Perplexing Browser Issue

[mglipford]

I have a client who brought me an Acer Aspire 1 netbook (running XP), which was exhibiting some sort of malware type behavior. I had no problem getting rid of that, but now I have another, rather strange, issue.

There are two web browsers installed on this machine. IE and Chrome. Neither can access the internet. But when I use a copy of Firefox on my thumbdrive, I can reach the internet just fine.

To make things even more confusing, I can ping out to both IP addresses, and domain names. No problem.

I've tried everything I can think of!

Anyone have an ideas or want to point me in th right direction? Thanks in advance.

 

[barry3652]

back up they favourites and try re-installing them?.

 

[mglipford]

back up they favourites and try re-installing them?.

I probably should have specified better. I actually installed Chrome on the pc after fixing the malware issue. So whatever the issue is, all I can figure is that it has to do with something that an installed browser uses, but that something installed on a thumb drive doesn't.

Obviously, I'm thinking registry issue. I was just hoping someone had seen a symptom like this before and could offer some guidance.

Thank you for the suggestion though. If I end up spending too much time on it, I might just do a system restore. I hate doing that, but sometimes it's more efficient than throwing away too much time on something.

 

[FooseSB]

I probably should have specified better. I actually installed Chrome on the pc after fixing the malware issue. So whatever the issue is, all I can figure is that it has to do with something that an installed browser uses, but that something installed on a thumb drive doesn't.

Obviously, I'm thinking registry issue. I was just hoping someone had seen a symptom like this before and could offer some guidance.

Thank you for the suggestion though. If I end up spending too much time on it, I might just do a system restore. I hate doing that, but sometimes it's more efficient than throwing away too much time on something.

Check your HOSTS file for any unusual entries. In most cases the localhost listing should be the only entry.

 

[mglipford]

Check your HOSTS file for any unusual entries. In most cases the localhost listing should be the only entry.

That was one of the first things I tried. Totally clean. But thank you for the suggestion.

 

[FooseSB]

That was one of the first things I tried. Totally clean. But thank you for the suggestion.

OK, good to know. A couple other things you can try:

* Download and run WinSockXPFix (recommend backing up registry before running).
* Reset IE to default settings.

 

[copparedds]

check unusual programs in program list.
Once i had this issue with a customer's pc. All scans came up clean.
I was STUMPED!!!
Then! i checked the program files and found a program called "Dial Up" after uninstalling that suspicious program all was well.

 

[mglipford]

* Download and run WinSockXPFix (recommend backing up registry before running).
* Reset IE to default settings.

Also tried both of those. Again, no go.

This is highly confusing to me. It really seems to defy logic.

But again, thank you for the excellent suggestions.

 

[mglipford]

Just wanted to update. I solved it. It turned out to be a proxy server setting under Internet Options causing the issue. Granted I'm not sure exactly how it was causing an issue, but once I set it to automatic detect, it cleared right up.

Thank you again for all the great suggestions everyone. Merry Christmas!

 

[trapped]

A lot of the rogue antivirus programs use proxy servers pointing to the localhost address. I usually run HijackThis to check the Internet settings when I do a virus removal.

 

[Tweak]

A lot of the rogue antivirus programs use proxy servers pointing to the localhost address. I usually run HijackThis to check the Internet settings when I do a virus removal.

VERY common with the latest round of crapware floating around, HitMan Pro detects and removes it automatically in case anyone cares.