Computer Help

Factual Questions
1

I am having problems removing spy/ad ware off of my computer. The folder called Bargain Buddy needs to be removed along with its contents (1 file):

http://www.jtmoney.8m.com/bb1.jpg

http://www.jtmoney.8m.com/bb2.jpg
I want to manually delete that folder. The problem is, a prompt will come up stating that the folder/file cannot be deleted because it is write-protected…basically it is running in the background so I must first close the program, then it will allow me to delete the folder/file…

I can not find the program running. I go to the task manager and the below two pics are of all the programs running. Could someone figure out which one pertains to the Bargain Buddy folder?
http://www.jtmoney.8m.com/tm1.jpg

http://www.jtmoney.8m.com/tm2.jpg
And yes I am aware of adware removal software but this one will not budge at all…

2

Try starting the computer in safe mode (hold down <F8> as it boots and select safe mode from the menu). This should bypass a lot of the stuff that is launched automatically on startup, including, hopefully, your problem spyware.

Alternatively Install Ad-Aware and/or Spybot S&D and let them do it for you.

3

I tried that, it doesn’t work…I need to do it manually
Also, since the pics did not work, try this link
http://www.jtmoney.8m.com/forstraightdope.html

4

OK, the first thing to do is to try to prevent the thing from launching itself when you boot; click Start>run and type MSconfig, then have a look in the ‘Startup’ tab - is there anything in there that looks suspicious? if so, uncheck it. - have a look in the other tabs too.

Then you need to look in the registry; click Start>run and type regedit, browse to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run - look there for anything that might be launching your spyware and delete it (back up your registry first).
Also look in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunOnce

Check that there’s nothing suspicious in Start>programs>startup.

Then restart your machine and it should be possible to delete the offending program.

5

NB the registry key names above are from a win98 machine; they will be slightly different for XP.

6

Try enditall, I find it stops programs I didn’t even know existed on my system :slight_smile:

7

click start, run, type msconfig, enter,
click the startup tab and see if you can find the program and uncheck the box in front of it. You might also uncheck anything else that you might recognize as not being part of the normal windows system.
Explorer and systray are about the only things that have to stay there.
reboot. remove the folder.

8

This page suggests that some versions can be removed through Add/Remove Programs. Otherwise you should unregister the DLL file before deleting it.