A very long message

OK here's what happened...
A normal day on the net. I log on to the net. Go to home
page MSN.com. Scan over the page for anything of interest.
Go to Win98 Gen. NG. Read some posts. Answer some if I
think I can help. Next go to Yahoo mail. Log-in. Check
mail. Delete any message that is not from someone I know.
Read remaining mail leaving the local newspaper daily
news for last.
At the news letter. If anything looks interesting? I
click on the link provided. A new window opens. I then
delete the news mail and logout of Yahoo. Close that
window. The news window always asks if I want to download
a Macromedia Flash7 to display the page right (to read
some stupid ad). Yesterday for some,really stupid, reason
I select "Yes" to the download. Figure I can get rid of it
through HijackThis or Ad-aware or Spybot.
Read the news articles I want. Close window and
dissconnect off the net.
A couple of hours later I log back on the net. MSN won't
load. Yahoo log-in page loads but freezes on log-in. Close
window and reopen IE to MSN. MSN partially loads and
freezes. Close window and disconnects off the net. Do a
virus scan. Nothing. Do HijackThis Ad-aware and spybot
scans. Hijack found Macromedia and I deleted it. Ad-aware
and Spybot found nothing after the Hijack scan except a
few minor trackers on cookies. Deleted them. Run CIC Pro.
Which deleted all IE temp files and such. Rebooted PC to
rebuild the index.dat files.
Logged back on the net. Same thing. Nothing worked/loaded.
Tried to run updates on Hijack,Ad-aware and Spybot. A pop
up that no internet connection was present. Which it was.
I could see the little green outgoing icon flash but would
not get an answer flash. Logged off. Did all the scans
again. Nothing,bad, shows up.
Then the idea comes to check the firewall logs. Traffic
log shows the normal allowed and occasional blocked
traffic. Security log shows nothing. But security log
shows only incoming threats. Open packet log. There it is!
Blocks one right after another. Every 1 to 3 seconds.
"codecs.microsoft.com" from "C:\Program Files\Internet
Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE".
Between the packet log and the traffic log was able to
determine that it started at the Macromedia Flash7
download. But it didn't start the interferance until the
next net log on.
Run AV scan directing it to IE. Nothing.
Open Windows Explorer\programs files\IE. Check
properties of "Iexplore.exe" shows file
version "6.00.2800.1106" which is the last one from the
Update CD. I think.
Run an IE repair. Reboot. Scan for and delete Alexia.
Log back on the net. Same stuff. I disconnect.
Go back to Windows Explorer\PF\IE. At this point..I am
game for anything.
So I right click Iexplore.exe and select to delete. Get
the normal"If you delete this...the program will not work"
pop-up. I choose to delete.
Reboot the machine.
Now I have an IE that will not work. Iexplore.exe is not
there anymore.
Do another IE repair. It did not restore Iexplore.exe.
Nada.
So I run SFC and choose to extract a single file.
Iexplore.exe from the Security update disk in it's "IE Sp"
file.
(Windows 98SE disk would only have IE version 5)
The extraction worked.
Did all the scans again. Did all the WinExplore checks.
All seems to be present. Cleared all logs.
Connect to the internet. Everything works.
Updates worked on all programs. Web pages loaded with no
stalls.

What ever was there? Was attached to Iexplore.exe.
With "View" set to see all. Nothing I have,on this
machine,could detect it.
The only thing that worked was a complete delete of
Iexplore.exe. And reinstall of the single file.

Thought this may be pertinent to other posts about
nothing working like what I described.
And...I will never allow the Macromedia Flash load again.
Thanks for your time.

Good to hear from you, ppoatt. I am glad you got the problem under
control. Btw, what antivirus program do you use? Do you have a software
firewall and use it along with a hardware firewall built into a router or
just one of them? Thanks for the information.
I use and like hardware firewall in router, ZoneAlarm Pro., free
AntiVir, (may switch to package deal of firewall and antivirus through third
party provided with Windows Update CD), SpySweeper (nice bonus antispyware
utility -- free unless you want all the definitions and do not mind being
nagged to subscribe -- :), Adaware (free version), Spybot -- Search and
Destroy (free for now -- thank goodness :), CWShredder (also free --
sometimes has issues), SpywareBlaster (free unless you want to help support
them or want auto-update feature), HOSTS file manager provided by MVP :,
etc. I will delete your original message to save space. :

I use CA's etrust AV ver.6. and use Sygate's free
firewall.
-----Original Message-----
Good to hear from you, ppoatt. I am glad you got
the problem under
control. Btw, what antivirus program do you use? Do you
have a software
firewall and use it along with a hardware firewall built
into a router or
just one of them? Thanks for the information.
I use and like hardware firewall in router,
ZoneAlarm Pro., free
AntiVir, (may switch to package deal of firewall and
antivirus through third
party provided with Windows Update CD), SpySweeper (nice
bonus antispyware
utility -- free unless you want all the definitions and
do not mind being
nagged to subscribe -- :), Adaware (free version),
Spybot -- Search and
Destroy (free for now -- thank goodness :), CWShredder
(also free --
sometimes has issues), SpywareBlaster (free unless you
want to help support
them or want auto-update feature), HOSTS file manager
provided by MVP :,
etc. I will delete your original message to save
space. :


.

I don't know what to make of it. Macromedia Flash hasn't done that to
me.

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

"ppoatt" wrote in message
...
| OK here's what happened...
| A normal day on the net. I log on to the net. Go to home
| page MSN.com. Scan over the page for anything of interest.
| Go to Win98 Gen. NG. Read some posts. Answer some if I
| think I can help. Next go to Yahoo mail. Log-in. Check
| mail. Delete any message that is not from someone I know.
| Read remaining mail leaving the local newspaper daily
| news for last.
| At the news letter. If anything looks interesting? I
| click on the link provided. A new window opens. I then
| delete the news mail and logout of Yahoo. Close that
| window. The news window always asks if I want to download
| a Macromedia Flash7 to display the page right (to read
| some stupid ad). Yesterday for some,really stupid, reason
| I select "Yes" to the download. Figure I can get rid of it
| through HijackThis or Ad-aware or Spybot.
| Read the news articles I want. Close window and
| dissconnect off the net.
| A couple of hours later I log back on the net. MSN won't
| load. Yahoo log-in page loads but freezes on log-in. Close
| window and reopen IE to MSN. MSN partially loads and
| freezes. Close window and disconnects off the net. Do a
| virus scan. Nothing. Do HijackThis Ad-aware and spybot
| scans. Hijack found Macromedia and I deleted it. Ad-aware
| and Spybot found nothing after the Hijack scan except a
| few minor trackers on cookies. Deleted them. Run CIC Pro.
| Which deleted all IE temp files and such. Rebooted PC to
| rebuild the index.dat files.
| Logged back on the net. Same thing. Nothing worked/loaded.
| Tried to run updates on Hijack,Ad-aware and Spybot. A pop
| up that no internet connection was present. Which it was.
| I could see the little green outgoing icon flash but would
| not get an answer flash. Logged off. Did all the scans
| again. Nothing,bad, shows up.
| Then the idea comes to check the firewall logs. Traffic
| log shows the normal allowed and occasional blocked
| traffic. Security log shows nothing. But security log
| shows only incoming threats. Open packet log. There it is!
| Blocks one right after another. Every 1 to 3 seconds.
| "codecs.microsoft.com" from "C:\Program Files\Internet
| Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE".
| Between the packet log and the traffic log was able to
| determine that it started at the Macromedia Flash7
| download. But it didn't start the interferance until the
| next net log on.
| Run AV scan directing it to IE. Nothing.
| Open Windows Explorer\programs files\IE. Check
| properties of "Iexplore.exe" shows file
| version "6.00.2800.1106" which is the last one from the
| Update CD. I think.
| Run an IE repair. Reboot. Scan for and delete Alexia.
| Log back on the net. Same stuff. I disconnect.
| Go back to Windows Explorer\PF\IE. At this point..I am
| game for anything.
| So I right click Iexplore.exe and select to delete. Get
| the normal"If you delete this...the program will not work"
| pop-up. I choose to delete.
| Reboot the machine.
| Now I have an IE that will not work. Iexplore.exe is not
| there anymore.
| Do another IE repair. It did not restore Iexplore.exe.
| Nada.
| So I run SFC and choose to extract a single file.
| Iexplore.exe from the Security update disk in it's "IE Sp"
| file.
| (Windows 98SE disk would only have IE version 5)
| The extraction worked.
| Did all the scans again. Did all the WinExplore checks.
| All seems to be present. Cleared all logs.
| Connect to the internet. Everything works.
| Updates worked on all programs. Web pages loaded with no
| stalls.
|
| What ever was there? Was attached to Iexplore.exe.
| With "View" set to see all. Nothing I have,on this
| machine,could detect it.
| The only thing that worked was a complete delete of
| Iexplore.exe. And reinstall of the single file.
|
| Thought this may be pertinent to other posts about
| nothing working like what I described.
| And...I will never allow the Macromedia Flash load again.
| Thanks for your time.

Thanks for the information, ppoatt.

"ppoatt" wrote in message
...
I use CA's etrust AV ver.6. and use Sygate's free
firewall.
-----Original Message-----
Good to hear from you, ppoatt. I am glad you got
the problem under
control. Btw, what antivirus program do you use? Do you
have a software
firewall and use it along with a hardware firewall built
into a router or
just one of them? Thanks for the information.
I use and like hardware firewall in router,
ZoneAlarm Pro., free
AntiVir, (may switch to package deal of firewall and
antivirus through third
party provided with Windows Update CD), SpySweeper (nice
bonus antispyware
utility -- free unless you want all the definitions and
do not mind being
nagged to subscribe -- :), Adaware (free version),
Spybot -- Search and
Destroy (free for now -- thank goodness :), CWShredder
(also free --
sometimes has issues), SpywareBlaster (free unless you
want to help support
them or want auto-update feature), HOSTS file manager
provided by MVP :,
etc. I will delete your original message to save
space. :


.

Nor I but perhaps it was a malware program designed to fool the user into
thinking that it was Macromedia Flash. Just a guess. :

"PCR" wrote in message
...
I don't know what to make of it. Macromedia Flash hasn't done that to
me.

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

"ppoatt" wrote in message
...
| OK here's what happened...
| A normal day on the net. I log on to the net. Go to home
| page MSN.com. Scan over the page for anything of interest.
| Go to Win98 Gen. NG. Read some posts. Answer some if I
| think I can help. Next go to Yahoo mail. Log-in. Check
| mail. Delete any message that is not from someone I know.
| Read remaining mail leaving the local newspaper daily
| news for last.
| At the news letter. If anything looks interesting? I
| click on the link provided. A new window opens. I then
| delete the news mail and logout of Yahoo. Close that
| window. The news window always asks if I want to download
| a Macromedia Flash7 to display the page right (to read
| some stupid ad). Yesterday for some,really stupid, reason
| I select "Yes" to the download. Figure I can get rid of it
| through HijackThis or Ad-aware or Spybot.
| Read the news articles I want. Close window and
| dissconnect off the net.
| A couple of hours later I log back on the net. MSN won't
| load. Yahoo log-in page loads but freezes on log-in. Close
| window and reopen IE to MSN. MSN partially loads and
| freezes. Close window and disconnects off the net. Do a
| virus scan. Nothing. Do HijackThis Ad-aware and spybot
| scans. Hijack found Macromedia and I deleted it. Ad-aware
| and Spybot found nothing after the Hijack scan except a
| few minor trackers on cookies. Deleted them. Run CIC Pro.
| Which deleted all IE temp files and such. Rebooted PC to
| rebuild the index.dat files.
| Logged back on the net. Same thing. Nothing worked/loaded.
| Tried to run updates on Hijack,Ad-aware and Spybot. A pop
| up that no internet connection was present. Which it was.
| I could see the little green outgoing icon flash but would
| not get an answer flash. Logged off. Did all the scans
| again. Nothing,bad, shows up.
| Then the idea comes to check the firewall logs. Traffic
| log shows the normal allowed and occasional blocked
| traffic. Security log shows nothing. But security log
| shows only incoming threats. Open packet log. There it is!
| Blocks one right after another. Every 1 to 3 seconds.
| "codecs.microsoft.com" from "C:\Program Files\Internet
| Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE".
| Between the packet log and the traffic log was able to
| determine that it started at the Macromedia Flash7
| download. But it didn't start the interferance until the
| next net log on.
| Run AV scan directing it to IE. Nothing.
| Open Windows Explorer\programs files\IE. Check
| properties of "Iexplore.exe" shows file
| version "6.00.2800.1106" which is the last one from the
| Update CD. I think.
| Run an IE repair. Reboot. Scan for and delete Alexia.
| Log back on the net. Same stuff. I disconnect.
| Go back to Windows Explorer\PF\IE. At this point..I am
| game for anything.
| So I right click Iexplore.exe and select to delete. Get
| the normal"If you delete this...the program will not work"
| pop-up. I choose to delete.
| Reboot the machine.
| Now I have an IE that will not work. Iexplore.exe is not
| there anymore.
| Do another IE repair. It did not restore Iexplore.exe.
| Nada.
| So I run SFC and choose to extract a single file.
| Iexplore.exe from the Security update disk in it's "IE Sp"
| file.
| (Windows 98SE disk would only have IE version 5)
| The extraction worked.
| Did all the scans again. Did all the WinExplore checks.
| All seems to be present. Cleared all logs.
| Connect to the internet. Everything works.
| Updates worked on all programs. Web pages loaded with no
| stalls.
|
| What ever was there? Was attached to Iexplore.exe.
| With "View" set to see all. Nothing I have,on this
| machine,could detect it.
| The only thing that worked was a complete delete of
| Iexplore.exe. And reinstall of the single file.
|
| Thought this may be pertinent to other posts about
| nothing working like what I described.
| And...I will never allow the Macromedia Flash load again.
| Thanks for your time.

Guesses are a starting point. Anyhow, he has solved it. But I don't know
what to make of it.

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

"ArtWilder" wrote in message
...
| Nor I but perhaps it was a malware program designed to fool the user
into
| thinking that it was Macromedia Flash. Just a guess. :
|
| "PCR" wrote in message
| ...
| I don't know what to make of it. Macromedia Flash hasn't done that
to
| me.
|
| --
| Thanks or Good Luck,
| There may be humor in this post, and,
| Naturally, you will not sue,
| should things get worse after this,
| PCR
|
| "ppoatt" wrote in message
| ...
| | OK here's what happened...
| | A normal day on the net. I log on to the net. Go to home
| | page MSN.com. Scan over the page for anything of interest.
| | Go to Win98 Gen. NG. Read some posts. Answer some if I
| | think I can help. Next go to Yahoo mail. Log-in. Check
| | mail. Delete any message that is not from someone I know.
| | Read remaining mail leaving the local newspaper daily
| | news for last.
| | At the news letter. If anything looks interesting? I
| | click on the link provided. A new window opens. I then
| | delete the news mail and logout of Yahoo. Close that
| | window. The news window always asks if I want to download
| | a Macromedia Flash7 to display the page right (to read
| | some stupid ad). Yesterday for some,really stupid, reason
| | I select "Yes" to the download. Figure I can get rid of it
| | through HijackThis or Ad-aware or Spybot.
| | Read the news articles I want. Close window and
| | dissconnect off the net.
| | A couple of hours later I log back on the net. MSN won't
| | load. Yahoo log-in page loads but freezes on log-in. Close
| | window and reopen IE to MSN. MSN partially loads and
| | freezes. Close window and disconnects off the net. Do a
| | virus scan. Nothing. Do HijackThis Ad-aware and spybot
| | scans. Hijack found Macromedia and I deleted it. Ad-aware
| | and Spybot found nothing after the Hijack scan except a
| | few minor trackers on cookies. Deleted them. Run CIC Pro.
| | Which deleted all IE temp files and such. Rebooted PC to
| | rebuild the index.dat files.
| | Logged back on the net. Same thing. Nothing worked/loaded.
| | Tried to run updates on Hijack,Ad-aware and Spybot. A pop
| | up that no internet connection was present. Which it was.
| | I could see the little green outgoing icon flash but would
| | not get an answer flash. Logged off. Did all the scans
| | again. Nothing,bad, shows up.
| | Then the idea comes to check the firewall logs. Traffic
| | log shows the normal allowed and occasional blocked
| | traffic. Security log shows nothing. But security log
| | shows only incoming threats. Open packet log. There it is!
| | Blocks one right after another. Every 1 to 3 seconds.
| | "codecs.microsoft.com" from "C:\Program Files\Internet
| | Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE".
| | Between the packet log and the traffic log was able to
| | determine that it started at the Macromedia Flash7
| | download. But it didn't start the interferance until the
| | next net log on.
| | Run AV scan directing it to IE. Nothing.
| | Open Windows Explorer\programs files\IE. Check
| | properties of "Iexplore.exe" shows file
| | version "6.00.2800.1106" which is the last one from the
| | Update CD. I think.
| | Run an IE repair. Reboot. Scan for and delete Alexia.
| | Log back on the net. Same stuff. I disconnect.
| | Go back to Windows Explorer\PF\IE. At this point..I am
| | game for anything.
| | So I right click Iexplore.exe and select to delete. Get
| | the normal"If you delete this...the program will not work"
| | pop-up. I choose to delete.
| | Reboot the machine.
| | Now I have an IE that will not work. Iexplore.exe is not
| | there anymore.
| | Do another IE repair. It did not restore Iexplore.exe.
| | Nada.
| | So I run SFC and choose to extract a single file.
| | Iexplore.exe from the Security update disk in it's "IE Sp"
| | file.
| | (Windows 98SE disk would only have IE version 5)
| | The extraction worked.
| | Did all the scans again. Did all the WinExplore checks.
| | All seems to be present. Cleared all logs.
| | Connect to the internet. Everything works.
| | Updates worked on all programs. Web pages loaded with no
| | stalls.
| |
| | What ever was there? Was attached to Iexplore.exe.
| | With "View" set to see all. Nothing I have,on this
| | machine,could detect it.
| | The only thing that worked was a complete delete of
| | Iexplore.exe. And reinstall of the single file.
| |
| | Thought this may be pertinent to other posts about
| | nothing working like what I described.
| | And...I will never allow the Macromedia Flash load again.
| | Thanks for your time.
|
|
|
|

Nor I -- Just goes to show that a user must be very careful about what they
allow unto their pc. :

"PCR" wrote in message
...
Guesses are a starting point. Anyhow, he has solved it. But I don't know
what to make of it.

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

"ArtWilder" wrote in message
...
| Nor I but perhaps it was a malware program designed to fool the user
into
| thinking that it was Macromedia Flash. Just a guess. :
|
| "PCR" wrote in message
| ...
| I don't know what to make of it. Macromedia Flash hasn't done that
to
| me.
|
| --
| Thanks or Good Luck,
| There may be humor in this post, and,
| Naturally, you will not sue,
| should things get worse after this,
| PCR
|
| "ppoatt" wrote in message
| ...
| | OK here's what happened...
| | A normal day on the net. I log on to the net. Go to home
| | page MSN.com. Scan over the page for anything of interest.
| | Go to Win98 Gen. NG. Read some posts. Answer some if I
| | think I can help. Next go to Yahoo mail. Log-in. Check
| | mail. Delete any message that is not from someone I know.
| | Read remaining mail leaving the local newspaper daily
| | news for last.
| | At the news letter. If anything looks interesting? I
| | click on the link provided. A new window opens. I then
| | delete the news mail and logout of Yahoo. Close that
| | window. The news window always asks if I want to download
| | a Macromedia Flash7 to display the page right (to read
| | some stupid ad). Yesterday for some,really stupid, reason
| | I select "Yes" to the download. Figure I can get rid of it
| | through HijackThis or Ad-aware or Spybot.
| | Read the news articles I want. Close window and
| | dissconnect off the net.
| | A couple of hours later I log back on the net. MSN won't
| | load. Yahoo log-in page loads but freezes on log-in. Close
| | window and reopen IE to MSN. MSN partially loads and
| | freezes. Close window and disconnects off the net. Do a
| | virus scan. Nothing. Do HijackThis Ad-aware and spybot
| | scans. Hijack found Macromedia and I deleted it. Ad-aware
| | and Spybot found nothing after the Hijack scan except a
| | few minor trackers on cookies. Deleted them. Run CIC Pro.
| | Which deleted all IE temp files and such. Rebooted PC to
| | rebuild the index.dat files.
| | Logged back on the net. Same thing. Nothing worked/loaded.
| | Tried to run updates on Hijack,Ad-aware and Spybot. A pop
| | up that no internet connection was present. Which it was.
| | I could see the little green outgoing icon flash but would
| | not get an answer flash. Logged off. Did all the scans
| | again. Nothing,bad, shows up.
| | Then the idea comes to check the firewall logs. Traffic
| | log shows the normal allowed and occasional blocked
| | traffic. Security log shows nothing. But security log
| | shows only incoming threats. Open packet log. There it is!
| | Blocks one right after another. Every 1 to 3 seconds.
| | "codecs.microsoft.com" from "C:\Program Files\Internet
| | Explorer\IEXPLORE.EXE".
| | Between the packet log and the traffic log was able to
| | determine that it started at the Macromedia Flash7
| | download. But it didn't start the interferance until the
| | next net log on.
| | Run AV scan directing it to IE. Nothing.
| | Open Windows Explorer\programs files\IE. Check
| | properties of "Iexplore.exe" shows file
| | version "6.00.2800.1106" which is the last one from the
| | Update CD. I think.
| | Run an IE repair. Reboot. Scan for and delete Alexia.
| | Log back on the net. Same stuff. I disconnect.
| | Go back to Windows Explorer\PF\IE. At this point..I am
| | game for anything.
| | So I right click Iexplore.exe and select to delete. Get
| | the normal"If you delete this...the program will not work"
| | pop-up. I choose to delete.
| | Reboot the machine.
| | Now I have an IE that will not work. Iexplore.exe is not
| | there anymore.
| | Do another IE repair. It did not restore Iexplore.exe.
| | Nada.
| | So I run SFC and choose to extract a single file.
| | Iexplore.exe from the Security update disk in it's "IE Sp"
| | file.
| | (Windows 98SE disk would only have IE version 5)
| | The extraction worked.
| | Did all the scans again. Did all the WinExplore checks.
| | All seems to be present. Cleared all logs.
| | Connect to the internet. Everything works.
| | Updates worked on all programs. Web pages loaded with no
| | stalls.
| |
| | What ever was there? Was attached to Iexplore.exe.
| | With "View" set to see all. Nothing I have,on this
| | machine,could detect it.
| | The only thing that worked was a complete delete of
| | Iexplore.exe. And reinstall of the single file.
| |
| | Thought this may be pertinent to other posts about
| | nothing working like what I described.
| | And...I will never allow the Macromedia Flash load again.
| | Thanks for your time.
|
|
|
|

Including that critical update CD (and you can have WMP 9. Thanks, but no
thanks. MS - I'll stick with WMP 6.4, thank you very much)

ArtWilder wrote:
Nor I -- Just goes to show that a user must be very careful about what
they
allow unto their pc. :

"PCR" wrote in message
...
Guesses are a starting point. Anyhow, he has solved it. But I don't know
what to make of it.

I believe ArtWilder is a "B", Colorado! But he is correct, one must be
careful.

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

"Bill in Co." wrote in message
...
| Including that critical update CD (and you can have WMP 9. Thanks,
but no
| thanks. MS - I'll stick with WMP 6.4, thank you very much)
|
| ArtWilder wrote:
| Nor I -- Just goes to show that a user must be very careful about
what
| they
| allow unto their pc. :
|
| "PCR" wrote in message
| ...
| Guesses are a starting point. Anyhow, he has solved it. But I don't
know
| what to make of it.
|
|
|
|