Hey guys. I am having some problems with this computer and I'm hoping that one of you will be able to help me solve the problem.

Now, I believe I have Spyware on this computer, but I'm not too sure.

Whenever someone uses Internet Explorer, windows pop up and contain absolute crap. (search results for cancer anyone?) My download manager Getright also tries to save weird files too.

Now I have downloaded an Ad Aware program and a Spyware program from download.com hoping that it would solve the problem but it doesn't seem to have done much. Both of these programs found lots of bad things when they did their scans, and I 'disposed' of them all. Each time I do a new scan with these programs, more problems are found which is really annoying.
Also, even when Internet Explorer is not being used (and I'm using Firefox for example), these IE pop ups continue to happen for the first hour I'm connected to the net, and then they stop completely for the rest of the night. :unsure:
Getright isn't doing anything anymore thank god, and the pop ups aren't happening as much but scanning the system and deleting the bad files hasn't solved the problem entirely, and that's where (hopefully) one of you guys come in.

Help?

It's in your registry somewhere, i saw my older brother clean up my little brothers computer once. I have absolutely no idea where though :(
Sorry i couldn't help more..

First of all, with Ad Aware did you tick all the boxes at the end so it actually deletes everything? Keep alternating between the two programs until they both stop detecting anything, or if the same problem keeps coming back (you may have a virus that just restores the files after Ad Aware deletes them).

Try turning off your computer, then turn it back on and do NOTHING for a few minutes. Press alt + ctrl + del and see what programs are running. If everything looks normal and there's nothing suspicious, start up IE and check again. If you see something that you don't recognize, run a search on the filename and see where it is.

To edit your registry (possibly dangerous!), go Start->Run and type "regedit". Select the "My Computer" part of the directory tree, then right click and choose "export". Save it somewhere safe. Now comes the annoying part- finding the crap. If Ad Aware is getting rid of stuff that keeps coming back, hit ctrl + F in RegEdit and type in the name. If it finds something, just delete that entry (or the whole folder if it has one to itself). Now press F3 to continue searching, until nothing is found. If the shit hit's the fan, simply import your old registry back in. :thumbsup:

This is pretty much were it is at but there is a risk with playing with the reg. Worst is total data loss though, I recommend backing shit up before you type "regedit." Always a good idea that is.

Yes I did tick all of the boxes at the end. I have been alternating between the two programs as well, to the point where they say that nothing is found. Then the next day, the problem occurs again, I re-scan and wa la! More bad files. :|

As for turning off the computer, I've done that too. It was the first thing I did actually, as I know what this computer runs normally and I would notice if something was there that shouldn't be.

As for the registry stuff, well that's where I'm stupid with computers. Even with your simple instructions, I wouldn't want to risk trying that as knowing me I would stuff it up. Next suggestion? :P

Ok, best thing to do, after you "clean" your PC of spyware, is to get Windows security or critical updates, and to have an anti virus program on there as well. That, and stop visiting those porn sites which say "FREE! Credit Card not needed!".

The last time I visited a porn site was when I first got the internet. Back when I was known as someone else... <_<

I think I know how we got this problem though. I have seen one of my cousins click on those ads that say "click this to win this" or "click this to do this" before. Plus the kids visit weird 'kid' sites a lot too, and while I could be wrong, I think they are the cause.

I haven't done anymore scans on this computer due to working. I'll give this entire computer another Spyware, Ad-Aware and Anti-Virus scan on my next day off and if that doesn't solve the problem then I may just have to back everything up and then wipe the system clean... <_<

It's pretty likely that that is your problem.

I had the same problem with IE, so my brother did the registry thing, installed Mozilla, ran Spy-Boy:SD and AdAware, and got the Windows Securities and Critical updates. Haven't had a problem since.

I realised i'm not helping in any way, damn it! :(

Look it's easy to fix. Just get yourself a flatmate called Andrae who's doing Computing at uni and sleeps in until 5:30 pm and get him to fix it... Well it worked for me. :D

What's his (your) address? :P

I shall be scanning the computer (again) and messing around with it tomorrow, and I will probably attempt to do this registry thing too. Time will tell.

Just so we're not on the wrong track, what are the types of files it finds on rescans? Not tracking cookies right?

I have the same problem! IE has now got extra personal toolbars, damn it! I don't want free ringtones!!

And Norton has died, not normal. I need to re install it. OMG! :o

Austin J. Phoenix? :P

...Anyways when you're using Adaware it might be a good idea to select "Use Custom Scanning Options" when it says please choose a scan mode and click customize and tick everything... Except the skip ones which I don't think you can tick anyway.

By the way when you use the net you probably get some spyware each time so it's probably quite likely that you'll have spyware and such every time you scan your computer... I usually have at least some spyware every time I scan the computer.

The pop ups look exactly like windows correct?

It is because of messager.

Go to Start|Run|msconfig

Go to services and deselect message (don't worry it isn't MSN) and restart your PC. Hey presto... pop ups gone.

Not an IE issue.

Don't go stuffing around with your registry. Very dangerous. I'd recommend going to Add/Remove programs and uninstalling anything that looks suss. Chances are unless its a Microsoft thing, if you don;t know what it is, you probably don't need it.

Theres a program called RegFix which will clean up your registry for you, whats better is that if it doesnt work it comes with a restore feature which will take your registry back to how it was.

I know exactly what the problem is and it is an msconfig issue. I used to get it all the time til I disabled messager. Trust me on this. :P

I mess with my registry all the time, and PC is fine. :P

btw, I posted this thread a while back, and that's got some very good cleansing techniques in it. ;)

I've pinned it for good measure.

The pop ups were normal Internet Explorer ones that loaded up sites about loans, kettles and any other random bullshit that I wasn't interested in.
It had nothing to do with Windows Messenger either Mr. President, but thanks for trying.

Well I have the problem solved guys, but I wasn't the one who fixed it. <_<
I spent the day scanning the system and deleting any bad files that appeared and it still had the problems. I tried all of your suggestions (except for the Registry thing) and that didn't solve anything either. It got the the point where I got really shitty with it and gave up. I literally said to mum "Fuck your stupid computer and its problem. Fuck the kids and their nagging about wanting to use it. You solve your stupid problem". (it was worse than that)

Anyway, I calmed down and had another attempt before giving up completely. I rang a friend who knows a fair bit about computers and he came over to help. He tried a few different things in front of me and he actually found the file which was in our system restore files or something like that. (I didn't understand a word he said)
Anyway, he tried getting rid of it and it was a bastard. It just wouldn't delete at all. So he took it home and did some other stuff with it (don't ask me what) and finally last night he brought it back with the problem solved. That was why I was away for a few nights, and thankfully the problem is gone too. Now I wish I knew how he did it, incase the problem was to return but anyway.

Here is a screenshot I took of the file that Spyware continually found when I searched the system.

Clicky

Thanks again guys for the suggestions and help. :thumbsup:

Looks like it was a simple tool/searchbar installed into IE, but now doubt it didn't want to get uninstalled. Bastards!
You really need to download SP2 for windows. It's got a lot of security fixes in it. (I think)

Yeah it was a toolbar that installed itself, however it had something else with it as there were the files for the toolbar, and then there was another file after that. <_<

As for Service Pack 2, two hundred and something MBs later? On a 56k?

Don't you think I kill this modem enough? :P

I'm having problems with my mobo and SATA HDD.

Its an Asus P4P800-X with a DeskStar 250GB SATA. Everytime I boot up the pc it says Reboot and select proper boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected boot device and press an key.. To fix it I simply reset the computer and it boots from the HDD, and Windows starts up no problem. But its getting annoying having to press reset everytime I turn on the pc.

In BIOS I put boot priority to the HDD with nothing second and nothing third.

Nismo Ill send it to you on cd if you really want it, you could try to get it from Microsoft on cd too like I did.

Well is it really that important to have? What does it 'update' exactly?

If it is a necessary thing to have, then thanks for the offer man. I will supply the CD if you want?

Pff, dont worry about the CD.

All I know is it fix security holes....

Edit

Send a PM with your address and I send it when I can.

Done and done. :thumbsup:

Far out! My computer is being stupid. If i try to right click on any of my drives; C, D, G or E, my computer freezes up. This is when i am in Windows Explorer, or whatever the thing that comes up when you press the windows key + e is called.

What the hell is going on?

This sort of thing happened to me the other day. When I tried to run a file, explorer overloaded and became very sluggish. If you have tried to run a file, ie. you double clicked it, but it never appeared to have run this could be your problem. Press alt + ctrl + del and then go to the Processes tab. Check you CPU usage, if its anything higher then about 10% when its idle (your not running any programs) then that means you have a corrupt file which is slowing down the system. Now this is the hard part, go through you list of processes, if any file on the list jumps out as you as though it shouldn't be there then end the process. For example, with me it was DivX, I saw it was taking up quite a bit, and so was explorer, I just deleted the corrupt file and it was fixed. I'm sorry but if this is your problem there really isn't much of an easier way to explain it.

SP2 might solve the problem but I only see it as a workaround as opposed to a dedicated solution. The problem with a lot of spyware is it has a habit of regenerating itself, whether you're using a stand-alone removal program or directly editing the registry; unfortunately in my experience I haven't yet found out why. I guess you got to find the source, so you can nip it in the bud.

But anyway, as others have said, try updating with as many security fixes as possible; safeguard your computer as much as possible and for god's sake, stop using bloody Internet Explorer. :P

lol... evO, what kind of computer is it and when was the last time you reformatted it? A full reformat is probably a good idea... Other than that I can't think of anything else right now... I've got a headache...

Hmmm, well my computer is idling at 0%, and i'm pretty confident it's not any kind of spyware.
I use Firefox, my cable internet is run off a server that has an intense firewall (i think, my brother set it up *shrugs*) which is connected to this computer by a hub. We've never had any problems like anyone getting through the fire, meh.
This computer is a pen4 2.7ghz 512ddr, umm, it's never been formatted, but i don't feel like formatting it :P.
I've had this problem before but i can't remember how i fixed it.

It seems to have fixed itself...

ok it seems that things like that do tend to fix themselves... And then they resurface again in a few months or so usually but nevermind... How long have you had it evO? I should probably reformat my computer soonish... I can't really be bothered though plus I've only had it for about six months... I'll probably reformat it eventually...

They say a re-format every six months or so is healthy.

Can't remember how long, a year or two.

I say that deleting over 100gbs of media is fucking rediuclous. :P

Unless you course you mean doing a scandisc or de-frag to your HDD/s.

who's got over 100GB's of media? And you know there's a thing called a DVD-burner... You can write files onto DVD's with it :P. Yeh alright though I agree it would take forever to burn 100GBs of stuff... You could get another computer and network them and put all your stuff on the other computer... That'd take a long time too though... But who's got 100GB of media?

And fyuusii - I think I've heard that before but do you know who said that?

I believe it was from a tweaking guide, one that's done me a lotta good over the years. I got linked to it from Penny Arcade years back, though it disappeared off the radar for sometime after...

Then again, my memory's kinda shoddy.

I changed the thread title slightly so now everyone can use it if they are having computer problems.

Small update on my previous problem, everything has been perfect. Everything is perfect. Thanks again to all those who helped. :thumbsup:

Well my computer seems to ike to randomly turn itself off every now and again. And it usually won't turn on until it's been unplugged. It probably doesn't pose much ofa problem per se since I'm planning on getting a new computer some time in the next few months, though I am still rather curious as to why it randomly turns off.

it could be a virus - have you scanned it for viruses lately? If you haven't then I would suggest you do... Or it could be a hardware problem, I think it's likely that it could be the power supply but I'm not sure... If it's not a virus it's probably a hardware problem... Or you're getting constantly h4x0r'd or something... Which is doubtful...

What?! Format my hard disk every 6 month? You've got to be joking. Never going to happen.

I've got 105 gig of media by the way and I'm not going to waste a whole day burning it all to dvd.