cmd window pops up randomly when browsing in IE

[Sir Fredrick]

Hi, I'm using my parent's computer, which is running Win2k, and I am noticing some odd behavior in IE. Sometimes when I click on a link, or even type in an address in the address bar (but only sometimes...not every time), a cmd window pops up very briefly and then disappears...there's no output on the screen that I can see, although it goes away pretty quickly, so I can't be sure of that.

They used to have CometCursor on here, but I removed that thinking that was causing the problem, but it wasn't...so I'm at a loss. Doesn't seem to be a virus, we're using AVG 6.0 with the latest updates.

 

[stingray2]

it might be that when you visit a web page, it might contain stuff that your current browser can not display, so IE goes out and get the plug-in and installs it. and that might the window you see flash on then off, the install of the plug in or program? anyone else?

 

[Sir Fredrick]

I don't think that's it, the window pops up even when I'm just browsing anandtech.

 

[Sir Fredrick]

^

 

[bunker]

Throw Zone Alarm on there and see if it picks up anything. Could be a trojan that AVG can't get.

 

[Sir Fredrick]

ZA didn't catch anything either. 🙁

 

[Logix]

That's a really wierd problem. Windows sometimes accesses the command prompt when it's installing a program or cleaning up the temporary files after installation. I have no idea why it would be doing that constantly, though. Maybe it's something left over from a botched installation.

 

[Sir Fredrick]

Seems to have been some nasty spyware running on my computer. I ran LavaSoft Ad-Aware, and haven't seen the command window yet.