How the hell do I get rid of Internet Explorer?

[CheshireCatNY]

Okay so I download this new web browser "Mozilla Firefox" and this bad boy is like the holy grail of web browsers, it runs beautifully with almost no pop-ups. I switched over because of the problems I've been having with pop-ups on Explorer. But NOW when I'm using Mozilla I STILL GET POP-UPS THROUGH INTERNET EXPLORER!!! ITS NOT OPEN!!! When I try to delete the program, it says I can't because its being used by another program EVEN WHEN I DISABLE MY INTERNET CONNECTION. Plus now every single time I get a pop-up through explorer while I'm on Mozilla and I try to close it, it says "program not responding" and freezes up my system, THIS IS THE 5TH DAMN TIME I TRIED TO POST THIS SAME MESSAGE!!!! It tormented me in life, and now that I've put it to rest, it does it TWICE AS MUCH!

Please someone help me...🙁 🙁 🙁

 

[Celtic_Emperor]

Yes, I switched to Firefox from IE not too long ago, and its just as you say, and better.

I don't know whats causing your problem however. Its not happening to me.

HDS should be in here soon enough to help you out.

 

[cosquillero1]

Okay so I download this new web browser "Mozilla Firefox" and this bad boy is like the holy grail of web browsers, it runs beautifully with almost no pop-ups. I switched over because of the problems I've been having with pop-ups on Explorer. But NOW when I'm using Mozilla I STILL GET POP-UPS THROUGH INTERNET EXPLORER!!! ITS NOT OPEN!!! When I try to delete the program, it says I can't because its being used by another program EVEN WHEN I DISABLE MY INTERNET CONNECTION. Plus now every single time I get a pop-up through explorer while I'm on Mozilla and I try to close it, it says "program not responding" and freezes up my system, THIS IS THE 5TH DAMN TIME I TRIED TO POST THIS SAME MESSAGE!!!! It tormented me in life, and now that I've put it to rest, it does it TWICE AS MUCH!

Please someone help me...🙁 🙁 🙁

Well, i have IE 6 and never have had troubles with pop-ups nor anything similar, maybe that's your browser's properties matter. I wish you better luck. I once tried to aid at some users uninstalling IE without success, later i found that his pc had a virus, i got messages from OS telling "That program is being used for another user" or similar sentences.

 

[nessonite1]

Not to alarm you CC but I just had a BAD BAD VERY BAD piece of adware on my system that took aaaaages to romove. It gave me IE popups out of the blue and I never use that browser. It's a killer adware and it's taken half a dozen programs and a few experts to remove it and I'm not even sure it's completely gone.
Tell me...are you running Win XP? If so hit Ctrl Alt Del and see if IEXPLORE.EXE or something similar is running (maybe a few instances) in the processes list when IE is not open.
You can remove IE by going to Add or Remove Programs in Control Panel and choosing Windows Components on the left hand side. Ive never done it before but I assume it will work. I'd keep IE though if you can as some things just won't work in any other browser. If you have got some sort of adware it's better to remove the cause rather than treat the symptom.

 

[MistressValerie1]

You have spyware or adware that has hijacked Internet Explorer. You cannot actually remove IE from a Windows system, btw -- the most you can do is hide it, but it's part of the operating system and is required for it to function.

You need to get AdAware and Spybot, update their signature files, and run both programs. You also must update your antivirus and do a full system scan. You will probably also need to do a "Hijack This" log and have an expert volunteer help you with manual removal of lingering spyware.

Please see this thread: http://www.tickletheater.com/showthread.php?t=13644 for links to what you will need.

Best of luck,

 

[Red_Butler]

I agree with mistressValerie. I had similar problems, but after running AdAware and Spybot regularly I managed to remove all the mess from my computer.
The first time I ran the programs several hundreds (!) of adds were removed. And guess what? My computer became a lot quicker. Now, after using firefox, just an occasional tracking cookie occurs.
You need although IE because some sites can only be visited with IE.

 

[Duke Diablo]

As Mistress Valerie said, you CAN NOT remove IE from your computer, since your computer uses it to browse it's files. So, when you run My Computer, you are practically using IE. The one program that is always running on your Windows, no matter which ones are they, is Explorer. Try shutting it down, and shiaats happen. So, in a way, all that you look at in your computer is connected to IE. It is at your desktop, when you open programs, etc. And, as annoying as it may sound, the whole windows partially relies on IE.

Man, one of my classmates once asked me that same question few weeks ago. I laughed at him, since he is an idiot, who always tries to sell his: 'I am a computer genius! Look at my newest drivers!' shits. He bought a 240$ Mp3 player with 256MB memory just because it measures THE AMOUNT OF CALORIES SPENT WHEN WALKING, and he was proud of himself! Then, a bit later, he bragged about how he downloaded the newest drivers FOR MOUSE! Man, that idiot really gets on my nerves, and, right now, this thread reminded me of him and I just HAD to blow off some steam.

 

[Dussicar]

Bah, don't listen to any of these yahoos, Cheshire.

Take my advice: Computer tower+sledgehammer+unadulterated rage=SERIOUS FUN!!!!

Don't have anymore pop-up's now, do you? 😎

 

[telemision]

Control panel, add remove programs, add remove windows components.. untick internet explorer. Windows only uses explorer.exe to browse files. Iexplore.exe is just a web based client.

Check to see how much cpu iexplore.exe is using first, there is a trojan that disguises itself as it and causes problems such as this.

 

[nessonite1]

I don't think Windows Explorer and Internet Explorer are are quite that fused. By disabling IE he may indeed stop the popups but it doesn't cure the adware. And if he's got adware he most likely has spyware and other crap on his computer as well. Everyone does. Best to fix as much as possible rather than getting rid of the immediate annoyance.
Also I have found that every program seems to carch things that other programs did not. Spybot, Adaware, ScanSpyware, AVG, etc all seem to catch different things. I have at least half a dozen programs and each one caught things the others didn't.
Incidentally...I'd reccomend Opera. 😀

 

[His Divine Shadow]

It almost sounds like you have VX2 embedded in your system it does....question: Do you use Ad-Aware, and if so, has it ever shown something labled VX2.betterinternet or something of the like? If so, that is the cause. If not, or if you have never used Ad-Aware before, intall it and do a Full System Scan, not a quick scan. Look for VX2.

 

[joham1]

As others have said, this is adware/spyware taking advantage of Windows' swiss cheese security.

You really need to nail it with something like Lavasoft's Adaware or similar. The first thing I do when setting up a windows system is install ZoneAlarm and block IE's access to the internet permenantly, and install spyware and adware cleaners, along with antivirus software. If it's a Windows XP/2000 system I also use the hidden config utility to disable the RPC system, and a few other services that have no business running by default.

You know, I left a Windows XP install CD on the passenger seat of my car the other day. Some bastard broke in and left two more next to it.

I love my Mac. Zero spyware, zero adware, zero effective viruses (with the only single 'virus' ever to exist still being argued about over whether it's really a virus).

 

[alf1]

I switched over because of the problems I've been having with pop-ups on Explorer.

Classic 🙂 page blocked by dozens or hundreds of pop ups can make you mad !!!!!
Never had the problem you mention, see options maybe. What's cool with that browser is, apart the fact of faster browsing and no pop ups, it saves all your passwords !!!!
And that's great as i had to uninstall it yesterday and was very happy to see that i can connect to all my pages again.

On the side note i confirm also that Adaware helps alot.

 

[CheshireCatNY]

Well okay....seeing as how most of you might as well be speaking latin (I'm an artist, not a tech-head) I'll tell ya what I did....I already have Spybot and downloaded Ad-Aware today. I ran both, it found around 500 or so critical errors in my system. I had to reboot to get rid of a few of the tougher ones. All SEEMED well until I noticed that now....for no apparent reason....ADOBE PHOTOSHOP NO LONGER WORKS!!!!

The one program I use for all my digital art related projects begins the loading procedure, goes through the opening screen, scanning for its various plug-ins and fonts and the what not.....and then just vanishes...as if I never opened it....not even a "Photoshop was forced to close" type message or anything....

I feel like even though I may have taken care of the bug, on its way out it located the most used program on my system and made sure it wouldnt work anymore.........AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!!!!!

I am seriously considering dussicar's alternative.....

 

[nessonite1]

it found around 500 or so critical errors in my system.

NICE!!!!! 😛

Have you tried reinstalling Photoshop? If it still doesnt work it sounds like it's time for a good old fashioned reformat 😀 😀

 

[CheshireCatNY]

I'll try that next if I can find the installation disc. And by the way no, that iexplorer.exe was nowhere on my system.....

 

[Duke Diablo]

Ah, yes, reformat. Did it exactly a week ago, and worked like a charm. No more spyware.

But, it seems that adaware has deleted a file that photoshop uses. So, I think only reinstalling it may help.

 

[nessonite1]

If you need help with that, CC, I am happy to help. 🙂 Would be no trouble for me so say the word and I'll give you whatever you need. 🙂

 

[-Kunoke-]

Yup....reformatting always does it if you have no other way....

I just have norton system works and that does just fine. Havn't had a virus, hacker, spyware, adware, or anything of the sort since I got it. 😀 Thank god for that! It used to attack me like nothing else....it's okay...I know how you feel

 

[MistressValerie1]

Cheshire, what probably happened is that some critical file in Photoshop was altered by one of the trojans or virii, so if a scanner could not clean it, it probably placed the file in Quarantine. This is a known problem with Kaspersky Antivirus, for example, which when cleaning a particular trojan, will delete a critical Windows file. This removes the trojan but renders Windows unable to boot.

I recommend trying to fully uninstall Photoshop and then doing a clean reinstall. Best of luck!

 

[CheshireCatNY]

My only beef is having to reinstall all the hundreds of plug-in filters for it.....oy vay....

 

[Cbarton]

To those who wish to completely remove IE, Brian Livingston's WIndow's Secret's latest issue tells step by step how...

www.windowssecrets.com

 

[MistressValerie1]

Thanks for the link, KY -- that looks like a fascinating site! I see that they have some articles on Firefox and Anti-spyware programs as well 🙂

 

[Cbarton]

Thanks for the link, KY -- that looks like a fascinating site! I see that they have some articles on Firefox and Anti-spyware programs as well 🙂

Yes. I subscribe to them and the various Woody's Office and windows oriented newsletters. (www.wopr.com)

Is why I am running firefox now and considereing removeing IE.

 

[MistressValerie1]

One thing to remember is that Windows Update works only with IE, so without IE, you'd have to check the Windows Download Center for patches and download them manually (which is what I do anyway).