Hi this is actually for my friend. His Internet Explorer has been taken over or something. Every time he tries to dial up it connects to a porn site and then he gets a message saying that something is wrong with IE. So he can't download CW shredder or spybot or anything.He doesn't have the IE disk to uninstall and reinstall it, can anyone help please??Oh and i am not technical so in idiots terms please.

You could download it for him and email them to him

OK, here's some tips to try and bypass the problem on the off-chance that he might have been hacked by a 'basic' virus or browser hijacker, rather than a clever one! I could really do with knowing what version of Windows and Internet Explorer your friend has though - what I describe might not be exactly what you see on that particular PC.

Reset the home page
Make sure IE is closed;
Go to Windows Explorer and click on the Control Panel folder at the bottom of the tree view on the left hand side;
Double-click 'Internet Options' on the right-hand side;
In the 'Home Page' section at the top of the 'General' tab, click 'Use Blank';
Click 'Apply';
Go to the Connections tab and make sure that the only connection listed is your friend's ISP. If there's any others such as "Hot Sex Dial-Up" or anything like that, his PC has probably been affected by a dialler - highlight those and click 'Remove';
Click 'OK';
Start Internet Explorer and it will hopefully just show a blank page;
Type a web site address in the address bar at the top, e.g. http://www.D-A-L.com.

If that doesn't help, then

Remove the StartUp programs
Click the Start Menu
Click Programs
Click Startup
Are there any programs listed on that menu which look dodgy, e.g. "Porn Dialler" or "Home Page Fix" or anything like that? If so, right-click them and choose 'Delete' from the menu.
Start Internet Explorer and see if that helps.

If that doesn't help, then

Clear the registry
Click the Start Menu;
Click Run;
Type regedit and click 'OK';
Double-click HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE;
Double-click SOFTWARE;
Double-click Microsoft;
Double-click Windows;
Double-click Current Version;
Click Run.
Anything dodgy listed on the right-hand side? If it's definitely dodgy, e.g. "XXXloader.exe", then right-click it and select Delete from the context menu;
Repeat the above for other folders in the tree on the left:
RunOnce
RunOnceEx
RunServices
Close Registry Editor
Start Internet Explorer and see if that helps.

Altering system files or manipulating the registry is risky and can cause adverse effects if not done properly. D-A-L.com and its members cannot be held liable for any adverse affects caused by accepting advice that is freely given on this web site

Once the problem is temporarily fixed, you need to immediately get it sorted out and get the PC properly protected .... before you reboot the PC! Owen, our security expert on D-A-L.com, has written an excellent advice note on what you need to do to avoid your PC being plagued by these evils of our modern world:

http://www.d-a-l.com/help/showthread.php?t=605

By the way, as always on D-A-L.com, please let us know how you get on We couldn't sit on here all night writing out lengthy advice if we didn't like the sound of our voices a little bit(!) but, even so, a little feedback is nice

Ok thanks for the help we will try it. His system is Windows 98. We managed to bypass the IE icon and go through dial up connactions which let us into hotmail but when i tried to click on the link to you guys it came up saying there was a problem with IE and it was going to close and you had the potion of a report does that help. Oh and he does have a Norton virus checker which came back with nothing. um does this help?thanks again will try it and let you know how it goes.

If it gives the option to report the error to Microsoft, that means it's Internet Explorer 6 (or 6 SP1).

If you went into Dial-Up Connections and connected to the ISP and checked the email (through Outlook Express I presume), then the original dial-up connection hasn't been affected.

As you went straight into Internet Explorer after that (whilst still connected) and it still gave the same error (something like "Internet Explorer has encountered an error and will now close"), then it sounds like you don't have a "dialler" problem, so that's something that we've ruled out

OK, so go ahead and take a look at the Startup programs and registry entries and let us know whether you find anything

We managed to fix it thank you so much for the help. we got Spybot onto it andthat cured it completely. I wonder if you could maybe help me with mine. It is on Windows ME when I dial up network I get a sign saying that IE has a problem and will now close, if I click on the close sign, I lose my entire desk top. Also sometimes the computer won't shut down. I have tried running spybot and it came back with nothing. Any help would be great.

Great to hear that you got your friend's PC sorted

Sounds like your IE6 needs to be re-installed. If it's crashing out and the desktop has disappeared, then it's probable that the Explorer.exe file has been affected (it might even mention this in your error message if there's an option to see advanced information). The Explorer.exe file is the major component that controls most of how your files on your hard disk are displayed to you - your Windows desktop and its icons, Windows Explorer and its file listing, Control Panel and the programs it contains, Internet Explorer and its related file listing capabilities, etc.

Before you try re-installing IE6, try the following little thing just in case you can fix it quickly and easily:

Click the Start Menu
Click Run
Type sfc and press OK
When System File Checker starts, choose the option to extract a file
Specify to extract explorer.exe
It might ask you for the Windows ME CDROM.

Reboot after it's done that. Any better?

If not, go for an IE6 re-install.

Alternatively, if the IE6 error message refers to any particular filename, let us know as the advice might be different

Ok fixed my own. I need more help for my friend again if that is ok. The virus is back. We did Spybot and it worked for a few days. Then IE tried to connect itself to a porn website again. We have tried running Spybot and AVG virus but it has come back with nothing.He has checked the registry but not really sure what to look for can we have some help please?