I have both IE6 (win2000) and Firefox (win2000).

Both with latest updates.

On two web based forums (I rarely use others), pprune being one, the browser application gets terminated, apparently by the O/S, every 5-10 mins.

Luckily Firefox saves the last status so I just restart, select 'restore session' and carry on typing.

What is causing this?

My bet would be on some rogue active-x or flash advertising feed.

It NEVER happens on normal websites.

Well PPRUNE certainly isn't a normal website........

:ok:

It sounds to me like it could be malware. Do you run anti malware software at all, and if so which ?

I run Kaspersky AV.

However it happens on both my home and work PCs, both running win2000 and therefore running IE6 not IE7.

What kind of malware and why would it manifest itself in this very specific way?

The point is that I can just leave the browser sitting there, with a message half typed in this text input window, and then do nothing for a few mins, and the thing bombs all by itself.

The browser *is* AFAIK fetching new advert feeds all the time...

I can't really help, Peter.

I stopped using Windows 2000 some years ago (it wouldn't work with several of the peripherals I have). XP Pro and Firefox behave immaculately with over 99% of the sites I visit, including PPruNe and a wide variety of phpBB forums.

I have to keep IE for one or two sites that insist on IE or nothing, but they will soon be losing my business.

Having used Mosaic, then Mozilla, then Firefox, and now Minefield over the decades, I have no time for IE and its quirks. You might have an hour or so of "conversion training", but once you're signed off on Firefox, you'll never look back.

The adblockers and script controls on Firefox should stop those constant ad feeds (I don't see any ads).

Try downloading and running Lavasoft Ad Aware. I have found that it finds a lot of spyware.

Or try using FireFox 3 beta and see if that works ok.

What it sounds like could be happening, is something is trying to hijack your browser, could be adware, malware or a virus, and one of your defence mechanisms is shutting the browser down to prevent it.

It is strange though that it is occuring on two different PCs and the problem has suddenly appeared on both. Are the two PCs connected at differing locations or do you use them both in the same place with the same internet connection ?

Both PCs have been doing it for a year or two.

I have used Adaware etc but it never found anything. I've never had an infection, ever. Kaspersky occassionally detects a virus attached to some spam email but my email program (not M$) never executes attachments anyway.

I am running Noscript in Firefox which works well, but it doesn't stop whatever this is.

Maybe it's some process on the PC. I recall doing a google a while ago and it is some DLL concerned with processing HTML code.

Worth running a 'hijack this' (http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=176718) I think? Or 'House Call' (http://housecall65.trendmicro.com/)?

Or, if you haven't already got it, instal "Process Explorer" from either www.sysinternals.com or the Microsoft download site. Run it and set it to allways on top and watch it to see what triggers immediately before the shut down, or make a list of what is running and then googleing the not so obvious ones to find out what they are. If you find one that ify then kill it and see whether it stops it.

Problems like this are hard to pin down, as I'm sure you know, which was why I was asking if the two PCs are in the same location.

If they are independant, it is possible it could be some kind of Java related issue, maybe a compatibility problem with later versions of explorers and windows 2000. If they are not, or you access the same emails and sites from both, my inclination would still be towards some kind of nasty.

I would probably start by downloading the latest version of Java from Sun Microsystems, save it, do not install it yet, then set a system restore point, then using windows control panel install/remove software I would remove any Java programs and updates, then install the latest one you've previously downloaded.

The two PCs are at different locations.

However I do receive my emails at both of them. However my email program (Forte Agent) is as proof against attacks as any could be - it has no known way to execute attachments by itself. In fact it doesn't even display HTML.

Both run Kaspersky AV, latest. Both run Java, latest and auto updated.

The browser crashes on two pilot forums, pprune and flyer, and pprune is much worse. One only needs to open the forum URL for reading and sometimes ... bang it goes.

It could be anything ... windoze is so complex and it's so easy to corrupt some DLL which just happens to be used by both IE6 and Firefox.

It does sound like you've covered all the sensible sugestions I can think of. The only thing I would point out re Java, is sometimes the auto updates leave old versions installed, which means the vulnerability which the update is supposed to cure still exists. It is worth taking the time to remove them then restall it, even if it doesn't cure your specific problem.

Aside from that I can recommend MajorGeeks, if you don't know them. This is their link re Java

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=149858

They are far more informed than I.

Good luck

NB That linked thread is quite old, and I believe the latest is 6 Update 5 for Windows 2000 on.

I run Firefox and XP2 and have no problems with PPRUNE.

Keef - I've recently installed the "IE Tab" add-on which works a treat. The developers have used it to run Microsoft updates! The latest version only works with Firefox 3, but 1.3.3.20070528 is the one to go for.

I've recently installed the "IE Tab" add-on which works a treat. The developers have used it to run Microsoft updates! The latest version only works with Firefox 3, but 1.3.3.20070528 is the one to go for.
Thanks - I have IE Tab on the machine, but I still get the "Your browser is not compatible" messages from several banks and the like. I've not bothered to check to see if it's actually Firefox vs IE (they say they support only IE), or if it's one of the security add-ons to Firefox.

The bank I use most is fine with Firefox (any version up to 2008041506 Minefield/3.0pre). Being old and cantankerous, I work on the basis that if any company wants to tell me which browser I can use, they can do without my business :)

Being old and cantankerous, I work on the basis that if any company wants to tell me which browser I can use, they can do without my business

I couldn't agree more Keef, I also send them an e-mail saying that as their site is incompatible with my browser I am unable to do business with them.

I do use the IE tab occasionally mainly on sites streaming video as a lot of them don't get on with firefox.

Typical techy question, but have you tried uninstalling and then reinstalling the offending programs?

Can't remember the add/remove program menu from 2000, is a while since I've played with it, but does it have a "repair" function for windows elements?

An uninstall/reinstall will take a while, and there's probably a 50/50 chance of it actually fixing the problem, but you seem to have done everything else.

Doing a google on

<process has already exited> has generated errors

reveals this is a common enough problem, but no clear solution.

Although I am a Firefox fan I have been using Opera as my default browser for some time now and have not had any incompatibility issues with any sites, including the several financial ones.