• 3 iexplore.exe in task manager processes

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    WSkckazoo
    AskWoody Lounger
    February 21, 2010 at 9:45 am #466851

    Hi- thanks for looking and possibly helping. I recently installed IE8 under duress and have been using IE6 for years with no troubles but……
    My OS is WinXPSP2 — I am on dial up with no alternative at the moment
    I had to use the connection wizard to set up a new connection after installing IE8 and now it connects without me being around. I disconnect and can and do make phone calls but sometime later I will come back and find the computer connected itself to the internet. Is it possessed or what? Someone suggested I look at Task Manager and that’s when I found 3 iexplore.exe and wondered if that had anything to do with anything and should 3 be there anyway. The person who suggested never got back to me.
    My firewall is in place as well as antivirus and malware programs. I have run them and found nothing to date. I never mess with my firewall settings because admitedly I am not sure about all of them.
    Thank you for your time and help. KC

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    • WSjockmullin
      AskWoody Lounger
      February 21, 2010 at 11:20 am #1210476

      Hi Karen

      Are you SURE those are all iexplore.exe and not explorer.exe? Windows explorer does a lot of things, including displaying the desktop, so it is normal to have at least 1 explorer.exe running. When I start IE8 (which is rarely) I get two iexplorer.exe processes in task manager, so I guess that is normal.

      Regarding your ghost dialups – in IE8 click on tools/internet options and click on the connection tab.
      In there make sure “Never dial a connection” is selected.

      This means when you want to access the internet you will have to manually connect first, but that is likely what you want.

      Jock

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    • joep517
      AskWoody MVP
      February 21, 2010 at 4:03 pm #1210514

      I had to use the connection wizard to set up a new connection after installing IE8 and now it connects without me being around. I disconnect and can and do make phone calls but sometime later I will come back and find the computer connected itself to the internet. Is it possessed or what?

      In IE go to Tools | Internet Options | Connections. Then select “Never dial a connection”.

      Having more than one instance of Iexplore.exe active is normal. You will always have at least two instances. One for handling common activities and controlling tabs. Then one for each tab you have open.

      Joe

      --Joe

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    • WSkckazoo
      AskWoody Lounger
      February 21, 2010 at 4:35 pm #1210519

      Thanks to both of you – I will go into Tools and give that a try – don’t know why I didn’t think of it

      RE: iexplore.exe – there are 3 and one (1) explorer.exe – I had IE8 open with 2 tabs being used which is why I wondered why 3 iexplore.exe but now that seems reasonable

      Thanks for the education – Karen

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      • WSskysoljr82
        AskWoody Lounger
        February 27, 2010 at 7:11 am #1211326

        Thanks to both of you – I will go into Tools and give that a try – don’t know why I didn’t think of it

        RE: iexplore.exe – there are 3 and one (1) explorer.exe – I had IE8 open with 2 tabs being used which is why I wondered why 3 iexplore.exe but now that seems reasonable

        Thanks for the education – Karen

        I’m having the exact same problem with my pc. My wife uses IE8 and I use Firefox. After closing IE8, and starting Firefox, it takes a gawdawful long time to load. I checked to see what processes were running and saw 3 instances of iexplorer.exe were running. I would end all 3 processes and firefox would load more quickly. When she would restart IE8, the “Restore crashed session” dialogue window would pop up. It’s now become my habit to Ctrl, Alt, Del and close at least 2, but more often, 3 instances of iexplorer.exe before I open firefox.. I’m using a cable connection with XP SP3, firewall, antivirus, and spyware detection all active. I’ve checked the Internet Options>Advanced tab and found nothing that would indicate that IE8 should remain open/running. I’ve run spyware scans, virus scans, everything my not-so-nimble mind can think of, and there doesn’t seem to be any problems beyond these multiple instances of iexplorer.exe continually running. Does anybody out here know what might be causing this???
        Rich

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    • Paul T
      AskWoody MVP
      February 28, 2010 at 1:24 am #1211398

      You have multiple copies because your wife open multiple copies.
      Instead of ending the tasks you would be better off closing the windows properly.

      cheers, Paul

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      • WSskysoljr82
        AskWoody Lounger
        February 28, 2010 at 10:02 am #1211423

        You have multiple copies because your wife open multiple copies.
        Instead of ending the tasks you would be better off closing the windows properly.

        cheers, Paul

        I’m not sure I understand what you mean when you say to close the windows properly. It’s my habit to close Firefox with File>Exit. I’m not entirely sure how she closes IE8. Should she use the same method? When I open my browser, there’s nothing to indicate that IE8 is or has been running. I DO know that when I run Spybot S&D, it tells me to close internet explorer before continuing, but there’s nothing to indicate that it’s running without opening task manager. Nothing in the “Applications” tab but the processes tab shows iexplorer is running. If it IS just a matter of closing it with the File>Exit menu, then I’ll ask her nicely to do that and see if that helps. Thanks for the reply!!

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        • joep517
          AskWoody MVP
          February 28, 2010 at 1:02 pm #1211442

          It’s my habit to close Firefox with File>Exit. I’m not entirely sure how she closes IE8. Should she use the same method? When I open my browser, there’s nothing to indicate that IE8 is or has been running. I

          Often when the UI component of a program such as IE closes but processes remain running that means some addon is waiting for a reply or network activity. Try running IE8 with addons disabled.

          Joe

          --Joe

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    • WSIainNIX
      AskWoody Lounger
      March 1, 2010 at 6:04 am #1211502

      IE8 does seem to have an issue with MS Security Essentials and certain AV products, check if you have MSSE installed, and if so try removing the real-time scan (it will freak out and go red to warn) but then try IE8, and see if its more responsive to loading sites — if not it will normally take 60sec or more to display a website. If this is the case, you can either remove MSSE and revert back to Windows Defender, or change your AV package (unless they intend to release a patch).

      as for having more than one, it maybe related to the amount of tabs, but shouldn’t – under Win 7, i always get 2 x iexplorer.exe’s when running one session and one tab. I rarely use IE anyway.

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