Problem with History

[Huh?]

I have no idea how this happened but I just noticed that now when I click on history, something has changed. When I used to use it, I'd click on it and in the left side of the screen would appear a drop down list of all the sites I had visited that day. Now when I click on it, the only thing that appears in the drop down list is two folders. One labeled History and the other labeled Nxaogrgi. When I click on either one of these folders, I then get a drop down folder that is labeled Today but when I click on the Today folder, I get nothing. What happend to my normal History with it's list of sites visited? How do I get it back?

[GaryRouth]

Most likely unfriendly spyware has made a mess of things. Try a full system virus scan, plus a spware scan. If you currently have none of these tools, here are some popular tools that have "free-for-personal-use" versions:
_____________________________
AVG AntiVirus
http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_index.php
Avast AntiVirus
http://www.avast.com
AdAware
http://www.lavasoft.de
SpyBot Search&Destroy
http://spybot.safer-networking.de/
_______________________________

If history is still misbehaving after removing any unwanted guests, try a repair install of IE. (or download a recent IE Service Pack). IE Repair is usually located either in Start/Programs/Accessories/System Tools/System Information - and from the "Tools" menu select "IE Repair Tool" ----- or in Start/Settings/Control Panel/Add-Remove Programs - then select IE and when prompted, choose repair.

Hope it's back to normal soon
. . . Gary

[Huh?]

Thanks Gary. I'll give those things a try.

[GaryRouth]

Hi again

I was a little tired last night, and left out one quick thing you can do just to return to normal: in Internet Options in Control Panel, click on "Clear History" (it's on the "General" tab page). Then visit a view sites, and see if your History for "Today" has restored itself to just one folder. [If you still see two folders, you can delete the strangely named extra folder from C:\Windows\History]

The spyware scans still might be helpful (even if the simple step of refreshing the folder works), since they may help remove any lurking threats to your system's privacy and security.
. . . Gary

[Huh?]

Ok, heres the update. I ran Spybot and Adaware and only found the few typical cookies that it usually finds. This did not help. Norton found no problems either. Trying both of the methods you mention to run an IE repair, I never ended up seeing the repair tool that you speak of.

Today I tried the clear history technique to no avail. I just now was about to delete the strange named folder but I get a warning that it is a systems folder and other things may end up not working right if I delete it. This is sort of scary to me. Are you sure I should delete it? It's named Nxaogrgi.gou.

[GaryRouth]

If your version of IE hasn't been updated in a while, it's possible that you don't have the Repair item in the Tools menu in MS System Information. You can try visiting Windows Update, and downloading a recent version or Service Pack.

The true "History" folder is indeed a system folder, but what is odd is that you have the other - which appears to be a randomly generated name, rather like the randomly generated names in the Temporary Internet Content folders.

One other thing you can try, since none of the scans seems to be bothered by the strange file, is to restore your Registry to a point just before the trouble started. If you have WinME, you can use the builtin System Restore feature. Choose a date from just before the odd history folder's appearance.
In Win9x, boot the computer with your Windows CD "start computer with cdrom support", and from the prompt type

scanreg /restore

and choose a date just prior to the problem. [If you don't have a Windows CD, you can use a bootable floppy: if you don't have one handy you can download one from http://www.bootdisk.com .... You could probably run the command from plain DOS mode, but I prefer a clean DOS boot.]

See if that gets you back to normal.
. . . Gary

[Huh?]

Gary,
Thanks for trying to help but this is starting to get over this technophobe's head. I think I may have to get some local help. I don't want to screw things up worse than they already are. Thanks again though.

[GaryRouth]

It is nice for situations like this one to be able to check the machine out first-hand. What would also be nice is if the person helping you can do this for free - because there may not really be anything wrong. Could be just a setting off somewhere, or a folder from software we're unfamiliar with that's actually OK. . .

Just out of curiousity, do the folders fill up with sites after a while? It's been a couple days - can you see any of the sites in there?

Best of luck - if local help turns up something interesting: post it here if you think it will help any others who come up with this situration -
. . . Gary

[Cricket]

Hey Gary, looks like you live in this forum .

Cricket

[Huh?]

Gary,
No, the folders don't fill up. Actually I should say I'm not sure whether they do or not. All I know is that when I click on them, nothing happens.

[GaryRouth]

If you have broadband, a fresh IE download would only take a few minutes [might be just over an hour with 56k modem] - seems like that would have a good chance of setting the folders to normal. But that's up to you - if you'd like to have someone look at things first, there's nothing wrong with that.

I'll stay tuned!
. . . Gary

[. . . Cricket, look closely: see ---> over there, in that dusty corner of the Win9x/Me forum database? Yes: that's my cot. I do live here . . . It's Ok, though, my wife lives in a CrossStitch forum . . . we are a match made in Cyber Heaven ]

[dtex]

IE repair function can also be found in Control panel/add/remove programs/install-uninstall on older IE versions(5.0). Select IE, select remove, and a drop down menu will give you the option to repair without removing it. You will need to have your windows CD handy, because it will lkely ask you to put it in the cd drive to carry out the repair. Don't know if I can post a pic here or not, but will try.

[Huh?]

dtex,
The IE is not listed as one of the programs in the Add/Remove programs list. What the heck. Does that make any sense? I know I have it because I'm still able to surf.

[dtex]

Might mean it wasn't installed by windows? For instance, a friend of mine had his version installed as part of his isp, and it does not appear in the add/remove list. If possible, I always let windows do the install, so it will show up there. I'm not real pleased with the Windows un-install 'wizard', as it sometimes is unable to remove everything, but at least it doesn't remove files needed by other programs when it does perform an uninstall. Sorry I'm not any more help-maybe one of the really smart folk will pop in here again. Good luck!!

[GaryRouth]

. . . it might likely add in an IE repair item to the MS System Information and an IE uninstall item to the Add-Remove in Control Panel if you download & install the latest Service Pack for IE from Windows Update . . .

. . . I'm curious to see how this turns out
. . . Gary

[Huh?]

Here's what ended up doing the trick.

in98 users that need to delete the Temporary Internet Files

Restart in Ms-Dos Mode
From C:\> (type and press Enter after each command)

cd\windows
smartdrv
deltree tempor~1
deltree history
deltree temp

Restart (Ctrl-Alt-Del)

Note: The paths above are used for examples only, the exact location may vary on different systems.

[GaryRouth]

Seems logical that deltree in DOS would do it (forcing Windows to recreate the folders on reboot), by why the line with SmartDrive?

[Huh?]

Hellifino. I'm just glad I finally did something that worked and got my history back. What is SmartDrive? Is it something I really should not have messed with?

[glc]

Smartdrive is a temporary disk cache, it makes dos operations go faster.

[GaryRouth]

glc - how do you remember all that stuff from the DOS days? You must take better multivitamins that I do

[glc]

I still have customers using Dos and Windows 3.x.