I'm having a very strange problem. Every time I go to a Web site,
Internet Explorer "freezes" for about 10 seconds. Usually the little
windows logo flag freezes as does the green status bar at the bottom
(I'm using XP Home with IE6). I called Dell (my computer maker) and
they said it's definitely a spybot/adware issue, but I've run the most
up to date versions of adaware and spybot search and destroy. I've
also defragged, updated and scanned for viruses and tried to uninstall
IE. I've also taken every program off that I don't absolutely need.
Netscape runs fine, but I hate Netscape.

I've tried to uninstall IE, but it never seems to completely go off.
I've used the Control Panel Add/Remove Windows Components but this
doesn't work. I've tried manually deleting the folder in
WINDOWS/PROGRAMS and the registry keys, but they always come back or
won't let me delete them. I've tried reinstalling IE and first got an
error saying I already had a newer version of IE installed. I fixed
this by modifying the registry key as stated in Microsoft's
KnowledgeBase.

My questions are:
- Does anyone else have this problem ever and how did you fix it?
- How can I fix this?
- How can I completely uninstall IE so I can start from scratch? Dell
seems to think I have a corrupt version of IE.
- Any other suggestions!???

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Request for Question Clarification by hummer-ga on 29 Feb 2004 09:12 PST

Hi newsguy,

Okey dokey, here are a few things to try, the easiest are listed first.

1) In IE6, go to Tools / Internet Options / Advanced / 
Uncheck "Enable third party browser extensions"
Close and re-open IE6.

2) Do you have the Google Toolbar installed? If so...

In IE6, go to Tool / Internet Options / Privacy / Advanced / 
Check "Override automatic cookie handling"
Close and re-open IE6.
-or-
Uninstall Google Toolbar.

3) If you haven't already, run your System File Checker:
Start / Run / type: sfc /scannow

Sorry to say, it isn't possible to uninstall IE - it's integrated with
your OS and many applications.

4) Reinstall IE over your old one - it will overwrite any corrupted file.

Follow the instructions for #3 & #4 at The Elder Geek:
"...first run the System File Checker from Method I, but stop short of
doing any of the upgrade, repair, or reinstall options. If that didn't
solve the problem, I'd go to Method II and reinstall IE6 and OE6."
http://www.theeldergeek.com/repair_reinstall_ie_and_oe_6.htm

5) Have you tried HijackThis? 
http://www.spychecker.com/program/hijackthis.html

After HijackThis makes a log, go to
http://www.spywareinfo.com/forums/
Section: "Spyware and Hijackware Removal"
Click "New Topic" and copy/paste your log into a new message. 

Hopefully, one of those will solve it - let us know how it goes.

Good luck!
hummer

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Clarification of Question by newsguy-ga on 29 Feb 2004 14:30 PST

Neither of these worked.

If you have a question on what all you have installed on your
computer, Belarc has a free for personal use program that says
everything that's installed on your computer - including programs that
are trying to hide from you ;)

http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

So far neither of these have worked.

If push comes to shove you can always wipe your hard drive clean and
reinstall the operating system. I've had to do this once when I tried
to uninstall IE and messed my whole system up.  It is a last resort
ofcourse.  Good luck. Tim