IE problems

[daviddferguson]

After much angst, removing two trojans, I still have the problem of IE being launched on its own. Although it doesn't appear as a window it shows up in task manager. I end the process and a few moments later I notice the hour glass and then see it show up in processes. It seems that something has been changed to make my system auto-launch IE. Within Task manager it says that IE had a problem finding a page but that may just be because I've tightened things up in my firewall. This looks like it also launches Winword as well. Where to look and what to change to get this to stop would save me from the
12 gauge/gravity fix!!!

Thanks

[sixf00t4]

first off, no 12 gauges

are you on windows xp? get all the latest critical updates and service packs for windows and IE.

do you have antivirus software like norton running?

[daviddferguson]

First, thanks for the quick response!
I am running XP sp1. Yes, I have the latest Norton AV (2004). I had to use their Wipe function to rid me of the Trojans. Regarding the Winword, that launches when Outlook is launched - not a problem, however, I have notepad as my email editor. Not sure about why it does that. I believe there is still something in my system that is causing IE to auto launch, and it appears that, when it starts, it is looking for a specific web page, since it comes back 'page not found.' I've attempted to isolate services to see if it may be one of them, but not much success. It almost seems like a tainted version of IE is mimicking a normal file that gets run on a regular basis.

Thanks