Need advice: Strange IE screen pops up whenever it wants

[Deanna475]

Hello all. I am running XP Home edition (all the latest upgrades, etc.) and IE and OE 6. A few days ago, I upgraded MSN to version 6. MSN hasn't been quite the same since and I'll explain. Ever since the installation of the upgrade, a strange IE window keeps popping on my screen and I can't make it go away -- I've attached a screenshot of it because it's kind of hard to describe.

This screen started popping up during my first online chat since the upgrade to version 6 a couple of days ago and hasn't stopped since. Out of nowhere, the screen will just open. You'll notice there aren't any minimize / maximize / or close buttons in the upper right corner. The only way to get this thing to go away is to CTRL-ALT-DELETE and end the task. But then 5 min. later, it's back again !!!

I've done a scan with Ad Aware and Spybot and removed any goofy stuff they found but still this screen keeps popping up. And yes, I've rebooted -- many times. Yesterday, I got a message from MSN telling me that another upgrade was available to repair "security holes", so I just re-installed the "newest" version of 6, but still that darn screen pops up. I don't even have IE open!! A couple of my internet friends are experiencing the same thing but they are just as clueless as I am to why it's happening and/or how to make it stop.

Anybody else ever have this weirdness happen to them?

[SDP2006]

Looks like a pop-up to me. Maybe its the site your at when it pops up??? Other than that, I don't know.

Do you stay at one site for a long time while on the net?

[Roy Sinclair]

That looks like a "Reminder" window for a calender product like the one in Outlook. Check through your MSN settings and see if they put a calendar product into it and it so, get rid of any reminders they plugged into it and it should stop popping up.

[Deanna475]

Hello again. Thanks for your input and suggestions. I dug a lot deeper into the problem and discovered that the offending screen is linked to a program called "Easy Internet Signup" which was pre-installed on my computer when I bought it last month. My computer is an HP brand. I thought it might have something to do with MSN as coincidentally, the problem began the day after I upgraded to version 6. But I was mistaken. The program that makes the screen pop up whenever it wants (which is about every 10-15 minutes if I keep closing the program through TasK Manager) appears in the registry as HPSdpApp.exe. The first day I got my new computer, I deleted all the crap that came pre-installed with it and "Easy Internet Signup" was one of them. Well, a month later, Easy Internet Signup is trying to remind me of something and because the rest of the program is no longer installed, I figure, it just keeps popping up this empty screen. At any rate, I deleted the offending file from my registry and the popup no longer pops. *S* Just for interest sake, my other two internet friends who also had this strange screen pop up on their computers also have HP brand computers. I'll you this for sure -- the next time I upgrade / replace my computer, I'm paying someone to build it for me!!