Well, over the past few months, I’ve been getting this error message from my machine that says, “Cannot find PoptheBubbles2.exe. Please locate the file and try again. . .” or something to that effect. Basically, something, somewhere is trying to run this program (which I can only assume is more spyware), and I don’t know what it is or does. I want it gone.
I’ve tried running AdAware 6.0 and SE. I’ve tried SpyBot. I’ve tried Norton Antivirus, and a couple of other anti-Spyware programs. None of 'em. I even tried turning the lights down low, lighting a few candles, and played a little Barry White. Nothing.
Well, every couple of hours this error message will pop up to my annoyance. I asked a couple of people about it, and they mentioned it might be a “registry hack” and that I just need to go in, do a search for that filename, and delete the reference. “Either that, or replace the ‘dll’ file.”.
I am not that good with a computer, so I’m a little confused. How to I get into the right registry (is there more than one?), or how do I find the right *.dll file?
I’ve opened my registry keys folder, and didn’t find anything. I even did a “regedit” at the DOS prompt, but didn’t find anything. What have I missed, or what am I doing wrong?
Tripler
Insert ubiquitous “turning the computer on” joke here.
Go to Start — Run
Type in Regedit
In the Registry Editor, choose Edit ---- Find
Type PoptheBubbles2.exe and hit Find Next
If the search returns anything, then look at at right-hand side and remove that key.
I don’t know of an easy way to describe how to mess with the .dll’s.
It may be in your Startup program group. Go To Start > Run > type msconfig. Open the Startup tab to the far right side to see if the program is in that group. Uncheck the box if it is in there. I have also had good success with RegCleaner at cleaning out registry junk. You might try it.
[ol]
[li]Click on “Start,” then “Run.”[/li][li]Type “msconfig” and click OK.[/li][li]Click on the startup tab.[/li][li]Look for the filename.[/li][li]If it’s there, uncheck the box next to it.[/li][li]Close MSConfig.[/li][/ol]
You will be asked to restart. You’ll get a warning when you restart; tell it not to tell you again.
If that doesn’t help, the best tool is Hijackthis. See if there’s an entry for “popthebubbles.exe.” If you see it, delete it.
Well, I did that, but to no avail. I did find a few things that are kinda interesting (read: stuff I don’t think I own or deal with). Is it okay to uncheck things randomly?
Actually, I do/did have two of the possible culprits on my machine:
[ul]
[li]I currently have a PocketPC PDA - HP Jornada [/li][li]I had a Logitech camera for general use - now disconnected[/li][/ul]
Since I’ve had the PDA for longer, and this seems to be more a recent problem, I betcha it is from that damned camera. Let me do a little more digging around my hard drive. . .
Thanks for that one!
Tripler
I could have sworn I did a Google search already . . .
Now, I’ll leave my machine on all night to see if it comes up again. Apparently, it was some sort of automatic screen saver meant to pop up at some certain length of time.
Tripler yoyodyne, if this works, I’ll owe you beer.
