strange dos screen

[tophatter]

Everytime i open internet explorer a black dos style window opens for a fraction of a second and then closes. It on the screen for so short a space of time i cant read what the title of it is fully but it is like a file name. Do you think this is anything to worry about?

[GlosRFC]

It sounds suspicious enough to me that I'd want to run an AV scan as something is clearly hijacking your IE process

[Win2Win]

You haven't picked up this new virus that is causing major hassle, kicked in midnight last night. The coastguard has gone down, and numerous other companies. XP & 2000 only.

[tophatter]

done an anti virus scan and no probs found. It dont stop me doing anything but with computers im a novice and a bit paranoid. As long as no one can see all my passwords and files im ok with it because although i do a lot of banking and finances online im still a little bit wary

[TheOldhamWhisper]

Make sure you have the latest virus defs and also run adaware.

[tophatter]

Ive fixed it! Basically had to clog my computer up to slow it down to a crawl so the box didnt dissapear in a flash so i could read what it said. After about a million go's i made out the word SURFAI in title. After a bit of googling i find some people unfortunate soul had a similar problem months ago. It turns out the program is SURFAIRY which was on my computer when i bought it, it is one of those annoying browers add ons. I had told IE to ignore it but obviously the file was still on system and for some reason was playing up. Followed the instructions someone had given this girl who had same problem and have managed to uninstall it. Hopefully problem is solved now!
Reckon i might make a techie yet!

All the best

Tophatter

[bigcumba]

Ah, if I'd known it was that sort of thing I could have pointed you at a wee program that lets you disable these sort of add ons - it's called BHO Demon (BHO is browser helper objects) - some of these are very dodgy and difficult to get rid of.

[kieron]

I Concur

[Win2Win]

You can also get a free program called "STARTUP CP" (use Google). This allows you to easily control all background software on boot up, so your not loading crap. Very useful.