Attention Computer experts...

[YellowRubberDuckie]

Since yesterday, when my computer reverted or something, it's impossible for me to have my IE browser window open with out it being maximized. Why is this? And how do I fix it?
Duckie

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

1. No idea

Tough to say without seeing what's loaded onto your computer. Might be trojan/spyware.

[tomreedtoon]

3. First, sweep your computer for trojanware/spyware...

There are two good programs to do it. The favorite is Ad-Aware. The free version of it is found at http://www.lavasoft.de/ and you can pay a small fee for a version that helps PROTECT against further invasions.

There's another called Spybot Search and Destroy. It, too, is free, but a donation of $10 or more is recommended. It's at http://www.safer-networking.org/ and it's pretty good. I use both - and be aware that Ad-Aware will find viruses inside Spybot (which Spybot will warn you about).

If you have never used these programs, you will be astonished at the CRAP that is hiding in your computer. If you have downloaded any "free" programs that install spyware (like the infamous "Gator") those programs may not work any more, but you can find non-spyware versions of the same thing.

Other ideas: Get rid of Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Use the open-source version of Netscape's browser, Mozilla, instead. It's available for Windows, Mac, Unix and lots of other systems for free - and you can help develop the next version by reporting any bugs you get. Read about it and download it at http://www.mozilla.org

Mozilla has built-in "anti-popup" technology that keeps a lot of the unwanted pop-up ads from appearing on your screen.

And stop using Microsoft's crappy e-mail program. Use Mozilla's built-in program. For something more powerful, pick up a version of Eudora. (Get the pay-for version, which is cheap, and doesn't have pop-up ads built in.)

[YellowRubberDuckie]

5. I tried Ad-Aware which I had...

And all I had were a few cookies. And I already have an antipopup program. Everything's fine. I just don't remember how to fix this.
And I've never used Outlook. I hate it. I usually just use my school email or Yahoo.
Duckie

[Occulus]

2. IE does that

try this: maximize the window. Close the window. Rinse, repeat.

Happens to me too, and it pi$$es me off!!

[quispquake]

4. Try hitting "F11"

Sometimes that works :)

[YellowRubberDuckie]

6. And dammit, now everything is running slower...

And there are like 30 running processes. I had gotten them down to 21. What the hell? HELP!
Duckie

[Wilber_Stool]

9. If you

want to cut down the running prosseses, try this guy. I haven't tryed thm yet but will soon.

http://www.blackviper.com/WinXP/servicecfg.htm

[YellowRubberDuckie]

11. Thanks, but I have windows 98.

That is nonuseful. But thanks anyway. :)
Duckie

[Wilber_Stool]

16. Check this out

Look through the whole site. Lots of shit.
http://www.bootdisk.com/topten.htm

[boxster]

7. Does it just *look* maximized?

Right-click on the Start bar entry for IE and select Restore (if Restore is grayed out, the window is already in that mode).

Then, click on the title bar of the open IE window and see if you can drag it down. If so, it's not maximized; it's just the same size as the maximized window.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

8. Nope...it's maximized.

And if I hit restore, it minimizes, as in goes to the toolbar, desktop fully viewable. It's really freaky.
Duckie

[boxster]

10. What operating system do you have?

And what version of IE are you running?

[YellowRubberDuckie]

12. Windows 98, IE6.

thanks

[boxster]

13. Ok, you answered that above. Try this....

Open two IE windows or one IE window and another application. Basically, you'll just need two windows maximized.

Right-click on a blank area of the Start Bar and select "Tile Windows Vertically" - or "Horizontally" or "Cascade", doesn't really matter.

That should resize the windows on the screen in "Restore" mode. Then, you should be able to do whatever you want with them.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

14. You rock, thanks...

Any advice on the slow thing?
Duckie

[boxster]

15. Get Windows XP! (kidding)

Just kidding. (kind of) }(

I assume that you've tried rebooting and the problem remains. If not, try that first.

You could then try removing unnecessary items from the startup processes of your system.

Click Start | Run | type msconfig, click OK, then click the Startup tab.

Uncheck anything that you don't really need running all the time, then restart your computer. I'd recommend leaving anything that even remotely sounds like a Windows app, and leave necessary stuff like anti-virus software and so on checked. Get rid of stuff like Real Player (unless you use it all of the time).

Other than that, there are the standard Windows things - run Scandisk, keep the hard drive defragmented, and so on.

If it's a completely inexplicable slowdown that doesn't seem to have an obvious cause, it could be a virus or spyware, as others have mentioned. Make sure your virus definitions are updated and run a full scan of everything. And, run Ad-Aware as suggested above - make sure that you update the definitions for that, as well - they update it every couple of weeks.