Internet Explorer freezes up. Help!

[Arm out the window]

Hello all, looking for some help from you cluey folk please...

Lately, IE9 has been opening normally but freezing up (refusing to respond to scroll or click commands) within a second or so. It will usually close normally (although sometimes a CTL ALT DEL is needed) but the problem recurs next time it's opened.

It doesn't happen on all sites right away, but PPrune, for example is affected every time.

I have Trend Micro Titanium, CCleaner and Malwarebytes and have run them all several times. Malwarebytes found 5 files, which it categorised as 2x Rootkit, 2xTrojan and 1 Spyware, and appeared to have dealt with them. However, the IE problem is still there.

We are fairly careful with what links we click on and so on, but the kids had some friends over the other day who showed them how to download 'skins' for Minecraft, and I suspect this may be what's kicked off the problem.

It's a Windows 7 PC, and the IE9 version is 9.0.8112.16421, if that's of any relevance.

Thanks in advance for any clues,

Cheers

Tim

[Milo Minderbinder]

1) right click the hard drive, select properties > general > disk clean up and clear the trash off the machine
2) reset internet explorer to its defaults (control panel > classic view > internet properties > advanced > reset
3) go into "programs and settings" and uninstall ALL toolbars (adn any crapware)

4) download and run in turn in safe mode
RKill
TDSSKiller (Kaspersky)
Hitman Pro
Combofix
Spybot S&D

these are not alternatives - these are a deliberate sequence to be run conecutively

afterwards update Java. Flash and Adobe reader -and install all windows updates


Question
what were the rootkits and trojans it found?

FYI - Trend software isn't too hot on clearing rootkits

[Arm out the window]

Wow, thanks for your detailed response, Milo.

The things Malwarebytes found were called msimg32.dll (Rootkit.0Access), ~!#3027.tmp (Trojan.LameShield), ~!#4186.tmp (Rootkit.0Access), 6ddfe56f-107b773c (Spyware.Zbot) and rtpsa.dll (Trojan.RedirRd112.Gen) (all were supposedly quarantined and deleted apart from the last, for which the log says 'Delete on reboot'.

I suspect the kids may have visited some sites that made us vulnerable when their friends showed them how to download custom 'skins' for minecraft, as the problem's surfaced not long after they did that. We're usually strict on not clicking on things you don't trust, but let them do it this time, to our detriment it seems.

I'll work through your instructions now and see how it goes, and again, many thanks.

[Milo Minderbinder]

FYI
in order

RKill Download (http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/rkill/)

Anti-rootkit utility TDSSKiller (http://support.kaspersky.com/faq/?qid=208283363)

Downloads - SurfRight (http://www.surfright.nl/en/downloads)

ComboFix Download (http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/combofix/)

Download | Spybot © (http://www.safer-networking.org/dl/)

[Arm out the window]

Your help is extremely useful, Milo - thanks again.

Have been working through the steps you nominated and am up to trying to remove something called 'Ask Toolbar', publisher Ask.com, which I certainly haven't purposely installed.

When I attempt the uninstall in Control Panel, I'm asked if I 'want the following program from an unknown publisher to make changes...', (Windows\Installer\174ed0.msi)

If I click yes, a message tells me all IE browser windows should be closed in order to complete the uninstallation, although none are open. This message keeps coming up and won't progress past that point.

If I click no, I get Error 1730, telling me I must be an administrator to remove the application. As far as I know, the account we use is designated as the administrator already, so again I'm unable to proceed.

[Arm out the window]

Update on the last problem - used Revo uninstaller to get rid of the Ask Toolbar, but internet explorer's still freezing up. Will continue with the steps Milo outlined. Fingers crossed!

[Milo Minderbinder]

toolbars often do this - their installer are often incomplete
The "Ask" toolbar is "legit", but even so can still cause stability problems

If you can't get rid of a program like that easily, another way is to disable it using Autoruns
Autoruns for Windows (http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb963902.aspx)

If I'm cleaning a machine up, Autoruns is one of the first tools I use, simply to stop things running, enabling later removal of them
But its a dangerous program if you don't know what to delete
A similar good program - though not much use in Windows 7, is Trend Micro's "Hijack This"

[Arm out the window]

Well, I've run all those programs, thanks, Milo. Not sure if everything's back to normal, but we seem to be getting there!

The weird thing I'm noticing now is that some sites are responding normally on Internet Explorer, and others are hanging as before. For example, PPrune works for about a second and then refuses to respond, whereas a camping site called myswag.org works perfectly.

Windows sometimes pops up a thing with 'Internet Explorer is not responding', and in 'problem details', says 'A problem caused this program to stop interacting with windows.' Problem Event Name is given as AppHangB1.

I don't know, getting a bit discouraged now but will come back to it later after I've thought about it more. Bloody computers!:)

Thanks yet again, Milo. You've been a great help.

[Milo Minderbinder]

try this

control panel > internet options > advanced
First item in the list should be "use software rendering rather than GPU rendering"
Put a tick in the box, safe, and then restart

[ChocksAwayChaps]

Try using Mozilla Firefox as an alternative to IE. I find it's much faster and causes fewer problems.

[bonzaii]

Mozilla firefox
google chrome
opera

all more secure, faster, less issues and less bugs. take your pick, i think chrome is best, followed very closely by firefox and 3rd is opera. trailing right at the foot of the ladder is IE . hope that helps

[Gertrude the Wombat]

less bugs
Different bugs in different browsers, certainly. Firefox for example suffers from known serious bugs that nobody fixes for years, because nobody happens to feel like it and the bug only affects a small number of sites anyway. Which is fine so long as you don't want to use one of those sites.

There's so much broken stuff out there on the web (eg sites deliberately engineered not to work on a particular browser, people still basing sites on Ext JS 2.2 that works up to IE 8 but not on IE 9, etc etc) that you might well find that you need more than one browser these days.

[Arm out the window]

Cheers once again, Milo; I owe you a beer or ten.

Still struggling with it, but getting closer or at least a bit more educated! We are away on holidays for a week starting tomorrow so I'll have to come back to the problem when we return.

No doubt there's some simpl(ish) solution, will just have to track it down, or failing that, go for a clean re-install and start from scratch!

All the best,

Tim

[Arm out the window]

Just saw the last couple of replies - thanks to you folks as well. I will try Firefox etc. Just seems strange that it's only in the past few days we're having trouble with IE9, which suggests to me there's been a bit of malicious software arrive on the machine by some means.

[JetMender]

I had exactly the same problem.
Tried running defender / spybot etc, adjusting IE settings, deleted IE9 update (so PC ran IE8) all to no avail.
I then set PC back to a restore point from a few weeks ago and now IE9 seems to run OK.
Due to IE problems, I started using Chrome and have now made it my default browser.

[Krkriegh]

I had the same problem that seemed to begin after a Windows update during the night of September 25. I had only two windows that would open up for me and not freeze; Bing and Google. All others would attempt to load, but were always sub-captioned with the notation "waiting for response from server". Usually, the page would finally finish loading after 5 minutes or so, but then the same thing would happen on subsequent clicks on links within that page.

I tried a great number of things to solve this issue but finally landed on the right trick. In IE, I navigated through Tools/Internet Options/Programs/ to Manage Add-ons. Here you can disable all the visible Add-ons, but the key was to select the button "Currently Loaded Add-ons" and choose "Show All". I was surprised to see the number of add-ons more than double, with a whopping 16 listed under Microsoft alone. I disabled ALL of the add-ons and from there on IE functioned perfectly, and at speeds I was unused to. I suppose the next step would be to enable the add-ons one by one, testing IE to see which one was the culprit causing the freezes, but I'm enjoying the enhanced internet browsing speed so much I think I'll just leave them disabled for now. I notice that when I visit certain web sites, I will be asked to enable a certain add-on, so may do that on an as-needed basis. Note that by earlier upgrading to IE 9, nothing was solved. Best of luck!

[Milo Minderbinder]

resetting IE to its defaults (post #2) should have removed all those plugins, but I guess its worth a check

[Arm out the window]

Hello Milo et al, back from holidays now and have launched back into the problem again.

After numerous tries to disable add-ons, get rid of toolbars, run spy- and malware detectors etc, the issue was still recurring.

As I said, I greatly appreciate your help, Milo, but must still be doing something wrong as I can't get IE9 to stop freezing. It often seems to hang with a hugely long googleads.g.doubleclick.net address down the bottom, as if it's trying to redirect me somewhere but not getting there - this may have something to do with it.

However, I decided to try and bypass the hassle altogether and downloaded google chrome instead. Lo and behold, the clouds parted and it works quickly and hang-free. I'm happy for the moment, but will still try to ascertain if there's some nasty ware on our computer that still needs to be removed.

I contacted our security provider, Trend Micro, and they seem rather keen to find out what's going on - have sent them a log at their request and they have promised to get back to me with a fix. We shall see!

Cheers,

Tim

[Arm out the window]

G'day again all,

Just one final question, if I may:

We have a number of computers running Windows 7 and IE9; two Leader laptops and the desktop, which is the one affected with the 'hanging' website issue I've been trying to solve.

Seeing as I've run all these detection programs and they haven't killed the problem, which of these scenarios (in your learned opinions) is the most likely:

a) there is still some malicious bit of software lurking on the desktop that I need to find and get rid of, rather than just blithely thinking my problem is solved by using a different browser, or

b) it's just a quirk of different computers that one has been affected and the others haven't, so tracking down the root cause is no big deal.

I know that's a bit general, but I want to know if I should be worried about chasing it more or not.

cheers and thanks again

[Milo Minderbinder]

Theres still malware on the machine

did Trend ask you to download, run and post to them a log of a HijackThis! scan?

[grounded27]

Go to Microsoft, earlier last month they had reported a vulnerability that allows hackers in. I believe you may find a fix there.

[Arm out the window]

Thankyou again guys.

I went to the Microsoft site and downloaded the latest cumulative security update, hopefully that will contain what you said grounded?

Milo, Trend Micro got me to go to a link which ran a big scan and created a log; not sure if it was Hijack This or not - if that would be their normal procedure, I imagine so, but I don't specifically remember that name. They promised to get back to us within 48 hrs, so again, we'll see!

At least I've got a little bit of computer knowledge, but not enough to solve this kind of issue on my own - makes me wonder how people who just know it as a box they turn on and it does what it's supposed to, manage to go more than a day without having some big problem.

[Arm out the window]

Further to our saga, and I hope concluding it, Trend Micro have been following up our IE9 problem and applying various fixes. The last one was what they called an ATTK Clean Kit, which ran a big scan, found 5 items of concern and got 'fixed' them.

Now IE runs well again, and I think our computer, if it by some chance happened to possess a degree of sentience, would feel like it's been gone through with a wire-brush pull through followed by a dose of salts.

Thanks to everyone, especially Milo, for your help.

Also a thumbs up to Trend Micro for customer service - admittedly their software didn't stop the infection in the first place, but their support team (via the charmingly named Rain) kept following up until the problem was solved, unlike many companies of various kinds we've dealt with over the years.

[PPRuNe Pop]

My IE8 has been freezing on occasions and I have to get Task Manager to get me out - usually 'end now.' Then start over. It's annoying now and a suggestion of the nice kind would be appreciated. I regularly run Malaware and CC cleaner with never a problem.

I have XP and I have noted IE9 is not an option for it.

[Arm out the window]

I hadn't thought of contacting my security software provider direct before, thinking any emails I sent them would just disappear inside a corporate holding pattern and nothing would be done.

However, as I was going through the issue described above, I figured we had nothing to lose and clicked on the 'contact us online' link (something like that) for Trend Micro, which put me on a kind of direct chat thing with one of their operators in which I outlined the problem and they directed me to try a couple of simple things to narrow it down.

They followed up with a series of emails and, as I said, kept at it until it was fixed. Quite a positive experience - don't know if whichever company you use would do the same, PPrune Pop, but it might be worth a go if all else fails.

[Milo Minderbinder]

Pop

go to the "advanced" page in internet settings
first item in the list - DISABLE hardware acceleration - use software acceleration instead
having it enabled cripples XP machines in the way you describe

[PPRuNe Pop]

Thanks Milo, but I don't see hardware acceleration in Internet options.

I noticed that you said 'settings' but couldn't find that either.

PPP

[Milo Minderbinder]

sorry you're right....in XP its Internet Options. 'twas settings in some versions of 9X and the memory lasts....

If you have IE8 installed it should be the first item listed under "advanced"
Exact wording is "use software rendering instead of hardware"
Tick that. If its NOT there then you're probably using an out of date version of IE...so upgrade

However, you also need to do the usual: remove all toolbars, try disabling plugins, scan for malware in exactly the same way as I advised earlier in this thread. And make sure Java and Flash are up to date (if installed)
The "reset" button on that "advanced" tab is often a lifesave. Just remember to re-enable any AV plugins afterwards

[PPRuNe Pop]

The situation has got worse! I can open IE then the following happens.

1. I can open a site as this one. But when I click to open a thread as this one it won't do it.
2. Then I close the page and I get 'the programme is not responding and invites 'End Now.' That closes it.
3. I open IE again and it asks if I want to restore session or go to home page (I have tried both) and I use restore session, which immediately opens the page I tried in 2.
4. Then I try to open a thread and the same thing in 3 happens. That is how I got here BUT to get to this posting page I had to go through it all again.

I hope that this not sounding silly but that is what is happening.

I tried Firefox a few days before this but I have since binned as a possible cause but its no better.

In other words I have to 'open' individually each one of the options - I am not sure what is going to happen to this when I hit the submit button.

Now I can tell you. It went straight in but I tried to edit and it froze on the last page. Back to 1. :ugh:

I also tried a system restore early this morning but that went OK. And I restarted the computer but I got back here by the above. It is beginning to grate.


PPP

[handsfree]

I'm getting exactly the same problem as above post.
I'm having to post this via my iPhone as neither IE or Firefox work with pPrune.
Will report back if I get anywhere.

[PPRuNe Pop]

Things appear back to normal and its all OK as far as I can tell.

I did a previous System Restore - that didn't help so I did another 2 weeks earlier than the last and that seems to have cured it - if there is such a thing.

Thanks anyway.

PPP

[Milo Minderbinder]

Pop

it would still be a good idea if you assumed you had an infection on the machine and went through all the clear up stages I mentioned earlier

[PPRuNe Pop]

I have done that, Milo and the situation is worse than it was. This is my laptop but my PC has gone belly up basically. Not sure what to do now tbh.

Would it help if I put my XP disc in for a 'repair?'

I can undo my restores but I have also been getting MS fixes that have been more trouble than they were worth.

The nearest wall is an option too!!!

PPP

[Dark Knight]

Similar problems down here and followed much of Milo's advice which, in part, helped.

Goto control panel<>programs and features (Ok so I am using Win7) and review and get rid of any programs you do not use or have not used for considerable time. You may find some of these are puting in `add on' which are interferring with IE operation.

Similarly, review all the `add on' from ALL sources and disable those not needed or used. Maybe disable all and enable them one by one may help eliminate a problem one.

Adddtionally, got System Configuration<>Startup tab and go through all the items in the start up list. Disable as many as possible or set for a delay startup; again some of these programs interfere with or interfere with IE.

I have and use Download Accelerator from Speedbit and it puts all sort of bits and pieces throughout the computer or IE (including it's bloody search engine) and eliminating some of these improved performance but the problem still is present from time to time.

Still looking but hope this assists.

[PPRuNe Pop]

I have been looking at add-ons very seriously and I came across one "WebEx support for Internet Explorer." I binned it and now my Explorer is blistering fast. I have no idea if I have done the right thing but I had a good clearup and time will tell.

PPP

[PPRuNe Pop]

Wait! Most of the above but I still get a long delay after a click in some instances.

[green granite]

Looking at the google results for "WebEx support for Internet Explorer." and as there are no informative results thrown up I would think you did the right thing there Pop.

[handsfree]

I did a system restore back to before the October Windows updates and all worked properly.

Applied the October updates and the problems came back.

This morning the system had done an auto update:-

System Update Readiness Tool for Windows Vista (KB947821) [September 2012]

Installation date: ‎14/‎10/‎2012 09:48

Installation status: Successful

Update type: Important

This tool is being offered because an inconsistency was found in the Windows servicing store which may prevent the successful installation of future updates, service packs, and software. This tool checks your computer for such inconsistencies and tries to resolve issues if found.

More information:
System Update Readiness Tool fixes Windows Update errors in Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 R2, and Windows Server 2008 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/947821)Everything now working again.
I can't see why but I'm happy to leave it at that.

[lasernigel]

Having some problems here. Done a disc cleanup and tried a system restore but it failed. Can't seem to get windows updates as it can't find a restore point.
Pprune not affected or for that matter any page where I have to sign in. But say the home page of DM, if I minimise and go back 5 mins later the screen is black and it won't re-load. Have to close and start again.
Have Malawares and it scans daily (IT protocol from work), also have Macafee, neither have found anything.

[PPRuNe Pop]

This a pain, but I think I am getting there. I have attacked the add-ons with vigour and notice an improvement. I am thinking of Milo's idea of resetting Internet options but I don't think I know enough about what should or should not be there. He mentioned AV but what is that? Can't be Audio Visual surely.

I am still beavering away and getting rid of things that have come in by the many back doors developers and the likes of Norton etc., I have used SkyBot, Malware, Avast, HighJack This, HouseCall and others. Nothing was found at all.

My thoughts are now with registry but unless you have certain thoughts to delete something its not worth a try.

I have removed a toolbar called ALot and that made 'a lot' of difference. Too many toolbars too and I have disbaled most but that only made things worse.

It would be good to keep this thread active so that anyone with some brilliant moves can make a contribution.

Off to the registry now.

[Milo Minderbinder]

Pop
If you've had the Alot toolbar on there its a good bet that you've got other nasties as well. That piggybacks onto other malware thats usually hidden as a free download of some kind or another
Difficult to offer advice without seeing the machine, or remoting into it

However, assuming you're running XP, run these programs, in safe mode

ATF Cleaner ATF-Cleaner.exe - www.atribune.org (http://atribune.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=25&Itemid=25)
Hitman Pro Downloads - SurfRight (http://www.surfright.nl/en/downloads/)
Combofix ComboFix Download (http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/combofix/)
Run ALL, and run in safe mode

first one just cleans up junk, the others sanitise the machine

But resetting IE to its defaults is important, otherwise the changes made by the malware remain

[Milo Minderbinder]

lasernigel

some questions
how much RAM in the machine
which version of windows?
which antivirus program
and have you checked if the hard drive is full? how much space is left on it?

handsfree
that update should have cured any software corruption problems unless theres a malware problem as well

[PPRuNe Pop]

Milo,
A trip into registry revealed two problems, AVG which I never use and McAfee I just deleted them and one or two other things I recognized as useless - or not any use anymore. Came back and IE is working normally again. So far...............................!

[lasernigel]

Milo

how much RAM in the machine 4Gb it says I'm using 90%, though I'm only running this page
which version of windows? Win 7
which antivirus program Malawares and Macafee
and have you checked if the hard drive is full?
how much space is left on it?
390Gb

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/lasernigel/LaptopSmall.jpg

[Blues&twos]

We have had problems with IE9 freezing on certain sites (not seen this problem previously). Has happened over the last couple of weeks. At the same time I noticed that some automatic updates were failing to install. which may be just a coincidence. One I have had to hide for the moment is the latest Skype update.

To cut a long story short, we swapped to Chrome a couple of days ago, and we are not seeing any problems at all using it. In fact, my wife is now able to upload stuff to her work website again which she hasn't been able to do from our desktop machine since we "upgraded" to IE9 some time ago.

So not a solution exactly, but it's made our web browsing a whole lot less frustrating :ok:

[P.Pilcher]

Being a person who believes in using XP for as long as possible and also using I.E. 8 (I know, I know) I have been getting fed up with the browser hanging - usually on PPRuNe but also on some others. The program then locks up and often recovers itself. Of course this problem went away if I remembered to run Firefox instead of I.E. but I have just discovered that on disabling all the add-ons as suggested here seems to cure the problem and the browser is now running much faster than before. Of course PPRuNe and other sites moan that they can't find an addon that they want, but it does not stop them running. I think most of my addons will continue to be disabled!

P.P.

[PPRuNe Pop]

P.P - that's about it really. Mine was in a terrible state but I went one stage further after checking add ons that can be a pain, and getting rid of unused progs. I then went to the registry via 'run' / regedit. I removed a lot of residue stuff that hopes you will go back sometime. It works I can tell you and I have a very fast browser again and all is really well. But, you have to be very careful in there and ONLY delete somthing you know to be useless or part of a little trick. Avoid missing almost hidden add ons that are like leeches when you might download something you want.

After a miserable week of rubbish plaguing me I'm now a happy bunny.

A further tp. After opening IE let it load fully for a few seconds.

Have to say that Milo's advices have been a real help. Good quality advice.

PPP

[P.Pilcher]

Thanks for that PPP I am now having fun trying to find which of the addons permits me to view embedded pictures/movies as I only get a dimmed page at the moment but I have no doubt I will succeed in the end. After all, Firefox works perfectly. Another thing I've noticed is that without the addons, PPRuNe seems to have lost its ads.......... Shhh!

P.P.

[bnt]

You can also manage Add-Ons directly from Control Panel, and load IE in "safe mode" without add-ons. Mode details here: Troubleshooting and Internet Explorer (http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ie/archive/2006/07/25/678113.aspx)