# Computer Help **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 22, 2003, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-help/176775 "2003-05-22T10:16:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SoulSearching](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@SoulSearching](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulSearching)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-help/176775/1 "2003-05-22T10:16:41Z")
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/bb1.jpg) [http://www.jtmoney.8m.com/bb2.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/tm1.jpg) [http://www.jtmoney.8m.com/tm2.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… ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-help/176775/2 "2003-05-22T11:09:57Z")
Try starting the computer in safe mode (hold down \ 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. ---
**Author:** ![SoulSearching](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@SoulSearching](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SoulSearching)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-help/176775/3 "2003-05-22T11:16:05Z")
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](http://www.jtmoney.8m.com/forstraightdope.html) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-help/176775/4 "2003-05-22T11:25:05Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-help/176775/5 "2003-05-22T11:27:22Z")
NB the registry key names above are from a win98 machine; they will be slightly different for XP. ---
**Author:** ![Paradigm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Paradigm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paradigm)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-help/176775/6 "2003-05-22T12:03:09Z")
Try [enditall](http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,4149,28189,00.asp), I find it stops programs I didn’t even know existed on my system 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![PhuQan\_G\_Nyus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f14d63/32.png) [@PhuQan\_G\_Nyus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhuQan_G_Nyus)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-help/176775/7 "2003-05-22T12:27:52Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2003, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/computer-help/176775/8 "2003-05-22T13:14:05Z")
[This page](http://www.safersite.com/PestInfo/B/BargainBuddy.asp) suggests that some versions can be removed through **Add/Remove Programs**. Otherwise you should unregister the DLL file before deleting it. > [@](#): > > Before you can delete it, the DLL file must be deregistered. In older versions, this DLL is inside the ‘Bargain Buddy’ folder in ‘Program Files’. Here there will be one or more ‘bin’ folders, one of which will contain a file called apuc.dll. If, for example, it’s in ‘bin2’ the following command will work for Windows 95/98/Me: > > “%WinDir%\SYSTEM\regsvr32.exe” /u “C:\Program Files\Bargain Buddy\bin2\apuc.dll” > (If your ‘Program Files’ directory has a different name (for example, on a non-English version of Windows), or is on a different drive, you’ll have to substitute that in the path above.) > > Or for Windows NT/2000/XP simply: > > regsvr32 /u “%ProgramFiles%\Bargain Buddy\bin2\apuc.dll”