Everytime I shut down or restart my PC, I get a End Task window that says it needs to shut down iexplore.exe.
How do I get rid of this? What exactly is it? A trojan? And would a register scan fix this or can I do it on my own? ???
Had a similar problem myself, but it resolved somehow. This link (http://www.liutilities.com/products/wintaskspro/processlibrary/iexplore/) may help.
Use firefox instead.
http://mozilla.org/firefox
Which system are you running? I haven't this process under XP running unless I run IE, it gets shut down after shutting down IE.
Radiant - I guess it has nothing to do with IE, from the site it seems that it is running wheter you run IE or not?
But - I totally agree - IE is EVIL. I personally use Opera, cause it is much more sophisticated than Firefox, it handles everything easily, and it is...how to say...neater and more to my taste. I find it better than Firefox. (I did not like the poor RSS support in firefox) It is also more "all-in-one" software. You have everything nicely in one program. I guess you have most of this stuff also in FF, but it seems to me that in Opera it is taken more seriously and into greater detail. It is simply very well-arranged and I am totally Operish.
Quote from: Radiant on Wed 26/03/2008 19:09:15
Use firefox instead.
http://mozilla.org/firefox
IE often launches itself automatially even if people don't use it. And deleting it may be very troublesome. Anyway, what we've got here is most likely a trojan, masking as an IE process.
Oh, and don't buy these cheap
loes (ZOMG, I've created a new word again) lies about Mozilla's uber-bestness. Use Opera instead.
http://www.opera.com/ (http://www.opera.com/)
Quote from: Lionmonkey on Wed 26/03/2008 19:18:22
Oh, and don't buy these cheap loes about Mozilla's uber-bestness. Use Opera instead.
http://www.opera.com/ (http://www.opera.com/)
I second that notion
Quote from: Lionmonkey on Wed 26/03/2008 19:18:22
IE often launches itself automatially even if people don't use it.
No it doesn't. If that happens, you've got some malware on your hands.
Quote
Oh, and don't buy these cheap loes about Mozilla's uber-bestness. Use Opera instead.
I'm not sure what a "loe" is, but Firefox is definitely better than IE.
It does launch by itself even if I only use firefox which I do. I open the Task Manager and don't see it, but if I go to processes, I see it running. It's obviously a trojan. Will a scan register fix this or not? I don't have one because they charge to get them, but I will probably get one by the end of next month.
What I'd really like to know is, if I keep having to end the task when I turn off my PC, will it hurt it in the long run. It's not so bothersome, but I would like to get this out.
Try running virus and spyware checks of any type. When you have trojan on your PC, I really suggest to back up everything and prepare for formatting. Maybe a bit drastic, but I do not trust infected (and maybe healed afterwards) system anymore. That is how I do it. Save what I can and reinstall. Fresh OS install is good from time to time.
Backup is not an option for me, I have no external HD to save my junk. I guess I'll have to wait to buy the register scan.
Well you should probably start by checking the windows/system and windows/system32 folders and see if it's there. Basically iexplore.exe runs from program files, so if it's in the system files it's probably a trojan of some kind. Question: if you run IE, do you have a dublicate iexplore.exe in your task manager as running processes?
I'm performing a sypware scan at the moment to see if that fixes it. Then I'll run a virus scan which will take like 30 minutes.
And yes, when I open multiple windows with explorer, more iexplorer.exe show up.
I should also add that I did see the file in my progams file in the explorer and I deleted it yesterday, but it still shows up.
first of all go to your system manager tool and change the process from automatic start to manual start
this may help
Quote from: Fleshstalker on Wed 26/03/2008 21:16:38And yes, when I open multiple windows with explorer, more iexplorer.exe show up.
Yes, well that shouldn't happen
Also, I might not sound very pro here, but what's a progams file?
Quote from: thebaddie on Wed 26/03/2008 21:20:01
first of all go to your system manager tool and change the process from automatic start to manual start
this may help
How do I find the system manager tool? I'm not too good with the PC tech.
well the autostart I usually manage through Run -> regedit, then go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run and remove what I don't want running on startup, which is all listed there. Local Machine does it for all the users of the windows... But then this won't remove the problem imo. Or I don't see how it would.
Or go to Start -> Run, enter "msconfig" and hit enter. This will open the System Configuration Utility. Select the Startup tab and check the list.
To remove spyware and stuff, I recommend Superantispyware (http://www.superantispyware.com/downloadfile.html?productid=SUPERANTISPYWAREFREE). Despite the name and the cheesy look of the homepage, it's a superb and professional tool; it saved my PC after I got that fucking Vundo trojan and everything else had failed.
Well spyware did detected malware, but it can't delete it, but quarantine it which does nothing to it. Virus scan found no viruses.
Do you think if I buy a scan registry, will it fix the problem? Will this mess up my PC if I just leave it the way it is and end the task every time I shut my PC?
This combination has kept my PC safe for many years, and many of those years I spent without any service packs or Windows updates. They're also all free:
1) AVG (http://free.grisoft.com/doc/downloads-products/us/frt/0?prd=aff)
2) Spybot (http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html)
3) Ad-Aware (http://www.lavasoftusa.com/single/trialpay.php)
4) Downloading only things that look like they're safe. If in doubt, Google for forum topics on the thing in question.
There are plenty of other free things too. If you know the name of the malware/virus you have then just Google it and you'll usually find instructions for removing it. The majority of occurences of a virus filename on the Internet is in discussions or guides on removing it.
If you don't know the virus name, check all of your processes in the Task Manager and msconfig > startup against something like the startup list at http://www.sysinfo.org/ (http://www.sysinfo.org/).
Actually, I only run Avast home and sometimes spybot. I do not go to unsafe sites. The best, and I mean the truly BEST antivirus technique is not going anywhere unsafe. Oh, and I am permanently under firewall just to be sure ;)
Seriously, I am always prepared for a failure. I have my documents backed up and I burn anything I can (films, large pdfs...). You know, I am totally paranoid in this. I have experienced some bad failures in the past and I do not trust one OS on one disk, that is too unsafe for me.
Anyway, you cannot avoid all viruses and if you get seriously infected, you are in trouble. Then, it is good when you have to back up only a few things you havent backed up/burned yet and you can format/reinstall immediately afterwards without any pain or worries.
I definitely recommend this technique, it saves you much pain in your ass.
just after new years' I was infected with several vundos. Probably because I have a habit of going through pop-ups just to see how many I can open without an alert. It took me several weeks of fighting round the computer, the system, the registry, the startup. In the end I was manually able to move all but one of them, none could be removed by adaware which was messed up because of these infections. Spybot couldn't delete them, and AntiVir wouldn't find them.
The last one I removed by installing my HD to my friends computer. In the beginning I was able to remove the vundos by starting up with no programs running and then disabling every possible onethat were running the vundo. The last one wouldn't, there was something it was attached to that needed to be running all the time. But as then the HD was secondary on my friends computer, nothing was running the programs and I was able to delete it with AVG. Nowadays I use AVG myself. Reason: My friend had the same infections, and AVG took care of the ones AntiVir couldn't.
I'm not afraid of viruses. If I had to format my HD, it'd mean a lot of downloading mp3sbut that's basically all I have. And I've been infected several times. With a little effort you can usually fix it, and everytime you learn something new.
I tried a system restore, but it did nothing. I did however get the AVG, which is really good since it increased the speed of my PC slightly. It didn't detect the iexplore.exe, but it did find over 1,500 threats. I'm guess it cleaned those. And I still get that end task when I turn off my PC.
I even set the both iexplore.exe to low priority on the processes menu, thus I believe using my PC Usage to just 5%
I guess I can live with it, but someone tell me something, I need this answered as I've mentioned like three times but no one has answered it. Will it effect my PC if I keep having to end the task when I turn off my PC every time?
I can say that not everything I visit is safe, but then again, why worry? I do back-up regularly, and I have plenty of the same idea software: Ad-aware, spybot, Superantispyware, AVG, a firewall... I do get the regular adware, which are almost not annoying even, had a trojan yesterday and that's about it.
About 1 1/2 year ago I had a serious virus, which killed all executable programs. That was serious. I did know how to battle it but chose to go the format way. I find it healthy. There's so much rubbish in every computer connected to the Internet. Too bad that I can't afford a second one right now, to use as a DAW, in order to keep destroying the current one! :D Would be the perfect solution really. But money and space are two issues which can't be battled.
Flesh: Formating once a year or so, is not so bad, as long as you have the software to bring them back on, and you can back-up. Backing up could mean a few CDs, or DVDs, as well, and it's worth the effort. A clean hard disk and a light CPU is something considerable. :)
How do I reformat? I did copy some back up data. I just don't know how to go about doing this without messing up my PC.
But if you format, you will mess your computer. You'll delete everything. Absolutely everything. Otherwise it won't work. The bad stuff will stay in...
You do need to have the windows xp disk and all drivers (for your soundcard, or monitor, or graphics card, etc). When I formated, I didn't need any drivers actually, everything was fully compatible to XP so it was fine. After the windows was in, I was ready to start installing the rest of my software.
Anyways, you insert the Windows CD in the CD, make the computer boot from the CD (through the bios if it's not set to check first the CD) and then you... follow instructions pretty much.
But do wait for someone more knowledgable than me. Please. :)
Wait a few minutes, I have this perfectly trained, I can reinstall in just a few hours, give me a few minutes and I will prepare a step-by-step for you...
OK, I totally agree with Nicolas, reformat from time to time is very good for the health of your PC. I do it as he said, once a year (sometimes twice) or so if everything goes fine. If your PC is slow, you have plenty of programs you do not use and rubbish in registry, possible viruses and/or spyware, there is nothing better to do. To the point:
I have it like this: All hardware drivers downloaded in one folder so you dont worry about it after format. "My documents" folder backed up. All program and utilities install files in one folder, backed up. Do this on a back-up HDD. If you do not have one, obtain one, you wont regret. Burn everything I can. Films, games, everything except documents like pictures/music/TV series - too big, too many, updated daily. Then - CHECK EVERYTHING THREE TIMES!!! Be absolutely sure that you wont miss anything from that HDD, I mean, everything will be gone. So check and check and check. I lost my adventure games folder once when I was not careful.
Then, the format comes. Have your OS CD ready (I have XP prof. SP2 so I will write what I do, but it is all the same on all XPs I guess...)
1. Be sure to have everything backed up and hardware drivers ready and all things I mentioned above. Prepare your OS CD.
2. Restart, go to BIOS (press DEL a few times immediately after startup)
3. Under standard BIOS settings (dont remember exact name, it is the first one) find "Boot sequence" and change first device to CD ROM.
4. Insert your OS CD to the optical drive
5. Exit and SAVE changes
6. Wait until setup boots
7. Agree to terms, and when on the partition select screen, delete all partitions on the HDD. Confirm.
8. Create a new partition - the default space entered is the maximum one I guess - no need to change it
9. Select NTFS file system (XP does NOT work under FAT32 well, if at all, I dont know, just be sure to select NTFS)
10. Format the disk - should take a while
11. Install the OS on that partition
12. The PC reboots itself after that and the installation continues - simple settings, nothing you could mess up
13. It reboots itself again
14. Youre there! Thats it. Remove the OS CD. Reboot again and go to BIOS, set first boot device to HDD0 (NOT HDD1, HDD0 is the first one)
15. Install all hardware drivers
16. Copy everything back
17. Install antivirus software and then everything else
Thats how I do it. If I am under dangerous conditions (virus) I plug out the backup HDD after backing up the files just to be sure. You know, thats my paranoia ;D
Oh, one more thing - try to have your "My Documents" folder somewhere else than the default location (C:/Documents and settings/Username/My Documents). I once had a virus which infected System32 folder and this My Documents folder. But I keep all my documents in C:/My Documents, so the virus did nothing to me! I just had to do the above process easily and calmly, nothing to worry about.
Please - anyone who finds a mistake in the above (shouldnt be, but I may have something wrong) correct me.
Quote from: Fleshstalker on Thu 27/03/2008 17:02:47I guess I can live with it, but someone tell me something, I need this answered as I've mentioned like three times but no one has answered it. Will it effect my PC if I keep having to end the task when I turn off my PC every time?
As far as I know, it won't. It'll just be annoying and troublesome.
Quote from: Fleshstalker on Thu 27/03/2008 17:02:47
I guess I can live with it, but someone tell me something, I need this answered as I've mentioned like three times but no one has answered it. Will it effect my PC if I keep having to end the task when I turn off my PC every time?
Nope, if you don't mind:
- All the sites you visit being monitored and screenshots of your activity being sent to strangers.
- Having this malware opening a backdoor at any time and have a virus destroy your files before you get a chance to back them up.
- Having your passwords (eg. online banking) compromised.
- Infecting your friends with malware and viruses.
- Spamming people's mailboxes with porno.
- Joining in a denial of service attack organised by criminals.
Or it could do nothing at all.
But that would all be a following of the actions of it just as the closing issue, not effects of the issue itself. So the virus might bring more effects than just the manual task ending, but not the task ending itself.
Before reformatting the whole PC, be sure to run hijack this.
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/programs.php#hijackthis
Then paste the log here: http://www.hijackthis.de/en
It will tell you exactly what threats are on your PC and how to get rid of them.
If you still want to wipe the PC, don't create just one partition! That's just wrong. Create at least two, use about 10 Gig for the first (C), and create a second one (D) using the rest of the free space. 10 Gig is enough for XP and all service packs if you keep it free of your own files and installations (e.g. Office).
Always install apps to d:\Program Files and move the My Documents folder to d: (via the properties of it's icon).
That way, should you ever have to reinstall XP again, you just need to backup a few files on the D partition (like e.g. IE's favorites) and can format C afterwards with all your stuff remaining untouched on D. No need for tedious burning of thousands of files.
Quote from: KhrisMUC on Thu 27/03/2008 20:58:38
Before reformatting the whole PC, be sure to run hijack this.
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/programs.php#hijackthis
Then paste the log here: http://www.hijackthis.de/en
It will tell you exactly what threats are on your PC and how to get rid of them.
If you still want to wipe the PC, don't create just one partition! That's just wrong. Create at least two, use about 10 Gig for the first (C), and create a second one (D) using the rest of the free space. 10 Gig is enough for XP and all service packs if you keep it free of your own files and installations (e.g. Office).
Always install apps to d:\Program Files and move the My Documents folder to d: (via the properties of it's icon).
That way, should you ever have to reinstall XP again, you just need to backup a few files on the D partition (like e.g. IE's favorites) and can format C afterwards with all your stuff remaining untouched on D. No need for tedious burning of thousands of files.
Well, I dont know why, but I do not like partitions. I do not believe an infected HDD anymore and always wipe it totally. Currently, I have XP (Only XP) and some files that wouldnt hurt to lose on 80GB Seagate. On 500GB Seagate, I have everything else. Its like with the partitions, but I do not have 2 partitions, but 2 HDDs instead. Works for me perfectly. If I need to reformat, I only reformat the small drive and thats it. Clean OS, clean registers, nothing to worry about. All viruses I have had infected only my system disk, not the other one.
So ummm.. yea, I decided to live with this virus, for now... I don't do any online banking or buy things off the intaweb. But I will eventually buy a register cleaner later on next next to see if that corrects the problem.
If it somehow doesn't, I might have to do a clean OS install - only if I decide to do some buying online using a debit card (hate credit cards). And I probably won't do it myself, hire someone like may from Best Buy (if they do that).
I would ask a friend, I am sure everyone has some PC-stuff skilled friends ;)
I've been a PC user for almost a decade, and I've never backed up a HD. I've never had a serious virus infection. I've never had my system compromised. I run a minimal security setup.
Go me!
Quote from: Oliwerko on Thu 27/03/2008 10:22:05
I do not go to unsafe sites. The best, and I mean the truly BEST antivirus technique is not going anywhere unsafe. Oh, and I am permanently under firewall just to be sure ;)
I'd add opening unsolicited emails to that list, as 9 out of 10 viruses are spread through email. But, other than those points, you really shouldn't have to do anything else to ensure a safe system.
Quote from: LimpingFish on Fri 28/03/2008 19:26:28
I've been a PC user for almost a decade, and I've never backed up a HD. I've never had a serious virus infection. I've never had my system compromised. I run a minimal security setup.
Go me!
I'd add opening unsolicited emails to that list, as 9 out of 10 viruses are spread through email. But, other than those points, you really shouldn't have to do anything else to ensure a safe system.
Lucky you!
I can say only one thing - you are lucky - and very very brave. (If you have things you do not want to lose)
On that email thing - this probablity is lowered when you just dont open any random spam emails. I only get a few ones a week from trusted persons. Of course this does not eliminate the danger completely, but it restricts it definitely.
The problem goes with some idiots sending e-mails with a subejct "Job for you!"
It looks and reads SO MUCH like spam, but it actually isn't and is a genouine offer for a gig or something... and I do get random e-mails from people I don't know... Some are also marked as "spam".
Thing is that smart email, at least, does not open any file, nor pics, nor signatures, but just the txt and attaches everything else. so by opening an e-mail there is no danger (at least this is what I know). Certainly the "viagraonlinecheap70$" subject is spam, no doubt there! ;D
Alright, I went to Geek Squad at Best Buy and they told me my only option is a fresh OS install. Registery scan won't do any according to them. They said it would cost me $200 for them to do it for me and they copy all my files that aren't affected by any viruses. Sounds ok I guess but a little expensive. I might take their offer later on as I'll save some money for it. For now, I'll be fine as I don't buy online or anything involving money transactions. I'd do it myself, but it's too much of a hassel. I might even get a new PC down the line too. Who knows.
Quote from: Fleshstalker on Sun 30/03/2008 02:21:23
Alright, I went to Geek Squad at Best Buy and they told me my only option is a fresh OS install.
I'm not so sure, but it does happen to be the most lucrative option. I wouldn't pay $200 unless you're certain it's a virus going round wrecking your files and you are unable to salvage them or know anyone that can help. I'm sure a lot of people here have helped their friends for no more than some cups of coffee and a favour or two. Here are some cheaper ways:
- You have either spyware, an elusive virus (if AVG isn't catching it) or just an annoying Internet Explorer bug. If you haven't already, download Spybot and Ad-Aware from the links above, click update and then do a full scan, it's simple enough. Same goes with all other scanners, AVG too - update them first or you're wasting your time.
If that still doesn't fix you, do what KhrisMUC said with HijackThis (it takes seconds to scan).
- If you can't stand trying to fix the problem them buy some CDs/DVDs or even another harddisk (which you can keep after) out of that $200, copy everything worth keeping onto it and reformat. Then copy your files back over. Spyware tends to stay in your system folders, so personal files are usually safe. If it's a virus, it might come back and infect your computer, in which case you might have to reformat again and try or even buy other scanners. I don't think it's the most likely result though.
To reformat your harddisk just put your Windows CD in and reboot.
Of course it's your money, but unless your time is really precious or you really don't like playing with scanners then it isn't worth $200 and being parted from your PC.
Dont you have any friends that can do this for free? I am sure everyone does! I think anything is better than paying $200 for reformatting your HDD!
I have no friends who know how to do this for me. I'll try spybot rght now.
Well, I did the scan, but still it pops up. Though I noticed that if I restart the PC, the iexplore.exe end task won't show, but when I turn off the PC, it does show. No big deal I guess.
WOAHHHH now... ???
I think I finally got rid of it. How strange, it no longer appears on my processes screen. It just vanished all I remember yesterday is that I deleted a bunch of old AGS games which I have been downloading into a file folder (I usually download AGS games just to check them out first before really keeping them; a big mess might I add). Then afterwards, I ran AVG Free edition. Either one of those two or combination of them somehow got rid of the trojan. Now that is wierd, but great news to me. No more having to end the task when shutting down my PC. AND my PC is really fast too!!! :) :D ;D
Quote from: Fleshstalker on Sun 30/03/2008 02:21:23
Alright, I went to Geek Squad at Best Buy and they told me my only option is a fresh OS install. Registery scan won't do any according to them. They said it would cost me $200 for them to do it for me and they copy all my files that aren't affected by any viruses. Sounds ok I guess but a little expensive. I might take their offer later on as I'll save some money for it. For now, I'll be fine as I don't buy online or anything involving money transactions. I'd do it myself, but it's too much of a hassel. I might even get a new PC down the line too. Who knows.
Woah! Wait a minute there!
I'm not 100% sure, but the following should be true:
* pic files (jpg, png, etc) shouldn't have anything, they're pciture files.
* music files shouldn't have anything either.
* Not sure about word doc files, but I don't think there are many viruses hitting on word doc files
* Project files of any kind seem to specific to carry viruses. I mean what kind of virus hits *.cpj files? (cubase project files)
I doubt you need anything else from your computer, assuming you have disks with the software you use.
Assuming (again) that you do have the original Windows xp disk somewhere (which you should have if you bought windows) then you should be able to just put the disk in a format the whole thing, after you have salvaged what you need from your computer.
In my case I need all my audio files (talking about several GB actually, more than 20). Then I need the Finale files (scores), which are around 500 MB in total. Some pics, some files from a folder called "work", and that's all. I don't care about mp3 files, or pics, I can get them again (from my CDs). I don't have movies and other stuff in, and various free stuff from the net, I can certainly google and in an hour have them all back on.
Bottom line:
1. saving what is without virus <> what is worth saving.
2. Since you probably don't do 3-d or audio, the files you will want to save will be relatively small. I've not seen any AGS game more than 100+ MB really, maybe except the very few.
3. Inserting the Windows xp disk in your drive and booting from there will give you an option to format (deep or not) and clean the hell out of your hard drive. It's a simple follow the instructions.
4. Having backed up the things you need, the worst that can happen is screwing up the installation of windows. It won't destroy the hard disk. In such an unfortunate event, take the computer for a windows installation
only since you've already backed-up what you need. And if you have the Windows CD already, there's ABSOLUTELY NO QUESTION that a simple installation, without buying the OEM version does NOT cost $200!
EDIT: You posted while I was typing! Happy news mate! Great to have your computer back, huh? :)
HA! Ya, you posted right when I left to work. Thanks anyways Nikolas and everyone else here for steering me all the way through. My PC is as fast as it was when I first bought. AMAZING AVG software, I recommend it to everyone. ;D