IE starts loading and then stops, won't open

Question

so a friend asked me to take a look at his computer. Basicly what happens is when you click on the IE link you can see that it starts loading, but it never actually opens internet explorer.

So I tried removing IE and I really tried everything.

• Remove windows update
• use cmd
• system restore

Neither worked and appart from system restore, they all game me an error when trying to uninstall IE.

There is still an exe in the IE folder but that doesn't work either. I also can't open the internet options.

Thanks for the help so far but nothing worked.

EDIT: It seems that the problem comes from something that got installed alongside another program. It is called SweetIM Update: I have managed to remove all spyware / malware and it had a ton. My usual program didn't find most of them. Anyway they are gone now but it still doesn't work. I got 1 program left called Tuneup utility which I just can't get removed but according to the interwebs that isn't spy/malware

Solution

Try these steps:

• Run SFC(system file checker) to troubleshoot missing or corrupted system files on Windows.
• Turn off add-ons. If Incompatible or out-of-date add-ons might cause Internet Explorer to run slowly, crash, or prevent sites from displaying correctly.
• Reset IE settings.
• Check for malwares using Malwarebytes.
• Use newer version of the browser.

Comments

[ZippyV]

Did you check for malware? Can you open Internet Options from the Control panel?

[stderr]

@JentevanHeuverswyn: try to open internet options using inetcpl.cpl.

[jvh]

I did also try that, did not work

[Daniel R Hicks]

This sounds odd, but does the printer work? If not, stop and restart the printer subsystem: Control Panel -> Admin Tools -> Services -> Print Spooler. Somehow, if the printer subsystem is hung several apps will hang trying to start.

[jvh]

@DanielRHicks I've followed your stats and it says the print spooler can not be started.

[Daniel R Hicks]

What is the spooler "status"? If you "stop" it, does the status go to blank? (When the spooler is hung it's typical that it may take a minute or two or three to "stop".)

[jvh]

Sorry about that, it wasn't turned on cause I was in safe mode. In normal mode it's turned on and works. I did try turning it off and back on again but nothing changed

[Daniel R Hicks]

OK, it was worth a shot. But I wonder if it isn't something similar -- some subsystem not responding and IE is waiting on it. Check other apps on the box, and see if any others fail to start. Also, make sure internet is started and you can ping from the command line.

[jvh]

Tried everything, nothing worked.