I dont think so? I never really touched anything with my firewall...is there a way to check this?

Then you would have to open ZoneAlarm and go to program control/programs and right click on each prog and select options and then look if there is a tick before "This program may use other programs to use the internet".

But that can be tricky because some legit apps use that to..
Its maybe some work but you could uninstall ZA and reinstall (without remembering preferences) and start fresh and see what programs on youre pc askes for internet access. Maybe that gives a hint to whats going on.

I think I am onto something...after checking iexplore that came up on HJT and checking it on the websitie..to the right it says possibly nasty..but the file checks out ok..but this is what it says for the file...

running process. (IEXPLORE.EXE)
Internet Explorer - Wir empfehlen einen sichereren alternativen Browser zu verwenden. (z.B. Firefox)

why is it in german?

Its a german site , thats also part why you get that sort of warning too, they compare it to a german windows installation so they think it should run in c:\programme instead of c:\program files. They think its running from the wrong folder but it isnt.

And the firefox bit is just a recommendation.

Ok so Im back to square one, what do we do now? This problem seems unrepairable lol..is there anyways i can just whipe out IE and get a fresh version..or would that not fix anything..your the expert so let me know! Thanks for all your help so far!

See if this also works for win98


go to start > run

and type this in:
notepad

Paste this into the box:
Then click on the FILE menu and select save as
Save the file as regfix.reg. Save the file to the desktop.
IMPORTANT: make sure to save the file as "all types" and NOT as a text file


Now double click on fixreg.reg and insert it into the registry.

Then, go here, and reinstall Internet Explorer:
Internet Explorer Update

It wont work, says you can only import registry files. and i did it exactly how you said.