Member Avatar for grandpaboo

Every time I close Internet Explorer, I get an error message stating the the system had to close IE to protect my computer. This happens every time. What may be causing this?

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by CassandraIETeam

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As reported by , repeated IE shutdowns with a message that the system closed Internet Explorer to protect the computer are usually the OS reacting to a crash or an incompatible component. and are on the right track: add-ons are a common culprit, but if disabling them did not fix the problem, deeper diagnostics will identify whether the fault lies in a third‑party DLL, a corrupted IE component, a driver, or system-level interference.

Key, practical diagnostics and next steps:

  • Check the Windows Application log in Event Viewer for the crash time. Note the Faulting Application, Faulting Module and Exception Code — the module name (a DLL) is the most useful clue about which vendor or component caused the termination.
  • If the faulting module is a third‑party DLL, update or remove the associated program; use Autoruns (Sysinternals) to review BHOs, toolbars and IE helper objects.
  • If the faulting module is an IE system DLL (for example ieframe.dll or mshtml.dll), run an elevated System File Checker (sfc /scannow) and install all pending Windows/IE updates.
  • Test with a clean boot and a new Windows user profile to isolate system- or profile-specific problems. Disable GPU hardware acceleration (as a test) to rule out graphics driver issues. Run a current anti-malware scan to exclude infection.

For advanced troubleshooting, enable Windows Error Reporting local dumps for iexplore.exe to capture a crash dump and analyze it with Debugging Tools for Windows; create a system restore point and back up the registry before changing system settings. If repeatedly encountering a crash message that protects the system, prioritize Event Viewer entries and the Faulting Module name — those two pieces of data will usually point to either a third‑party add-on or a core IE/OS issue that can be fixed with an update, SFC, or uninstalling the offending software.

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Member Avatar for happyguy142

there are a lot of things that can be causing this. But primarily it's probably just some addon that's not closing properly. Can you run hijackthis and post the log?

Member Avatar for CassandraIETeam

Hello grandpaboo,

You can find out if this error is caused by an add-on by running IE8 in No Add-on mode. To do so: Go to Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Internet Explorer (No Add-ons).

If this fixes the issue, then go to Tools -> Manage Add-ons and enable the add-ons one by one to find which one was causing the problem.

Hope this helps! If this doesn't seem to be to root of the problem, let us know and we'll try something else :)

Cheers,
Cassandra
IE Outreach Team

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