Hidden modal box freezes browser

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Guest

I don't know what caused this, but recently Internet Explorer starts up
successfully but a very quick flash of what appears to be a modal dialog box
comes on the screen and appears to be hidden by the browser itself. After
that, the browser is completely unresponsive to mouse clicks and keyboard
input. Only the Task Manager allows me to get rid of the window. I've tried
reinstalling IE, using AdAware and SpyBot to search for malware, ToolbarCop
to disable browser plug ins...no luck. Does anybody know how to install IE in
a "cleaner" way that will not remember my previous installation? Or move or
change the size of a window without using the mouse? (so I can see the modal
box). Or any other ideas?
 
In
JB said:
I don't know what caused this, but recently Internet Explorer starts
up successfully but a very quick flash of what appears to be a modal
dialog box comes on the screen and appears to be hidden by the
browser itself. After that, the browser is completely unresponsive to
mouse clicks and keyboard input. Only the Task Manager allows me to
get rid of the window. I've tried reinstalling IE, using AdAware and
SpyBot to search for malware, ToolbarCop to disable browser plug
ins...no luck. Does anybody know how to install IE in a "cleaner" way
that will not remember my previous installation? Or move or change
the size of a window without using the mouse? (so I can see the modal
box). Or any other ideas?
Click to expand...

Can you Alt-Tab to see if you can bring the window you saw to the front? Do
you have any new instance showing down in your task bar that you can fight
click on to find what is popping up along with IE?
 
Thank you for responding....no, alt-tab takes me to other windows but not to
the box that I assume is lurking behind IE. Process manager shows two new
processes: IEXPLORE.EXE and inetinfo.exe, but only one new task.

I should mention that the Discussions toolbar is now visible and wasn't
before. I suspect the problem is related and that turning off the toolbar
might fix things, but unfortunately the browser is unresponsive to any
clicks, of course. Task manager will not let me kill the inetserv.exe process.

This last information about inetserv.exe is new as I discovered it in
writing this post. I'm going to do some more hunting around the discussion
groups for information about this process (it appears to have come from a
Microsoft service pack), but of course anything additional suggestions would
be welcome.
 
In
JB said:
Thank you for responding....no, alt-tab takes me to other windows but
not to the box that I assume is lurking behind IE. Process manager
shows two new processes: IEXPLORE.EXE and inetinfo.exe, but only one
new task.

I should mention that the Discussions toolbar is now visible and
wasn't before. I suspect the problem is related and that turning off
the toolbar might fix things, but unfortunately the browser is
unresponsive to any clicks, of course. Task manager will not let me
kill the inetserv.exe process.

This last information about inetserv.exe is new as I discovered it in
writing this post. I'm going to do some more hunting around the
discussion groups for information about this process (it appears to
have come from a Microsoft service pack), but of course anything
additional suggestions would be welcome.
Click to expand...

IF I am not mistaken, inetserv.exe is a trojan.
http://vil.nai.com/vil/content/Print99529.htm
http://lex.tamucc.edu/wiki/IT/BackdoorSua?action=edit
 
Turns out that inetserv.exe is from IIS; I stopped the IIS service and it no
longer comes up. Task manager lets you cascade and tile windows and I was
able to do so until I saw that the pop up is a window asking me to select a
discussion server to attach to. That window doesn't respond, either, though.
I've started another thread asking if anybody knows how to turn off the
discussion feature without using the IE UI.
 
In
JB said:
Turns out that inetserv.exe is from IIS; I stopped the IIS service
and it no longer comes up. Task manager lets you cascade and tile
windows and I was able to do so until I saw that the pop up is a
window asking me to select a discussion server to attach to. That
window doesn't respond, either, though. I've started another thread
asking if anybody knows how to turn off the discussion feature
without using the IE UI.
Click to expand...

I still think you have a Trojan. *inetserv.exe* is for InnocentChat - which
is where this window you see prompting for the discussion server is coming
from. I could be wrong, but I think you are walking around the edge of a
problem trying various quick fixes. Did you check the links I sent you?
 
Yes, I did check them out. I'll download some more malware detectors and see
what they find. Meanwhile, another thread suggested ALT-SHIFT-M to move a
window (because it won't let me click on it) and with that I was able to give
focus to the "select discussion server" window, click cancel there, and my
browser's back in business. Thanks so much for your help.
 
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