Member Avatar for karatelovr

Hi! Not sure if this is a virus issue, but a friend of mine thinks it is so I'm posting to this forum first.

I'm working on a friend's computer now that cannot access secure sites. Any time she goes to log in to secure websites (like her bank, or credit card sites, or student loan sites). She either doesn't see the same screen I do (certain icons are missing, but there's no red "x', just white space, or the whole page is blank, yet the status bar reads "done"). I've checked her security settings and compared them with mine and changed a few things. Got newest version of Java, but still won't work.

She said she had this problem using IE 6.0 so she got the bright idea to check if there is a newer version of IE out there and she found and downloaded 7.0 - which as you know is still in Beta. I would have told her to totally get rid of it and go back to 6.0 but I'm wondering if maybe this would be a good time for a new browser: Mozilla ?

Or does this sound like a virus/spyware thing? I'm confused why it would only effect secure sites if this is the cause.

OS is Windows XP, her isp is Suscom (via cable modem). She has AVG for antivirus, and SpyBot and Adaware.

Thx!

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Member Avatar for DMR

The inability to access secure sites is usually the result of (non-malicious) problems with certain components of IE. Specifically, security-related .dll files become disassociated or "orphaned" in the Windows Registry, leaving IE "confused" as to how to handle secure sites and other authentication issues.

There is a standard fix which reassociates the dlls in question, although I honestly don't know if it works (or if it's even safe to use) with IE7.
As the upgrade to IE7 may just compound the current problem or create new problems, I'd highly suggest rolling back to version 6 before troubleshooting this any further. Performing a major application or OS upgrade (especially to a beta version) on a problematic system isn't really recommended, especially if there's a possibility that malicious infections are involved.

* Have you run any antivirus/antispyware scans yet? If so, which programs did you use, and what exact results did you get?

* If you have not checked for malware yet, this thread has information on, and links to, many of the free detection and removal tools that we recommend and use here.

Member Avatar for karatelovr

Thanks for the information. Yes, AVG runs as well as Spybot and Adaware.

What's the best way to get rid of IE7? Just Add/Remove programs? Then how to download IE6 again? Then, what is the "fix" you meantioned to reassociate the .dll files?

Personally, I just want to blow the whole thing away and start from scratch b/c there are other probs with this computer - but I was always one for extreme measures ;-) But if this is a "simple" fix, I'd love to give it a try (after getting IE6 back of course)

~Kar

Member Avatar for DMR

TRY FOLLOWING THIS LINK TO RESOLVE YOUR ISSUE:

That's the fix. Often just reregistering the dlls with the regservr32 command (as described toward the end of the above link) will do it.

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