IE7 Strange behavior after recient Windows Updates

I have a number of remote laptop users that are experiencing the same
problems with IE7 in the past week.
Specs: Windows XP SP3, Lenovo Thinkpad T60 laptops.
Problem: They first notice a problem with Javascript. When they try to
access a secure website that requires a login they see a prompt that tells
them java needs to be enabled. They check on this and it is enabled. Then
they notice that Windows Media Player has stopped working and they are not
able to print from the internet or from e-mail messages that have html
content. They tried to run system restore and cannot load the system restore
page. I've had them uninstall the KB942615 security patch, reinstall windows
media player and the printer drivers. They could not get to the sites to
download so I had them install FireFox305. They were able to launch the sites
in FF305 so they downloaded as instructed but it did not fix the problems in
IE7. One of the users mentioned that Malwarebytes found and deleted three
instances of the Vundo.Trojan before he noticed all of this happening. I'm
not sure if this is the root cause or a side problem. The other users did not
mention Malwarebytes finding any problems on their systems. I have the same
laptop and install and I'm not able to recreate the problem.
Thank you for your help. I'm afraid a rebuild is my only option. Hopefully
you can set me on a better path.

[Crossposted to Windows Update newsgroup]

Sounds like you may have a hijackware problem on these machines *and* your
network, especially if KB942615 (December *2007*) is the most-recently
installed Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer!

See http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/s.../dd452420.aspx

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MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Desktop Experience - since 2002
AumHa VSOP & Admin http://aumha.net
DTS-L http://dts-l.net/

Dawn wrote:
> I have a number of remote laptop users that are experiencing the same
> problems with IE7 in the past week.
> Specs: Windows XP SP3, Lenovo Thinkpad T60 laptops.
> Problem: They first notice a problem with Javascript. When they try to
> access a secure website that requires a login they see a prompt that tells
> them java needs to be enabled. They check on this and it is enabled. Then
> they notice that Windows Media Player has stopped working and they are not
> able to print from the internet or from e-mail messages that have html
> content. They tried to run system restore and cannot load the system
> restore
> page. I've had them uninstall the KB942615 security patch, reinstall
> windows
> media player and the printer drivers. They could not get to the sites to
> download so I had them install FireFox305. They were able to launch the
> sites in FF305 so they downloaded as instructed but it did not fix the
> problems in IE7. One of the users mentioned that Malwarebytes found and
> deleted three instances of the Vundo.Trojan before he noticed all of this
> happening. I'm not sure if this is the root cause or a side problem. The
> other users did not mention Malwarebytes finding any problems on their
> systems. I have the same laptop and install and I'm not able to recreate
> the problem.
> Thank you for your help. I'm afraid a rebuild is my only option. Hopefully
> you can set me on a better path.

I am experiencing the EXACT same annoying behavior and problems since
the last update!

All kind of sites suddenly yelling at me, that I should enable
JavaScript (though of course I have), all kind of pages containing media
files (mpeg, swf/flash, etc.) that do not ite work properly (from pages
just missing the media content to completely "white" pages to even 404 -
file not found pages) or in the case of flash - telling me to install
flash - which I have (and the Adobr flash demos are working fine), etc.
etc. LOTS of weirdoes!

I have started to use Google's Chrome (and occasionally FF) on such
sites, since they for some reason do not show these problems (but -
alas - occasionally others...).

Michael