IE pops up when using firefox

[Zachareye]

Please help I have been having a problem where IE opens when using firefox and most recently it's been doing the same thing in separate tabs, i have of course ran anti-virus and anti-spyware scans but finds nothing. Thank you in advance

 

[howard_hopkinso]

Hello and welcome to Techspot.

Go and read this thread HERE and post a HJT log as an attachment into this thread.

Regards Howard :wave: :wave:

This thread is for the use of Zachareye only. Please don`t post your own virus/spyware problems in this thread. Instead, open a new thread in our security and the web forum.

 

[Zachareye]

Here is the HJT log

 

[howard_hopkinso]

I can`t see anything nasty in your HJT log. However, it appears you`re running more than one firewall programme, eTrust EZ Firewall and Zonealarm. This is not recommended and can cause serious conflicts. Whether it has anything to do with your problem I don`t know, but you should uninstall Zonealarm asap.

Let us know if that helps. Also, can you give details of when your problem first appeared etc.

Regards Howard

 

[Zachareye]

I could find no trace of zone alarm, I check control panel add/remove programs, nothing and check program files, nothing. (EZ armor however, looks the exact same and acts the exact same as zone alarm but is clearly labeled in the icon tray as "EZ" and is the only fire wall I personaly can find running even checked the windows security settings and that's the only one it shows running, could that possibly be the problem)
As for recently what I have done; installed new versions of anydvd and clonedvd which I promply uninstalled and removed from program files upon reading you're response and reboted.

 

[howard_hopkinso]

These entries are from your HJT log.

C:\WINDOWS\system32\ZoneLabs\vsmon.exe
O23 - Service: TrueVector Internet Monitor (vsmon) - Zone Labs Inc. - C:\WINDOWS\system32\ZoneLabs\vsmon.exe

So, clearly, Zonealarm is running on your system.

See these instructions for removing Zonealarm.

Regards Howard

 

[Zachareye]

Here is the strange thing it will not let me delete the zone alarm files because it tells me it's in use, but when i close EZ armor firewall then it will let me. Should I close EZ armor then delete them? or do you think EZ armor uses these files? if I do delete them will EZ armor still work?

Sorry if I am being a pain in the you know what, I just want to get this straight without messing up something else.

 

[howard_hopkinso]

You`re not being a pain at all.

It does look like EZ armor firewall is something to do with Zonealarm, so leave it alone.

However, that means I don`t know why you`re having the problem of IE opening when you use Firefox.

Have you tried uninstalling and reinstalling Firefox? If not, give it a try and see if it help. When you reinstall firefox, don`t import anything.

Regards Howard

 

[Zachareye]

Thank you for you're help, tried the above and didn't work, ended up doing a system restore for about 2 months back, that seems to have worked, I'll post again if any further problems, Thanks again

 

[howard_hopkinso]

Ok, thanks for letting us know. I`d sure like to know the actual cause, as I`d never heard of that particular problem before.

Regards Howard

 

[Zachareye]

The problem came back, so I just removed IE altogether, seems ok for now, I'm going to do some more resurch and hope in the meantime one of the anti virus and spyware will catch it.

 

[momok]

Hi,

You could also try posting a fresh HijackThis and ComboFix log here for us to analyze. It can be downloaded from the link in my signature.

Regards,
Your friendly momok =)

This thread is for the use of Zachareye only. Please don't post your own virus/spyware problems in this thread. Instead, open a new thread in our security and the web forum.

 

[Zachareye]

Here are the fresh reports, HJT and Combo fix

 

[momok]

Hi,

You may wish to copy and paste these instructions on notepad for easier reference later.

Boot into safe mode under your normal user name. See how HERE

Next turn on "Show all files and folders, including hidden and system". See how HERE

Go to start > run and type services.msc. Press the enter key.
Search for the following services. Double click to select stop if they are running. Set the startup type to disabled. Click apply/ok for each service you disable.

Alcmtr

Open your task manager by pressing holding ctrl, alt and pressing del. Alternatively, use ctrl + shift + esc. Go to the processes tab, and end the following processes, if found:

ALCMTR.EXE

After that, run HijackThis and fix the following entries, if found (do this by placing a tick in the check boxes beside these entries and clicking "Fix checked"):

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Alcmtr] ALCMTR.EXE

Close HJT.

Navigate in Windows Explorer and delete the following files and folders in bold.

C:\WINDOWS\ALCMTR.EXE

Reboot into normal mode and rehide your protected OS files.

Apart from that, I don't see any problem with your logs. Thus I doubt your problem is actually malware related. Let us know if you solve your problem. Thanks.


Regards,
Your friendly momok =)

This thread is for the use of Zachareye only. Please don't post your own virus/spyware problems in this thread. Instead, open a new thread in our security and the web forum.

 

[Zachareye]

Thanks A Million!!!

Thanks for you're help I followed you're instruction put IE back on and no pop ups!
Prior to following you're instructions there were 2-3 updates for windows (IE was included with the updates), and my anti-virus/spyware, following the updates my anti-virus/spyware programs found a couple things, then after that I followed you're instructions. I don't know which fixed it or if it was a combination of any but THANKS A MILLION!!!

 

[momok]

I'm glad that your system is fine. If you should experience any further malware related problems please post in this thread.

Regards,
Your friendly momok =)

This thread is for the use of Zachareye only. Please don't post your own virus/spyware problems in this thread. Instead, open a new thread in our security and the web forum.