Question for Computer Gurus

[TexasGal]

Every morning as my computer is starting up, it automatically goes to a website. For a couple of days it was eBay and this morning it was Scottrade. This occurs during the start up cycle. I usually just turn on my computer while I am getting coffee and then sit down for the back half of the start up. That's when these websites pop up (not pop-up ads but the actual websites). I have not done anything to initiate it, and in fact I have not even opened internet explorer yet because my PC is still in the process of start up.

I spent considerable time lately on threads discussing eBay, PayPal and things related to Scottrade so I wonder if this has anything to do with this forum? CHINACO, I think you were asking about something related to this a few days ago. Don't remember if your issue was spam or pop-up ads or what, but you were wondering if it was related to this forum and google analytics.

I have McAfee's full virus/spyware/adware protection running all of the time as well as AVG's anti-spyware which I run daily. I have also been running AVG's anti-rootkit, and I am using an IE7 browser.

Any ideas why this is happening? Very strange. :confused:

[Corporateburnout]

It seems that your IE browser has lost its home page for some reason or something in your startup programs starting IE automatically. You can attempt to fix the first by changing your startup page through IE properties. If this doesn't fix it try to run "msconfig" to look at your startup programs.

Hope this helps.

[TexasGal]

Corporateburnout,

It is not the start up page. I haven't even opened internet explorer yet. My start up page is still set to what I want. I ran msconfig but the problem is that I don't even know what to look for. Nothing jumped out at me but that means zip.

It is not a problem to simply close the website that opens in the morning, but since it it has never happened before, I wondered how concerned I should be.

TG

[Sue J]

I asked my son about this. He'd like to see a screenshot of your STARTUP Tab in msconfig. Do you know how to do that?

[TexasGal]

Sue, I sent you a private message. Thanks!

[Mike1968]

Look at your startup folder via the "Start" button>Programs>Startup.
Look for any suspicious entries. If found right click, delete.
There are a couple of freeware programs on this page,
How to manage Windows startup?

Which will take a "snapshot" of everything loading at start-up, including msconfig. It needs to be looked at someone who has knowledge of editing the Windows Registry.

DO NOT EDIT THE REGISTRY, IF YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING. IT CAN RESULT IN WINDOWS FAILING TO LOAD!

As to why it is happening--You are using Internet Explorer...

Try Firefox at Mozilla - Home of the Firefox web browser and Thunderbird email client

[TexasGal]

Mike,

My cousin the "guru" came over today and cleaned it up. I don't know what the problem was but it is okay now.

You are the 4th person on this forum who has said to dump IE7 and get Firefox. I have never used anything else other than IE, but I'll give it a try.

TG

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TexasGal You are the 4th person on this forum who has said to dump IE7 and get Firefox.

TG, I'll be number 5.

I ditched Internet Exploder for Firefox several years ago and would never go back. The switchover is very easy.

Firefox is also highly resistant to fire ants, scorpions, and chiggers.

[TexasGal]

Well then that settles it. If Firefox will keep out the varmints, I'm all for it!

[Sue J]

I'm glad you got it fixed. I'm another Firefox user. I only use IE if a site won't work with Firefox.

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sue J I only use IE if a site won't work with Firefox.

TG, FYI: Sites that don't work with Firefox are few and far between. If you do run into one, you always have the option of opening up your IE browser. You can run both Firefox and IE at the same time.

[OAG]

Firefox and then us Thunderbird for e-mail. Two grate FREE programs. BTW I see the IBM has joined the Open Office Open-Source system. Going to lend some pretty good programing to the Open Office Suite. For those that do not know, the FREE Open Office Suite replaces Microsoft Office, and is generally fully compatible with it.

[Khan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sue J I'm glad you got it fixed. I'm another Firefox user. I only use IE if a site won't work with Firefox.

What she said.

Firefox is the best.

[TexasGal]

Thanks everyone!

I am now a Firefox user! I downloaded the Google for Firefox toolbar since the one I had was for IE. I knew it looked different when using Firefox and I wanted the full Google toolbar.

I also use McAfee SiteAdvisor and had to download their Firefox version.

REWahoo, I figured out that I could run both about Midnight last night although I was wondering about it for an hour or two. I almost uninstalled IE then thought "nah, better not". I am counting on Firefox to keep the varmints out.

[TexasGal]

R Wood, I see that you suggest using Thunderbird 2 for email. Can I tie all of my emails into Thunderbird, i.e. hotmail, yahoo, gmail?

Anybody else use Thunderbird for email?

I use have various emails for different things. Windows Live Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail, and Use Outlook AND Outlook Express.

[kumquat]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TexasGal Thanks everyone! I am counting on Firefox to keep the varmints out.

It may help, but don't drop your guard. As Smokey the Bear used to say "only you can prevent forest fires."

[TexasGal]

kumquat, I've gone overboard on security I think. I have McAfee's security suite, AVG anti-spyware, AVG anti-virus, AVG anti-rootkit, and more. I'll probably end up eventually taking something off to improve performance.

[TexasGal]

Hmmmm, I downloaded Thunderbird 2 email and the icon is on my desktop. I click it, the system is processing . . . and nothing. No error messages, nothing. It will not open up. Guess I'll go out to Mozilla Firefox website and see if I can find anything to tell me why I can't open it.

Anyone have a clue?

[TexasGal]

I am experimenting (no stats) with using Firefox and IE7 to navigate around the ER forum. Firefox is slower. Today is the first day that I have ever noticed this forum being slow although I have read lots of other posts about the slowness, and then I remembered that I was navigating with Firefox. I opened up IE and was able to move around fine.

Anyone else find Firefox to be slower?

[REWahoo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TexasGal Anyone else find Firefox to be slower?

Not me. Seem to both be about the same speed.