IE8 stopped working, but Firefox works

I've been using Windows 7 for about 4 months without a problem. Suddenly, IE8 will not display any web page, but Foxfire 3.5.8 continues to work as before. The diagnostic message on IE is: "the remote device or resource won't accept the connection". I have the same problem when trying Safari, Chrome, & Opera.

Just before I became aware of the problem, I apparently had a virus-originated message disguised as an anti-virus tool. It claimed to be scanning for viruses. I tried to shut it down with Task Manager, but the Task Manager kept disappearing, so I powered the computer down. After restarting, I did a Norton Internet Security scan, which showed only a tracking cookie. The following day, though, Norton quarantined Trojan.FakeAV, which, according to Symantec's description, displays false antivirus alerts and lowers security settings on compromised computers.
Since I still have Firefox and Thunderbird, the problem is probably with settings on the other browsers, but I have no idea where to look.

Ed

I'd use an antimalware product to clean your system; just an antivirus isn't sufficient in this case.

Hi EdBerl - Welcome to w7forums

After you have removed all the malware and if IE8 still doesn't load a page, you might try restoring to default settings. However I don't see how that will fix the other browsers. Hopefully Core's suggestion will fix everything. Good luck virus hunting.

Another thought would be to do a system restore point. This should fix all the browsers and then you can run the cleaners to find the virus.

EdBerl, welcome to the forum! The above answers should get you going, but you need a malware scanner installed to use on a regular basis. Malwarebytes is good, they have a free one. Just be sure to update it before you do a scan. You should do this once weekly. Also, you get a free tool downloaded to you every month to find malicious software. It runs automatically, but you can run it manually, too. Click Start, type "mrt" w/o the quotes, you'll see the program. Do a full scan with this. There's also Windows Live Safety Scanner, a free program from Microsoft. There's a Windows 7/Vista and a XP & below scanner to choose from. While you're scanning with this, you can use your computer. After the scan is complete, it will give you a detailed list of anything that it finds, any open ports, whether you need to defrag, etc. These all are good tools, but they don't take the place of a quality AV. You may need to set your protection levels to maximum levels within all categories. Prevention is always better than cure. Hopefully all of the above suggestions will give you some idea of what you need to do. Windows 7 is a great OS, but like a car, you must maintain it in order to run smoothly. Best of luck to you, EdBerl, and should you have further questions or need assistance, feel free to post back anytime.

This has been an education and I thank you all . . . But nothing has changed. I downloaded Malwarebytes, which has a date of 1/7/10, but I was unable to update it; error code 732 (12029, 0). Still, I ran it (after backing up my registry) & had 234 objects quarantined or deleted. Still could not get a web site on IE or the other browsers I had mentioned. I tried several restores, but they all failed: "An unspecified error occurred during System Restore. (0x80070057)" The message also recommended running a restore after doing chkdsk /R , but I couldn't figure out how to do that. I recognize that as a DOS command, but don't know how to get to DOS. I have my doubts whether the problem is a corrupted disk, anyway. Why should Firefox continue to work, but none of the other browsers?

EdBerl

Ed here's the answer to the "Restore errors":
You said you're running Norton Internet Security.......Norton has an "anti product tampering" setting that is preventing you from doing a System Restore.

Go into Norton's settings, if you have Norton 2010, click Miscellaneous Settings > Product Security, then turn off Norton Product Tamper Protection.

If you have an older version of NIS, it still has this self protection / anti product tampering setting but it will still be called something similar so you can recognize it. It may call it PROTECT NORTON or something like that. When you start a restore, Norton thinks someone is tampering with your antivirus so it shuts down the restore.

Just shut off the self protection / anti tamper protection option in Norton Settings and then do your System Restore. Let us know how you do.

Thanks, DallasDad. Again, I'm learning, but still no fix. I turned off Norton's Tamper Protection, and the Restore took longer, suggesting it was going through a longer process, followed by a message that Restore was complete. But when Windows rebooted, I received the following:

"System Restore did not complete successfully. Your computer's system files and settings were not changed. System Restore failed to extract the file (C:\Program Files (x86)\iTunes\iTunes.Resources\pl.lproj\iTunesLocalized.dll) from the restore point. The restore point was damaged or was deleted during the restore."

I tried again, from an earlier restore point, and after Windows rebooted received a message that makes no sense:"Windows has recovered from an unexpected shutdown. A problem caused Windows to stop working correctly."

I also used RevoUninstaller to uninstall Opera, one of the browsers that had given a message: "Could not connect to proxy server. Access denied."
I then reinstalled Opera, but received the same message. Does this help? Is there a way to focus in on the proxy server, whatever that is?

Ed

Ed if it was me, I'd be really tempted to just do a full System Recovery or reinstall the operating system. For future reference, remember that tip about the Norton anti tamper setting because the tip is good, but something else is still preventing the restore.

Personally I think a full System Recovery would be less work than you've already done, and then the problem will be solved. Do you have Recovery Disks or a Recovery Partition?

Don't forget, with a full recovery you will lose your files if you don't have them backed up.

Are you able to access the Task Manager now?

It might come to that. The data's backed up on Mozy, but I don't like the idea of re-installing all my programs. I was thinking of examining the Processes running in the Task Manager. I can always stop something from running & see what happens without doing permanent damage. In the meantime, I still have my email & Internet via Firefox.