring it to him

one of the 3 should be able to fix his problem

but first try deleting his temp internet files