IE6 SP1 not going to links, not searching

[Manoire]

Here is a list of my problems with IE:
* I cannot search on search engines (I can get there, but when i enter the text it will not process the search)
* IE6 will not open all links, some will go, but then it gets into a loop where it tries to open the page (it flips between "Done" and "Opening web site ...." over and over and never gets there)
*Downloads do not work, it just sits there when you try to do a download.
* Changing Options, Internet Settings it does not retain the changes.

Here is the history of the issue:
I think it is possible that some IE registry entries that were needed.
I have removed and reinstalled IE6, but it has not fixed the problem.

Any ideas? Please please help.

[DMR]

Have you checked for "spyware" infections? If not, have a read through the threads in our Security forum for information on how to detect and remove these malicious programs; they can cause some very "interesting" problems with Internet Explorer.

If you do find that you have spyware issues, please start a new thread in the Security forum describing what you've found; Security is the only forum in which we deal with resolving virus/spyware/adware/etc. problems.

[antioed]

Have you cleared the Temporary Internet Files? In Internet Explorer:
Tools-->Internet Options-->Delete Files

...you probably already did that but I just wanted to double check.

* Changing Options, Internet Settings it does not retain the changes.

...I think I've seen that before and if I remember correctly it was a problem with the profile. You might want to try creating another account and see if it will save Internet Option settings, if that fixes it you could just re-create the profile.

[Manoire]

==>Temporary Internet Files In Internet Explorer:
yes, had cleared them, history, cookies, offline files, yadda, yadda.

But you are a guru! I am impressed! The problem was in fact with the Profile - My local Administrator profile. I logged in with a different account and lo and behold, everything worked!

Can I delete the local administrator profile without causing too many problems?

Manoire

[Manoire]

Hello dear Wombat:

the first thing I had checked was for spyware/adware, viruses - recently I have seen so much of that being problems. In this case we did originally have spyware problems which I cleaned up. But somehow in the process this problem popped up.

Glad to have moved forward with the discovery that it is a corrupted profile. I now would like to clean up my Local Administrator profile, by purging it and recreating it. Is that a good idea?

cheers!
Manoire