My Internet Explorer keeps starting up on its own. I think?
 

For the last few days I've been randomly getting the standard IE popup asking me if I want to set Internet Explorer as my standard browser. I haven't actually used IE in all that time, I'm using Firefox, and I've set Firefox as my standard browser. The popup disappears on its own after a few seconds, after which IE doesn't actually start up proper like I'd have expected. In addition, if I start up IE I get no such popup, again against my expectations. I can't remember changing any settings in IE or Firefox, so I guess something just randomly started to keep triggering the part of IE that checks for standard browser settings? But why? And more importantly how do I make it stop because it's getting seriously annoying.

Random info:

- the process shows up as IEXPLORE.EXE in the task manager, only found one file by that name in my system and that's the browser
- I ran two in-depth malware scans with different scanners (Malwarebyte's Anti-Malware and Spybot S&D), nothing came up; well, I removed what little came up and the popup still happens
- there's the usual checkbox to enable/disable the standard browser check on startup, unchecking it makes the popup go away but the process still keeps starting up

it's still most likely to be some sort of virus... i would suggest the combo

Spybot
CCleaner
Advanced WindowsCare V2
Mv RegClean

All good, all free, all safe.

If after that purge the problem persists, then, i would belive it to be some windows fluke. It might just be better to remove and reinstall Internet Explorer

Try complete uninstalling IE (If at all possible)?

-Edit
Feckin' post ninjas :P

It's unlikely, but some programs that access the internet in some way actually use an embedded version of IE to do so. Steam is a good example. Is it possible you have a program running in the background which makes regular internet checks for whatever reason, and the embedded IE is triggering the effects you speak of?

First off, you can't get rid of Explorer without removing copious chunks of the Windows architecture, so that idea is pretty much out the window.

I use AVG, myself. I find it picks up a lot of crap other programs don't, and it has a free version that's really all you need. Try downloading that and running it to see if it picks up stuff the others didn't.

Edit: Also, having it in all caps might indicate an issue. For the most part, Windows processes are in lowercase and I think Explorer is one of them that follows that.

Edit^2: Try clearing your cache and stuff. It might be something stuck in there, as well.

That's what I was thinking, but it would have to be something I was unaware of up to the point where this all started, or something new and unwanted. Anyway - I've been sitting here for two hours with no popup, and yesterday it would come up every ten minutes, so I assume whatever it was went away on its own. Strange, since I again did nothing at all. Thanks anyway - I'll try and look into those free security programs, too. Pretty sure my registry does need to be cleaned.

Yeah, it takes to the TM as "explorer.exe" and "iexplorer.exe" without capital letters normally. Interestingly, MS Office apps seem to enjoy capital letters.

I'd be interested to see the result while in Safe Mode. It'll likely be the same, but that'd give you a better chance at finding a hidden file.

Have you hired a medium yet? Now might be the time to find out if your PC is going to end up on Ghost Hunters.

I guess if all else fails you're just going to have to keep tabs on every process you run, then see if any of them trigger the popup.

Your computer is made out of magic.

it could be hidden malware. WHAT I WOULD DO:

Once it pops up, get a task manager (like from on Tuneup Utilities) and go to "open files" tab from it. Find all files being associated with IE and analyze everyone of them. You could send me the list, or send me a list by using HiJackThis. Both are efficient and I normally can tell of a hidden malware attached itself to IE, services, startup, etc.

You can try repairing your OS by using the run command: "sfc /scannnow" with your OS disk incase it MIGHT be an OS fault. the SFC command will repair any corrupt windows files.

But if IE keeps popping up like that there is a good chance malware is doing it. Try disabling the default check from IE and see what comes up as a popup as viruses LOVE sneaking through IE... risky, but you can then identify your issue.

I have more suggestions, but try those first. :p