why is there allway 2 processes of ie explorer running on my pc?

Question

there is allways 2 processes of internet explorer running on my computer i dont even know what ie explorer is but if it stands for internet explorer there might be somthing wrong because im not using it i have firefox. i cant stop these when i try to end process it stops then comes back up and both are using 25mb ram which is a lot for somthing i dont want. is there any way i can stop this or find what is opening ie explorer. im not sure if its spyware or adware or anything like that because i have ran a scan with xoft spy se and with windows defender and with norton and they didnt find anything can anyone help me?

Answer 1

If you wish to stop other processes from running try this.
Click on start, run, type the word (msconfig)
and click OK,a screen will appear,
click on services and select only the services you wish to run. alternately you can select the start up menu and cancel programs from running there also.

Answer 2

What other programs do you have running, if any do they use IE as part of their process? Goto task manager and close the the IE instances down, if they pop back up again they are being called by another application, or something using them has set them to restart upon being closed.

Regradless of this I would suggest you download HIJACKTHIS available free from many sites, run it and then post the log on a website where pro's can examine it. Use this query in a search engine to find places to post: " Post your hijack this logs "

Also it might be wise to run Rootkit Revealer (free from Sysinternals) as well and post its log too at the same time as both logs together will provide the person checking them with a lot of information.

NOTE: Ensure you have all visible programs running shutdown, all browsers, chat programs, messegers, etc. Look down by your clock and close all unneeded apps there as well. To get the best effect, unplug your pc from the net and also shutdown AV, antispyware and firewall too before you run them. The less there is open, the less irrelevant info will be logged by both programs.
Good luck.

ps. " Your windows computer uses IE to display your desktop."
That process is explorer .exe not iexplore which the asker is referring to.

Answer 3

don't think ie explorer is internet explorer, when I run IE it runs as iexplorer.exe not ie explorer. explorer is necessary as it runs the desktop.

Try using hijackthis you can download it from http://hijackthis.de when you run it it gives a textfile that you can paste in to the site. This will tell you what malicious processes you have (if any) and indicate what you should disable.

Also go through add/remove programs and remove anything you don't use or recognise

Answer 4

IE Explorer.exe is Internet Explorer. Explorer.exe is your desktop browser. You cannot stop your desktop browser from running otherwise you will not see anything on your desktop. You can stop IE Explorer from running since you do not need it if you are using Firefox. Set Firefox as your default browser, disable everything in IE Explorer properties, stop IE Explorer from Auto starting on boot up. To do this, or to stop any program from auto starting on boot up use a program called "Autoruns" and disable the program you do not wish to auto run on start up. Warning,,, do not stop essential programs that are needed to run your Windows environment. You can get "Autoruns" form :- http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/ProcessesAndThreads/Autoruns.mspx
It is easy to use, just un-check anything you do not want to auto-start on boot up.

Answer 5

Your windows computer uses IE to display your desktop. Thats why you see the process. Kill that process and you will find you no longer have any icons, or anything else, on your desktop.

Answer 6

I just checked and I only have Explore.exe, not Iexplore. I think you may have malware on your pc.

You may need to switch off System Restore as back up files may be hiding in there, and it will just restore itself. Go to Start - programs - accessories - system tools - system restore.
Run your anti virus and anti spyware in Safe Mode. To get into Safe Mode repeatedly press the F8 key after the bios screen loads but before Windows loads. You'll know if you made it because the screen will be at 800 x 600 and your pc will be slow.

Then beef up your security. Its easier to prevent malware getting on to your sytem in the first place rather than trying to remove it. All the following programs are free for home use;

You need to install one firewall.
The Windows firewall doesn't stop malware on your pc from dialling out.
http://www.zonelabs.com Zone Alarm firewall OR
http://www.comodogroup.com/ - Comodo firewall.

You need to install one anti virus;
http://free.grisoft.com/freeweb.php/doc/2/ -AVG anti virus or
http://www.avast.com - Avast Antivirus

You need all three anti spyware programs;
http://www.ewido.net - AVG(Ewido) anti trojan.
http://www.lavasoft.com - Ad-Aware SE Personal anti adware
http://www.safer-networking.org - Spybot Search and Destroy anti spyware. Use the Teatimer settings to protect Internet Explorer, and the Immuniser to stop malware getting on your pc.
Also use Microsoft Defender and their online scans.

And these are useful utilities;
http://www.ccleaner.com Cr*pcleaner Registry cleaner and privacy tool
Winpatrol is a handy utility that manages cookies on your pc and stops unwanted changes to your startup folder.
http://www.winpatrol.com
Spywareblaster works with Internet Explorer and Firefox. It won't uninstall spyware that is already on your pc, but it will prevent hijacks and other malicious changes to your browser.
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com
http://www.siteadvisor.com -MacAffee Site Advisor warns about malware on sites you are about to visit.

http://spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm - The Spyware Warrior site identifies fake anti spyware programs.
https://www.grc.com - Shields Up security site, check your firewall works.

Remember to update and run all of you anti malware programs at least once a week.