IE With Virus, Everything Else Fine..

[Mitchell]

Have any forum members had an experience where one of their browsers had a virus, but everything else was fine?

Last night, there was a picture of snow on the AOL version of the IE browser, that caused a virus, and caused my whole computer to go haywire.

Sometime ago, a friend had advised me to unplug my computer overnight, and then plug it back in the next morning, and the virus would be gone/neutralized. This helped me get rid of a virus some weeks ago.

Today, I've been using Google Chrome to surf, and knock on wood, everything seems fine. The IE seems to have signed me out of all the forums I belong to, etc, but, Google Chrome seems to be fine.

Has anyone else ever had this experience, where one browser had a virus that would freeze your computer, but everything else was fine?

And yes, I know from previous conversations on here. never use IE, it sucks.

 

[DontAskJusTckle]

You said something about "AOL version of the IE Browser." I suspect that's an old version that can't handle today's internet technologies. That freezing up you mentioned can occur as a result of the browser using up CPU power to try and understand and process some of the newer technologies. I'd ditch that AOL IE browser. IE9 or above is good. But if Chrome seems to be working for you, I'd stick with that. Chrome is a good bare bones browser that doesn't offer the bells and whistles that IE does. Sometimes that's what's best.

 

[Mitchell]

Thanks, DAJT.

All I know is.. I have,, Time Warner/AOL whatever its called now, as my ISP.. I think that was the browser that was causing all the problems.

I agree with you that I'm going to stick with Google Chrome for now. My concern is.. if I try to go back on AOL.. the whole comp will crash/freeze like it did last night. It was so bad.. that Jim Gardner's newscast, that I watch every night was playing almost in slow motion, with the news people sounding like they were drunk,.. or such.

I havent tried Firefox yet since I have this problem. Dont know how that would be.

 

[Sodahead]

I tend to agree with DAJT that Chrome is pretty solid, although recently I seem to have contracted some kind of virus from Chrome. I keep getting these incessant pop ups with that browser, so I've been rallying between Safari and Firefox until I figure out what the deal is. I'd stay away from AOL,I don't think too many people us it any more

 

[milagros317]

...

And yes, I know from previous conversations on here. never use IE, it sucks.

Indeed so. IE sucks big time.

 

[Mitchell]

Sorry to hear you got a virus from Chrome, Soda.

So far, over the past..less than a day, it seems okay for me. Even though I've used it before of course, and still do, to watch videos, and my out of town newscast from Philadelphia, that I watch every night.

I'm embarrassed to say.. I've never heard of/had Safari. I have IE, Chrome, and Firefox, built into this computer, a laptop that I have since 2011, which was bought new.

I'm going to have to stick with Chrome like it or not. I dont want to take a chance that IE will crash my whole computer. I definitely have some kind of virus on that browser.

 

[Realist]

Sticking with Chrome is definitely a plus. That internet browser is tough as nails and is very compatible with a lot of web content of today. Now, I think your problem is stemming from the fact it's an AOL-provided IE browser. Now, IE is terrible by itself, but with AOL in the mix you're messing with some serious bad juju. AOL, since 2009, has been a digital media provider rather than an a huge internet provider. That means you're probably dealing with a browser that was made before 2009, so it's out of date with today's internet. Also, updates are no longer provided for the browser, so it is susceptible to current viruses because security updates on your browser are not built to withstand them. That's why it's important to update your browser whenever an update becomes available.

So, try installing (from Chrome) a more current version of IE (i.e. IE version 11) and uninstall your AOL-IE browser, as it is pretty much useless. Your friend's advice on the virus being eradicated by restarting the computer doesn't exactly sound right. Probably need to get your computer virus sweeped and make sure you don't have anything. The virus may move itself over to your Chrome browser.

You're not really missing out on anything by not using Safari. Safari is basically Apple's answer to Internet Explorer. It doesn't come with a lot of features and is slower than Chrome and Firefox. So, don't worry about not using Safari.

 

[Mitchell]

Thanks,,. Realist. I appreciate the advice.

Since I posted this thread.. a couple of things happened, one very bad, but one hopefully, knock on wood, good.

As I've posted, I watch a 6pm news cast from Philly, using my Chrome browser.

During the newscast online, both last night at 11, and tonight at 6, which I always watch on Google Chrome, the applications were playing very slow, freezing/crashing, etc.

I have Avast as my antivirus protection, which supposedly, is excellent.

For the past.. almost 24 hours, I had been getting messages from Avast about it blocking viruses.

I used to do a super anti spyware scan on a regular basis, but havent lately, because I;ve been working to find jobs, and I'm lazy lol.

On the advice of a very good friend who is technically savvy, I updated my Super Anti Spyware program, and did a complete scan.

It always finds... adware cookies, which have usually proven to be harmless. This time, it found something I'd never seen before, in all the years I'm doing that scan.


It also found.. three Trojan Horse files which came up with messages in Red, and removed those too.

Since I did that, and rebooted the computer, knock on wood, it seems fine, because, before I did this scan, I was getting messages that Avast was blocking viruses, and the computer was freezing.

Hopefully, this issue is over. I dont plan to use IE anymore. I also know that I dont have a current version of it loaded, so, henceforth, I'm just going to stick with Chrome.

Thanks again.