Problem after XP Update (1 Viewer)

[Parker Clack]

I updated my computer yesterday with the latest from Windows Update and now when I use any type of bookmark in IE I get a popup alert window that states "Windows cannot find ('null'). Please make sure, blah, blah".

I ran Spybot S&D, Adware and Spykiller to see if it found any reminents of some sort of malware but no go. What appears to have happened is that the Windows update Malicious Malware removal tool remove some sort of program but when I use IE it is looking for that file.

I have looked for fixes for this on the net with no real luck with the suggestions offered.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Parker

 

[Mike Fassler]

you probably wont find any fixes except not too use IE, the last batch of windows patches botched things up in IE. you may wanna try using something like firefox until they fix it later.

 

[Parker Clack]

Mike:

That is what I was afraid of. I guess I will have to go with some other browser.

One of the things that I noticed is that the popup comes up with the message. I close that out and I am taken to a blank page. I close that out and I am taken to the page that I started to go to in the first place. So it looks to me like something that would have to do with how IE redirects.

Parker

 

[Chu Gai]

I haven't had such problems Parker. Have you checked your hosts file and examined its contents? Perhaps at one time you were using an 'accelerator'.

 

[Parker Clack]

Chu:

I haven't used any type of 'accelerator', etal on my PC.

What I persoanlly believe is that I had some sort of unknown malware on my system. When I installed the latest security upgrades, etc. from Microsoft the malicious malware remover program took out the malware. Now when I try to open up any other address from the IE address line I get the alert window because the program is still trying to run but cannot find that needed files.

Now I just need to know where in the registry it would be looking in IE to try to run.

 

[Chu Gai]

I don't know if you've used the Google Newsgroups Parker, but you might want to search in there. There are several that actually have Microsoft MVP's and other Microsoft personnel that are pretty good about answering questions. In the meantime, I'd still take a look at the hosts file to see if anything is funny.

 

[Parker Clack]

Chu:

I haven't used the newsgroups for some time. I am sorry but I am not sure what you are referring to here when you say to look at the hosts file. In the registry?

Thanks,
Parker

 

[StevenFC]

He means this file:

C:WINDOWSsystem32driversetchosts

It's just another option for address resolution. It's a good way to stop ads and such by using the loopback address.

It could be that I guess. It's hard to say. You can try a system restore or maybe even a Last Known Good Configuration. I don't think restoring your core system files will help. You could try something like RegSeeker to clean out your registry and see if that helps.

If nothing helps, I would just backup your bookmarks and uninstall and then reinstall IE. There is a way to make IE be listed in your add/remove applet, but I'm tired and it escapes me at the moment.

And maybe even take a look at your settings in the "file types" of the "folder options" under "tools" from a Windows Explorer window and see if it looks ok. Your looking for something like "Internet Shortcut" or such file type. It could possibly have something to do with that.

I hope this helps. That's about as far as my knowledge goes. You might need to ask Microsoft. You just never know with Windows. So many things can go wrong.

Good luck Parker.

 

[Chu Gai]

Just click on Google and choose the groups area. Then you can run a variety of searches, or if you join with an email address, you can post your questions there Parker.

 

[Parker Clack]

Steven:

Thanks for the information. I opened the hosts file and there was only one entry going to the IP address that it should. I opened the "file types" and nothing was out of line there.

I don't have System Restore turned on as I have tried doing a backup with it on another system and it just made matters worse.

Chu:

I tried looking for something having to do with this issue on there and nothing showed up so I will join later and go from there.

 

[Rommel_L]

Parker,

If IE's Malware Removal Tool was activated, it will open a window (the size is a little bigger than CWS) and it will show scanning your hd. You can manually activate this by looking for the file mrt.exe and double-click on it. This is why I don't believe this caused the error.

Do you have the same problem if you manually type the same addresses found in your Bookmarks?

You can try to repair IE using this method.

Last but not least, PLEASE turn on SYSTEM RESTORE. I believe you can spare 12MB of space.

Rommel

 

[Marko Berg]

It's totally a matter of taste whether System Restore is useful. I've taken the same route as Parker -- successfully, I might add -- and certainly don't miss that feature at all.

 

[Kimmo Jaskari]

Try this Google Groups-link. It finds something that looks relevant, haven't gone through the links.

http://groups.google.com/groups?q=Wi...nnot+find+null

Here is a search against Microsoft's knowledge base, may or may not yield anything useful:

http://support.microsoft.com/search/...nnot+find+null

That said, I can heartily recommend dumping IE anyway and going with Opera instead. There's a learning curve, but after a while most people wouldn't go back to IE if they were paid to.

 

[Parker Clack]

Thanks for all the recommends. I tried re-installing IE but it was looking for my XP SP2 disc 2 which I don't have (I am running XP Pro with Media Center 2005).

I read on one of the sites to just reinstall SP2 from the windows update site but I couldn't really figure out how to grab SP2 to reinstall it.

I have been using Firefox, Opera and Netscape for some time it is just bugging me that after I ran the latest upgrade for XP the other day that I started to get the error in IE. I use IE to check this site when I make changes to it along with the other browsers. Since the majority of our users use IE as their browser I have to make sure that everything looks ok with the layout in IE. With this popup alert coming up any time I click on a hyperlink, use a bookmark or a tab in a toolbar it has pretty much made IE useless. I personally believe that the malicious malware removal tool took out some sort of malware and that program is looking for a particular file and can't find it. Hence the popup alert.

Again, thanks for all the suggestions (great sites by the way and I will keep them for future reference too) and I will let you know what happens.

 

[Kimmo Jaskari]

You can always grab the network install package from the Microsoft TechNet site. It's needlessly big, but easy to find...

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...displaylang=en