Better update defs & do a virus scan too.

http://www.mcafee.com/us/
Free online scan. I think it will not effect a cure, but only report.

http://vil.nai.com/vil/stinger/
Also McAfee. Will effect a cure for certain viruses only.


--
Thanks or Good Luck,
There may be humor in this post, and,
Naturally, you will not sue,
should things get worse after this,
PCR

"refugio" wrote in message ...
| Recently Windows Explorer opens irregularly, with a dialog box indicating
| that there is no Internet connection available and halts local browsing of
| files until this dialog box is closed. No dial-up connection has been made,
| yet Windows Explorer apparently seeks one before allowing access to local
| drives. Having searched extensively the Knowledge Base, I cannot locate any
| instructions which might aid me in defeating this annoying habit of Windows
| Explorer (WE). [WE worked fine until this point.]
|
| My question: how do I restore the independence of WE from Internet
| connectivity and return to using WE for local file management without having
| each session to click "Try Again" or [X] (closing) this dialog box to proceed
| with local file management? It seems as though Internet Explorer (IE) and WE
| now have become completely linked and I would rather not have to rebuild my
| machine, as support for Win98/SE will soon be unavailable (a rebuild might
| thus cause me toloose all of the patches from Microsoft Critical Updates
| section) -- WE previously operated separate from IE, was not dependent on an
| Internet connection, and this problem has surfaced only in the last month or
| so.
|
| System details:
| -Windows 98 SE with all critical updates
| -dial-up connection only
| -IE 6.x version
|
| I'm familiar with registry edits, can successfully change said without
| harming system, and am wondering if some sort of registry key has been
| altered somehow to now expect access to the Internet when opening WE (which I
| SOLELY use for local file management; browsing is ALWAYS through IE). Any
| help would be greatly appreciated.