Internet explorer opens involuntarily

fatlander · 12-09-2005, 01:24

Hi All
I've stumbled upon a prob i cannt figure out.
I've bought a new pc for my mom its ATHLON64 with GIGABYTE board,
Every now and then upon pressing a key on a keyboard, an internet explorer window opens.

Besides WinXP i've installed only the usual office programs, i did however connected it to the internet for updates.
it has a Kaspersky antivirus/ I have done a few virus checks, cheked the registry, the startup and so on,
I dont suppose its a virus, so i am quite at a loss here.

IndyGunFreak · 12-09-2005, 01:48

Quote:

Originally posted by fatlander
Hi All
I've stumbled upon a prob i cannt figure out.
I've bought a new pc for my mom its ATHLON64 with GIGABYTE board,
Every now and then upon pressing a key on a keyboard, an internet explorer window opens.

Besides WinXP i've installed only the usual office programs, i did however connected it to the internet for updates.
it has a Kaspersky antivirus/ I have done a few virus checks, cheked the registry, the startup and so on,
I dont suppose its a virus, so i am quite at a loss here.

What key is causing this? What type of PC? What type of keyboard? Since you know its a gigabyte main board, I presume it is likely a custom built PC.

Go to the control panel, and check the keyboard settings. Make sure no hot keys are enabled, etc. that might cause this.

If thats no dice, Check the Device Mgr, and see what type of keyboard it is. If it says something other than Standard 101/102 Keyboard(for instance, if it gives a model, like "Logitech Keyboard", etc,) its possible that a software program was installed for the keyboard, and it has a keyboard short cut for opening Internet Explorer that was enabled. You can then uninstall the keyboard software,remove device from device mgr, and reboot. Windows should recognize it as a "generic" keyboard upon restart.

I'm leaning towards it being some type of software shortcut that was installed by the maker of the keyboard..

IGF

fatlander · 12-09-2005, 01:59

What's puzzling is that its not the same key, each time.
The keyboard is some noname brand, it has its own drivers, but installing it doesnt help.

the "\" key seems to cause this more often then others.
Here's the full hardware list

CPU: AMD Athlon64 939 pins
MB: GA-K8N51GMG-9
Keyboard: some AT compatible "Multimedia Keyboard"

aspartz · 12-09-2005, 12:26

HAve you run AdAware or M$ AntiSpyware?

You don't mention where the explorer window is going -- URL wise. If it's going to random commercial sites...

ARS

fatlander · 12-09-2005, 13:03

It always opens the home page.
I havent run any adaware/antispyware programs cause i had an antivirus installed and i only installed standart well proven programs

DeadMansLife · 12-09-2005, 13:09

Run Adaware and Spybot.

Washington,D.C. · 12-09-2005, 19:24

Ewido anti spyware program is one of the best.

Download here

http://download.ewido.net/ewido-setup.exe

After installing it may run and scan once on it's own.Restart your PC and click the Ewido icon,download the updates and do a complete sytem scan.

fatlander · 12-10-2005, 04:26

none of this helped,
i cannot repeat the problem it appears randomly

someone told me its a malware, but i've ran almost every antispyware program on the market.

could it be a keyboard or a MB hardware malfunction?

***HAVOC*** · 12-10-2005, 05:50

Could it be hardware? Yes. Could it be a glitch in the OS? Yes. Are those the most likely possibilities? Not really.

There's no shortcut I know of to open an IE window with the keyboard that the system might think it's getting.

Does it ever do it on it's own, or ONLY when you push a key?

You can use a new keyboard to see if that's the problem. Not expensive.

You can try swapping it to a USB port if it's connected to PS/2 or vice-versa (assuming it goes both ways, a majority do these days).

Much of the scanning software out there can't find malware that's managed to "rootkit" your pc. This is a system for actively hiding files from Windows.

http://www.sysinternals.com/utilitie...trevealer.html can find such malware. It's a pretty geeky operation, and the results aren't always easy to interpret. A hit in RKR doesn't mean you have malware, just that there are files that have been specifically hidden from Windows. Anti virus software tends to do this so it's harder for virii to hunt it down and damage it.

Also, check in you hosts file. It's located in C:\windows\system32\drivers\etc You can open it with notepad. If you haven't been playing with it, it should have some comments at the top, prefaced per line with a #, and at the bottom, a single entry that says

127.0.0.1 localhost

If there are any entries besides that one that you didn't put there, you've been infected with some strain of adware.

fatlander · 12-10-2005, 06:35

Thanx for all the suggestions,
I've found that it doesnt open specificaly IE rather the default browser.
I've switched the keyboards between two pc, and hasnt recreated the problem, i'm going to return the keyboard and hope it was the culprit
--------
edited to say: it was infact the keyboards fault.
for the reference it was a "HARMA" multimedia keyboard. (as if any of you would actualy buy this shiat)