Re: Off Topic: Online error message

["Robert Holmgren" holmgren@xxxxxxxx]

** Reply to message from BrennerNY@xxxxxxxx on Mon, 7 Nov 2005 16:19:57 EST


> A couple of months ago, I started getting the following error message
> when I open virtually any web page for the first time:
>   ≪Cannot find `SHDOCVwCTl.WebBrowser'. Make sure the path of Internet
> address is correct.≫

I know, first, that this seems to afflict AOL users especially. Check whether
a file called SHDOCVW.DLL is on your C: drive -- in DOS:
 dir c:\shdocvw.dll /s /p
It ought to be in a directory in your DOS Path. SHDocVwCtl.WebBrowser is an
Active X control used by Visual Basic (I think VB6). It causes new windows to
open, and manages them. You *may* have a spyware problem; do you have SpyBot
Search and Destroy (SpyBot S&D -- freeware)? Scan your system with it. Here's
my guess: a third-rate programmer compiled a VB program that opens a new
window and links to a website. But said programmer forget to add a reference
to SHDOCVW.DLL in the Components tab (or he borrowed the code from elsewhere
and didn't know that you have to do that). So even though you may have the DLL
on your system, the executable that is trying to run this Active X control
isn't linked properly.

Now, who but a rank & perhaps malicious novice, or an AOL programmer, would
make such a mistake?

This means that there might be a rogue executable on your system. Run your
anti-virus program. Run SpyBot. If that goes nowhere, you could download
HijackThis from www.merijn.org, run a scan of your system that produces a log
file, then submit the log to one of the online analysis engines, such as
http://www.hijackthis.de/en
or to one of the online forums where pros analyze these logs, endeavoring to
pinpoint programs you've got on your machine that shouldn't be there..

-----------------------------
Robert Holmgren
holmgren@xxxxxxxx
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