BleepingComputer.com: Weird Browsing Problems

The last few days I have been having an intermittent problem while browsing.

When I click on a link in my favourites sometimes instead of being taken to that address I get a pop up stating "You have chosen to open a php file.Do you want to save or find a program to open it" or words to that effect.

This is also happening when I am on a forum and click on a link there. When I write a post like this and press Send/Post it tends to hang or I get a page like a data stream and I am not sure whether the post has been sent. This is happening on both IE7 and Firefox2.01. If i cancel the popup and re-click on the link most times it works properly but I would like to find out what is causing this to happen and how to correct it.

When I click post message sometimes my browser opens up in a new page with the following message.

Internet Explorer cannot display the web page.

Most likely Causes;

(1) You are not connected to the internet.
(2) Website is encountering problems.
(3) Typing error in address.

I am connected to the internet and as soon as I click on the back button it takes me back to the page where I had written my post but I then had to go back to home and then forums to find out if my post had been sent. This is very irritating and I hope someone can help me.

I use Comodo Firewall and Avast and also have Spywareblaster, Superantispyware,Adaware,SpyBotS&D and Startup Monitor installed up to date and used regularly. I last scanned with Superantispyware this morning and quarantined the 5 tracking cookies it found.

I have cleared Cookies and deleted the Temp Internet Files as well

Something I have thought may have a bearing is that recently my son reformatted my harddrive and when I was reinstalling my Broadband connection with NTL I had to use the installation disc provided.I followed the instructions and found that NTL had added two programs to my desktop. One was something called Broadband Fixer or such and the other was some kind of update program. It had also added a desktop short cut to NTL Home which I didn't need as I already have it bookmarked. I have been using NTL without problems for 4yrs and these programs were not on my PC prior to reformat. When I mentioned it to my son on the phone he told me to uninstall them and delete the shortcuts which I did. I am not sure if this has anything to do with it but it has been since I did this that these problems have arisen so there is possibly a connection.

I just clicked on the preview post tab and got the following popup.

You have chosen to open.

Index. php

Which is a php file from: http://www.bleeping computer.com

Would you liketo save this file.

Save File Cancel.

Does someone know what is going on here?.

One thing does come to mind:

Ask your son if he installed a web server on your machine. That problem will happen if a server isn't configured to view .php .asp or other extensions using web browsers.

It's a long shot, but worth asking.

I'm afraid my son is in the middle east for the next six months. However whereabouts could I myself find out this information on my PC.

Look near your clock and hover over the icons you don't recognize, and see what they say. Some may be hidden, so use the arrow if needed.

In the tray you could see an icon for, Apache, MySQL, or other MySQL tools, like WinMYSQLAdmin

Also, do this:
Open your browser and type this in the address bar, then click the Go button
http://localhost or
http://127.0.0.1

and see what is displayed to you.

Normally, if a server is on your computer, you'll have these folders under your root drive
c:\php
c:\mysql
and...... c:\Program Files\Apache\ or it'll say Apache 2

and lastly..... Windows IIS server will be c:\Inetweb\

If any of the above don't work, then you probably don't have a server installed. If they do, then you have a server installed.

If no server is found, the next step is to test your Internet connection. Now that I think about it, are you using a proxy?

I tried the two adresses you gave and got "could not connect" messages both times. I am not 100% on this but am sure I don't use a proxy I am connected via LAN settings IIRC, but this did give me the idea to go to my internet settings and attempt a repair and it did, saying it was replacing several things but too fast for me to remember all but it did find something to repair and repaired it.

Is it possible this could have a bearing on it. Is there something I could do to find out if it is fixed other than wait and see?.

By the way Walkman thanks a lot for your time. You guys are just great using your time to help people like me.