I thought I was fairly savvy....yesterday my Windows 7 Pro x64 system (legit key no hacks genuine Norton NIS 2012) was running perfectly. Then for no apparent reason I was unable to start IE. Whatever, I rebooted the system and then it failed to start, went into system repair, rebooted itself and started OK. After I logged in I got a weird error message at desktop (pic uploaded) Cancelled it out, resumed working and then found a problem with IE. I was trying to google for error beep codes for an ASUS motherboard and when I clicked the links, they started OK then ended at a page called SCOUR SEARCH. Any effort from that page resulted in the page simply refreshing itself. I figured somehow it was malware/spyware whatever and I downloaded stopzilla, installed ran a scan after first using my Norton 2012 to scan the system. Neither found anything so then I rebooted and it did the fail to start again routine. Selected system repair and after a while it rebooted itself, started OK and I logged back in. Same error message straight after desktop appeared and then I found I could not open IE. When I clicked on the shortcut, it looked like it was going to start, then nothing. Went to the actual app in Program Files IE folder but same thing - no IE window appearing at all. Couldn't find a way around it so I bit the bullet and decided to reinstall the operating system. Did so, all OK activated system, updated at Windows Updates then used acronis and made a backup. Rebooted and installed Office 2007 Professional and activated that, then installed more office updates. System rebooted itself and after login, that damn error message was back. then when I went to open IE - same problem no IE window opening up. Did a search trying to find a problem within the system startup, but nothing obvious. I don't really want to have to go back using acronis and then re-install office and activation etc. so can anyone offer a solution?
maybe you should stop using IE altogether,it's obvious that from what i read that you are really having trouble with IE, i would suggest to disable IE in windows features and start using an alternative browser like firefox or chrome,it seems you are having security issues with IE. have you tried other browsers? also,i have used scour search on a regular basis,never had a problem with it,at least not on firefox or chrome
just an update....... I tried the above, rebooted machine and it went into unable to start. Did the repair and when it was up and running; the following was evident. The firefox and the superanti spyware that I had installed and ran - their shortcuts had been removed from the desktop. I had also created another administrator account, but that too was nowhere to be seen. As far as IE8 is concerned....... I am running that on my main desktop and 2 laptops and it has been most satisfactory. So much so that I have refused to update to IE9 (tried it once but didn't like the way that microsoft had changed some of its' abilities) ARE MICROSOFT TO BE TAKEN TO COURT FOR A MONOPOLY ON SEARCH ENGINES ??? I wasn't even able to get google set as t he default search engine, even after altering the addresses in the registry editor. So now I'm going to restore through acronis to the previous state then try to install office and other major programs whilst offline, then do a sequential backup and hope for the best !! But I am still unaware of the cause of this problem.....
did you try to start IE without add-ons ? if you don't have this shortcut: target: "C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe" -extoff start in: %HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%
Remove Norton . Use AVG2011 instead. Run a deep/thorough virus scan(which can be found under scan options in AVG). Then use CCleaner to sort out registry. Don' use IE; use Firefox!
boot up in safe mode with networking,then install and update malawarebytes,run a full scan and you should be good to go.it might take two full scans,avg works but malawarebytes is better,i use both,i use cccleaner everyday to clear all cookies etc,and avg running in the background at all times,malawarebytes for trojans and such,also chrome is a fast browser to use,jmo
Better yet...use Avast AV w/ Threatfire along with Malwarebytes and SuperAntiSpyware and you'll not have any issues with viruses/malware again.