IE 8 keeps hanging up and freezing on Windows XP SP3

@kit - the only two items that show up in protected applications, both as protected are;
 
- regsvr32.exe
- iexplore.exe
 

@Kit;  shut the identity shield off as you have suggested.  So far, no freezes so we may have isolated the area where the problem is coming from. 

Have not sent up any logs as of yet. I disabled the Webroot firewall and problem went away. Am I positive it was the Webroot firewall specifically. No. Is it some other function of Webroot. I do not know. But if you shut off the firewall and the problem disappears, what do you think. My interpretation is something in the Webroot firewall and Foxfire/Seamonkey do not coexist correctly. I will need to reable the Webroot firewall and wait for a crash again. I remember when it happens, it is always Webroot reporting the problem. The problem does not occur with Webroot firewall off. Never. I may decide to chase that problem or just leave the Webroot firewall off. I am using the windows firewall and besides I have hardware firewall set up in my router. So it is really a non issue for me. I guess it might help tech support or some other users if I sent up a log. When I find some time I will send it up.
I started using Webroot about 4 or 5 months ago. The antivirus section is  not even that good. It has missed viruses that my offline virus scanner that I have created a dvd for never misses. I have used Norton, AVG, Mcaffee, panda. They all have issues. But I have a subscription for a year and will keep an eye on it.
Bernie

Can you please Submit a Support Ticket so support can help you futher and please let us know the out come so it may help other users.
 
Thanks,
 
TH

I actually run Seamonkey which is Firefox and Thunderbird combined in one suite. Designed by the Mozilla team. That is why you see plugin-container.exe  I understand what you are telliig me here. I can only tell you shutting off the Webroot firewall stopped the crashing on my machine. As I posted, Webroot would post the warning about plugin-container eating all the resources and caused the crash. I do not get a blue screen. The machine locks up, the computer beeps, and then after about 90 sconds beeps again and the warning message comes up. I can then go forward. I am using Seamonkey 2.13.2 which is built on Firefox 16.0
Bernie

I had a similar proble with Windows XP service pack 3. Only happened when I was using my browser. Total lockup for about 90 secocnds and then system released. According to Webroot a file named plugin-container.exe was maxing out my memory resources and the firewall tried to stop it. Thereby locking up the machine. I found the Webroot firewall was the problem. Disabled the Webroot firewall and run the Windows firewall and so far all is well. Pretty weird as this ony started happening the last month or so.
Bernie

Please update the thread if you try Kit's suggestions and narrow it down to a specific shield. 😃

Again, it's not a common issue.  The vast majority of customers on XP and IE8 are not encountering it. Therefore it will require some troubleshooting.
 
Narrowing down which shield function is causing the issue is still the best idea, which is why I requested that you start by disabling the Identity Shield functionality either by turning of the Identity shield or looking into the Protected Applications for anything standing out as blocked and setting everything in there temporarily to Allow.

@ wrote:
Hi, 
 
Thanks for the updates Mike and DB. I actually tried resetting IE 8 as directed (SOP for stuff like this). I also ran MBam and Superantispyware scans and no virus. This is affecting several machines, all XP SP3 with IE 8. Disabling all shields seems to resolve the issue.
 
Also, other browsers seem immune, as I have directed users to use Chrtome or Firefox as a temp workaround.
 

steve - thanis for the added input.  getting users off with a workaround  is a good thing.
However, disabling all shields seems to me to defeat the purpose of WBS.  But, it does appear to confirm the thought that one (or more) of the shields is causing an incomatability with IE.

I'm web QA so there isn't time for anything else really.

A rerun of the logs might be a good idea to see if the OS functionality used by the script is working now. I am aware that McAfee is up to date, I was saying that it has been on a relatively long update chain with no clean installs and appears to have a good bit of old stuff sticking around that it should no longer be trying to use, but it is still loading several outdated libraries if I recall correctly. Sometimes cleaning up the old stuff can be helpful.

I still primarily recommend checking stuff in the Identity Shield based on what I'm seeing and the troubleshooting that it will allow us to focus on or rule out.
 
Edit: Corrected some "smart"-phone-based typos.

@ wrote:
kit, if you took the time to read this, I had submitted all the logs.  I had also indicated initially that I started IE w/o any addons.  Before commenting, please read the entire thread.

Quite sorry.  I am currently in QA, so any work I do on the forums is extracurricular.  :)
 
The information I posted is partially generic and generalized information. 
 
Injected DLLs are also not always in addons, mind you.  As a good example, there is an HP WebHelper.dll being injected into IE that is technically comprised of incomplete code (TODO:<File Description>).   
 
 
Regardless, I found the logs from October 18th.  Didn't look too deeply into them, but on cursory inspection, some stuff jumped out at me.
Things that caught my eye:
 
- There was a threat detected on the initial install of WSA.   This means there could be damage to the system that could not be rolled back by Webroot because it wa preexisting.  Could also be a non-issue, since I research what the items were.
 
- The copy of McAfee installed on the system has been updating since 2006 or so.  You might find it beneficial to either or both: 1: Clear McAfee off and do a clean install of it (make sure you have your license information for them prior to doing so). 2: Tell McAfee to ignore Webroot files, especially c:windowssystem32wruser.dll.  If the second of those works, definitely let us know, as it means that we will want to check on what McAfee is doing and we are doing in response that is causing the issue. (I don't think this is the issue personally, but it's a possibility.)
 
- The logs are incomplete.  Specifically, the Windows Scripting Engine is normally used to gather a set of information using a VB Script in the log-gathering utility, but this information is utterly missing.  The script ran, as the framework is there, but the data is not filled.  Something interfered with a normal Windows function.  This could be any number of things from a limited user account to a security program to damage caused by numerous other things from data degradation to malware to badly-applied patches (never seen that be the user's fault).  The account is not a limited account, so that can't be the issue.  That leaves a question about what blocked the data gathering.
 
The thing that I think might be worth trying that won't take a huge amount of effort though is to try turning off the Identity and Privacy shield in Webroot temporarily, or going into Protected Applications under that section and looking to see if anything interesting (or at all) is set to blocked.  Record or remember the state of the protected applications and set everything to "Allow" with nothing in "Protect" or "Block".
 
I am going to try to encourage escalation of the ticket if possible, since just the quick glance shows me quite a few things that -could- cause the problem, but no clear indication as to what actually is doing so.

mike r - I didn't see an image.

I am interested in the results of an Internet Explorer reset.
 
If you are worried about losing personal settings you can uncheck the "Delete personal settings" check box (see image below).