Virus?? Multiple IE windows opening...

[Shellkat]

Hi,
I've googled this a few times to try to work out what the problem is, but dont seem to be able to get anywhere.
My computer will be happily plodding along (with IE open), then all of a sudden the wireless will drop out and about 40 new IE windows open up. They open faster than I can close them. If I CTRL + ALT + DEL and look at the processes, iexplorer.exe is working like mad. I can shut it down from there & it will stop it. It has also started up at least once, after Ive shut IE down - maybe it had already started working before I closed it...dont know.
It doesnt seem to be harmful, but its friggin annoying.
When I have googled it, Ive found comments from other people on forum boards, saying they have the same issue, but no one seems to be able to tell them what it is. I've tried a few different (albeit free) virus programs (Avira, AVG, Spybot).
Has anyone had anything like this happen before? Any suggestions as to what it might be or how to fix it?
Thanks
S

[perdition]

what do the ie pages open up to ??? - your home page or something else ???

try malwarebytes anti-malware , its another freebie and it seems quite good

[Shellkat]

They just open up to an error screen (just the standard one you get when you open IE but you're not connected).

[Aphex]

Less porn. That'll solve the issue.

[Murley]

Does the same thing happen with a good browser?

[Church]

Does the same thing happen with a good browser?

Bravo!

[Shellkat]

Thanks Perdition. The rest of you...bite me!

[Aphex]

Ew... sour...

[Dyno]

I had this exact same problem after a fresh install. And for the life of me I can't remember what it was.
It wasn't a virus or any kind of malware. I'll search for my old post.

edit:
ok my problem was vista and IE7. I installed IE8 and the problem went away.

[Shellkat]

Thanks Dyno. Will try that.

[Desmo]

This your work or home machine?

[Shellkat]

My laptop at home. Totally covered against everything by Hell, so if I cant fix it I'll run the car over it.

[Desmo]

Ew... sour...

[zed7fiddy]

Yeh IE7 and vista have issues, I would recommend downloading and using firefox 3.... if not run a spyware scan (or immunise using something like spybot search & destroy) because it could be either... I've come accross something like that a couple of times, once was vista, the other spyware so yeh.