Internet Explorer 8 will not start

System: ACER ASPIRE ONE OS: XP SP3 1.6GHZ INTEL ATOM, 1GB RAM Problem: Internet Explorer 8 will not start, no error messages display. (IE did load prior to removing MCAFEE and installing Microsoft Security Essentials) History: Computer was purchased at Christmas time, MCAFEE was pre-installed and the trial subscription ran out sometime in March 2010. CPU use was 40+ % even at idle. I removed MCAFEE and cpu usage went way down 4-5% at idle. I turned on Windows firewall, installed Microsoft Security Essentials and ran a full system scan after it updated. The anti-virus found and removed an item: VirTool:JS/Obfuscator.gen!A. I also ran Microsofts Malware removal tool and it found nothing. At the time IE7 was installed on the system, I installed IE8 thinking there might be a corrupt file and had the same results with IE8 (not working). However I opened task manager and looked at the processes and found Internet Explorer running a couple of times (I clicked (the IE icon) it twice thinking I didn't get the double click on it the first time. I downloaded Firefox from another PC and installed it via flash drive. FF appears to run just fine. I downloaded HIJACKTHIS and ran a scan and saved the results to a text file. Here is the contents of the scan: 📎HJT.txt Any ideas, help would be greatly appreciated. This is a friends PC and I told him I would try to fix it. Thanks a bunch!

Hello, Webgremlin and welcome to the forum.

For future reference, please do not post hijackthis logs in this forum. We do not analyze hijackthis logs here. Which leads me to my next suggestion.

You mention your anti-virus was expired nearly three months ago, and your current anti-virus product already found something.

I would suggest you read here: http://forums.whatthetech.com/Are_you_Infe…lp_t106388.html

And, post a new topic here: http://forums.whatthetech.com/Virus_Spywar…emoval_f27.html

If, after a malware removal expert (who CAN analyze your log, although they probably won't ask for a HJT log) gives you an all clear, then you can come back to this thread and seek further advice. Please be patient as they are very busy.

My apologies, I am not 100% convinced it is a virus but possibly a program conflicting with IE8. I did some searching and I saw some conflicts with a program called system mechanics (when it wasn't updated to it's current version). I don't see that program on the computer, but it got me thinking that it may be a program conflict. I also found this in my search: Specifically, I’ve had this object prevent IE from opening: O2 – BHO: WebBlinds – {4F92B827-1E56-4E30-A978-A17A7861A606} – C:\Program Files\Object Desktop\WebBlinds\WebBlinds.dll. If you find that one, then be sure to remove it. I don't have that BHO on my HIJACKTHIS text file but I thought maybe it might be another. Either way I'll jump to the correct forum and post what I have. Thanks and have a good one.

I am not 100% convinced you have a virus problem either. But, you have said your anti-virus was expired for 3 months. The computer may be infected with a rootkit capable of hiding from the tools you have used. I know it takes some extra time and effort, but it is better safe than sorry. You don't want your friend to be a victim of a very REAL problem, identity theft.