How can I get my add-ons back?

[UnSerpentQuiCourt]

Hi. In the last few days, every time I open Internet Explorer, I get a message saying that it is running with add-ons disabled. It then adds, To browse using add-ons, close Internet Explorer and then start it again. I have done this several times, but they do not appear again. I have also gone into internet tools and enabled all the add-ons I could find, but this didn't help either. What can I do??

Any idea how they came to be disabled ?

A lot of nasty software uses Internet Explorer as it has the facility to load BHOs (Browser Helper Objects) each time you start (which means malware is able to use your internet connection, spy on what you type, etc, each time you run MS Internet Explorer...

Do you have an anti-virus application ? Does it have a log of things it found when it last scanned your PC ? Do you recognise any of the names of items it has deleted (because of malware) ?

If you know things are missing, can you not re-visit the websites where you got them ? (Perhaps awkward if you have forgotten the sites, but searching for the name of the toolbar or add-on may help) ? What things do you know you are missing ?

I have no idea how they came to be disabled. One problem I am having is that I can't download things like the new AdobeAcrobat Reader because the activex toolbar is missing and all the website will tell me is that it is missing! I can't get any further with it.

My anti-virus is out of date, but that is provided by my employer and it is very hard to get onto them to do something about it and I am too mean to pay out myself. Could this be linked?

If you can go to the Firefox website and download that browser, you can start from there for checking your system without having problems from Internet Explorer - let's see of that works OK.

If you get Firefox to download, you can start to disinfect your machine in case it has a virus or other malware...

You might first off try visiting the Trend Micro site and use their (PC Doctor) 'housecall' facility.

Then you can download the free version of AVG from Grisoft.com

(On the Grisoft site, just make sure you keep looking for the free version, rather than one of their full package / free trial ones.)

OK, will look at that. Might wait until I have a whole free evening, though; sounds complex! Thank you so much for your advice.

I had this prob at work - googled it and all you have to do is right-click on the icon, select properties and in the target dialog box you will notice at the end that -extoff has been added...just remove this and it should work.

Sorry - really thick - which icon??

Your internet explorer icon (whether it's on your desktop or on your start bar.) Let me know if it works!

I right clicked on the icon, selected 'properties' and got a new window with headings such as general, security, privacy, content, connections, etc. Was this what you meant?

yep, that's the one. I think "target", the one you need to modify, is in the shortcut tab.