<< stupid adware crap >>

[Illegalx17]

lol @ metal, idk what that is so i cant comment :blink: anyways, the way to get rid of it when it says its in use by other programs is to start your computer in safe mode. then go and delete it. also, if you have a bestbuy where you live, go there and go to the customer service desk, at the one i go to, if you give htem like 30 bucks or something they have like super software and huge machines not to mention big brains and they go in and clean it all out and get rid of virus&#39;s as well.

[Xtremerunnerars]

sysinternals.com


yeah i know some of you dont like them BUT TOUGH.

Get the process viewer thing, make sure you extract it do your desktop or anywhere else. Check the "replace task manager" thing because task manager is awful. With process viewer you can suspend processes which is nice.

I had somewhat of a similar problem, and make sure you use kill process TREE on suspicious processes. And for the registry editing, you dont really need sp2. just go to run>regedit. When u use the process viewer from sysinternals, click on a suspicious process and it will show all resources the process is using. It also shows the registry values and or keys that the process is attached to. IF you&#39;re really desperate...navigate to those places in the registry and DELETE them&#33;


TuneUpUtilities2004 is a wonderful program, it has many AMAZING and i mean AMAZING features. I&#39;ve been told by some friends who work there that some best buys actually use it. You can get a free trial, and the idiots made it a full demo...so if ur really really bad/desperate, crack it. My friend tried to give me the crack but my dad&#39;s a lawyer and he&#39;s all for DRM and copyrights so i dont crack stuff. If you need details on cracking you can pm me or im me on XtremeRunnerARS.


This applies to his situation, but can help anyone.



Another tip to relieve slow startup/booting


start>run>msconfig

Msconfig is a neat utility...god forbid microsoft makes something that works&#33; But wait, they dont advertise it&#33; Guess everything cant be perfect. Enough MS bashing, click the startup tab and hit disable all. ALL those boxes with checkmarks are programs/processes that run at startup and slow your computer down like crazzzzzzzzzy.


I know its a lot to read, but i hope it helps&#33;&#33;

[MetalSkin]

you dont have to use windows if you dont like it mate. there is always OSX or Linux. have fun with Gimp on a quality platform line Linux if you feel Windows sucks...

I love this attitude from people who have no idea about the history of how windows cam to be what it is. they dont know about how people complained bitterly about backwards comptibility and forced MS to incorperate legacy code which inherently makes windows more unstable. All because of consumer demand.

We have what we have because of the presure of market forces, not because MS decided to set out and make life miserable for you.

And as for SP2, for anyone who doesn&#39;t know much about computers, then get it. for anyone who doesn&#39;t wish to buy/crack firewall software and likes to use IE then get it. for anyone who beleives that keeping up to date with the latest security vunerabilities for MS then get it.

For those who dont&#39; understand the true issues about the OS, have a proper understanding of security and how to prevent these things but feel like just complaining, then do whatever you like.

I use Windows SP2, I have a NAT between me and the internet and i dont use virus software. I have 0 viruses and i never get spyware. main reason 1, i use ms&#39;s firewall from sp2. 2nd reason i dont use IE. its as simple as that.

[edit] i dont realy need the firewall with NAT. but you would have to be a fool not to update your OS with the latest security updates, which includes SP2

[masokist]

i few more coments, alright,

1:how do you start XP in safe mode, i cant find it, and the ways it says to is not right, it says how to for 98 and what not.

2: im guessing SP@ means - Swervice Pack 2? of not, what is it.

3: and i use to use the MSconfig trick all the time, it does not work anymore, niether does my "ctrl+alt+delete" trick either. it is impossible for me to open my systems stuff up for some reason.

[MetalSkin]

ahh in that case Masokist, your in trouble. some trojans/addware/spyware/viruses/backdoors disable things ilke ctrl-alt-del and the like.

if you right mouse click on the toolbar do you get te option for taskmanager? and if you try and open it, does it?

If you go to <Start> <Run...> and then type in

regedit

does it open and stay open?

if no is the answer then your definitaly in trouble.

To start in safe mode you haev to press F8 whie windows is booting. if you see te loading screen your too late. start pressing F8 about once every half second as soon as you see your bios details (or MB logo) until you get a text based menu. at the menu you can scroll up and down and choose safe mode.

Problem is that your msconfig program could be damaged. and even then it doesn&#39;t solve any addons they have put on IE. but at least its a start.

I would also download adaware from http://www.lavasoft.com/ and download Ad-Aware Personal. This may not get rid of all, bt should get rid of most. Once you start it up it will ask you to reboot and it will run before anything else has started.

I would also suggest downloading AVG, its free anti virus software. its not the best, but its better than nothing. it can be got from: http://www.grisoft.com. Hmm, just looking now, looks like its not free anymore but you can download the trial and at least your system will be cleaned up.

we&#39;ll start with te above and see how you go. though you may be at the point where a fresh install is the best.

[MetalSkin]

hmmm hadn&#39;t looked at sys internals before, looks like its not a bad site.

[edit]

just been checking out Process Explorer, it looks very nice. Its a tad over kill for your averge computing person but as a tool to discovr what the f is going down, it looks quite good.

[masokist]

i went and got the process explorer, and it is great, but it still wont let me kill or suspend a few programs.

and for the safe mode, the only two options i am given are:

F2 - System Options

F10 - (cant remember)

and niether of those get me to the safe mode screen, its never an option.

so please, keep the help comin&#33;&#33; VERY muchly appreciated.

[MetalSkin]

it doesn&#39;t display the option, its hidden. you have to press F8 when windows boots. The problem is this window is very small, so by pressing F8 as soon as you see the bios screen, it keeps it until its used. but to be safe, just keep pressing F8 once you see the bios screen and you should be right.

Hmm.. maybe i have the wrong function key, it may be F7. i&#39;ll check it out when i get home in a couple of hours for you.

[MartinBabies]

Ad-aware pwns Norton by hästlängder (swedish expression, nevermind). :P

[Xtremerunnerars]

im not bitching about microsoft, i know where windows has come from. But dont turn this into some flame thread because its to help someone. Norton is a joke, honestly. TuneUpUtilities is the best prog i&#39;ve found, and im glad to hear u guys like process explorer.



Sry for the late reply


oh...forgot about ur safe mode problem. Here&#39;s a way to do it.
Open msconfig, click that boot.ini tab. There should be a box that says /SAFEBOOT. Check that box and you&#39;ll boot in safe mode. DONT mess with the other boxes in this tab, you could mess it up so msconfig wont open any more. When u dont need to reboot in safe mode, go back into msconfig and then uncheck the box. The probability that checking that box (due to adware/trojan/etc) is HIGHLY unlikely, almost impossible.


Hope that helps&#33;


EDIT: Wow...didnt know they finished it. Assuming you have a genuine (not pirated) version of windows, you can go to Microsoft Anti-Spyware(Beta)&#39;s page and follow the instructions to download it. If you are using firefox, just save it (authentication thing) to disk and then run the authentication utility. Copy the code it gives you and then paste it into the box on the webpage. I just downloaded the program, i havent installed it yet.

EDIT2: The program is excellent...definitely join the antispyware network. Not only does it scan files that ms knows are bad, it scans for files that USERS have reported as bad. Like i said the program is excellent and i would pay for it, but it&#39;s free&#33; It shows A LOT of promise for a beta version.