Browser hosed

November 7, 2005 6:39 AM

Browser hosed, help.

Firefox 1.0.7. Periodically (one or two minutes apart) opens a new url in the same window.
Tried running SpywareBlaster, SpyBot, Ad-Aware and Norton Antivirus, disabled Java and Javascript to no avail.
HijackThis gave me this logfile.

posted by Finder to Computers & Internet (9 answers total)

So FF is the Default Browser, right? Chances are an unrelated virus has infected your machine and is calling up web pages on it's own. FF is just doing what the system has requested.

It's not a FF thing, it's a Windows thing. That doesn't really help your problem, however.
posted by unixrat at 7:15 AM on November 7, 2005

Spybot Search and Destroy to get rid of spyware
Avast Home Edition to get rid of the visuses

both free, and pretty darn good in my opinion.

(also HijackThis to clean up after (but its a bit techy))
posted by lemonfridge at 7:26 AM on November 7, 2005

There are a number of places that you can post your Hijack This log file and get help (examples: Major Geeks, Geeks to Go). You can find others if you google "hijack this log" or something similar. I haven't posted to them, but have found useful info combing through them when I had a problem similar to yours.

lemonfridge: Next time, try reading the question before posting a completely useless answer.
posted by googly at 7:37 AM on November 7, 2005

Lavasoft used to have support forums for Ad-Aware, where people could post their AA and HijackThis logs and get advice from other users about how to proceed with knotty problems like yours (I used their forum myself a year or so ago, and found everyone very patient, knowledgeable, and helpful). Lavasoft has taken their forum down, but apparently the regulars of the forum have moved to a new board, here. You might try asking there; they have a HijackThis log analysis forum and an Ad-Aware support forum, among others.

(Yeah, lemonfridge.)
posted by Gator at 7:50 AM on November 7, 2005

You might try reinstalling Firefox to a blank profile (this is key - don't just reinstall Fx while keeping the same profile dir.) If for some reason this is being caused by a Firefox extension gone awry, then that would narrow it down. Make sure it happens in a completely stock Firefox with empty profile before tearing your hair out looking for spyware.
posted by Rhomboid at 9:28 AM on November 7, 2005

I find Startup Monitor to be a useful addition to my anti-spyware utilities.

Basically, it notifies you when any program registers itself to run at system startup and gives you the option of disabling it. It prevents those utterly useless tray applications from registering themselves behind your back, and it acts as a security tool against trojans like BackOrifice or Netbus.

And it's free :-)
posted by essexjan at 9:39 AM on November 7, 2005

Best answer: I would use Webroot Spysweeper to clean your machine. You can download the trial version for free.

We did a ton of research at work and found that it was by far the best at removing spyware and other malware on your machine.

You do have a lot of other things running in the background that may be 'legally' popping up. What is the links or names you see on the pop-up?
posted by Argyle at 9:43 AM on November 7, 2005

Response by poster: Thank you all for the useful responses--I'll try the utilities and forums mentioned. I switched the default browser back to IE, and sure enough, the problem persists. Yeah, and it completely brings down Opera: it just crashes every two minutes or so.
Argyle: all kinds of advertisements, Cingular, mortgage companies, spyware removal software (!), the works.
Example:
"http://e.rn11.com/adbuys/a1026-elitestreet_lp"
posted by Finder at 11:04 AM on November 7, 2005

Response by poster: OK, problem solved--Webroot Spysweeper did it.
Thanks again to all who responded.
posted by Finder at 12:43 PM on November 7, 2005