# What the fuck am I supposed to do now?!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-am-i-supposed-to-do-now/235438
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [March 20, 2004, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-am-i-supposed-to-do-now/235438 "2004-03-20T19:53:59Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@7\_up\_yours](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/7_up_yours)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2004, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-am-i-supposed-to-do-now/235438/1 "2004-03-20T19:53:59Z")
Okay, this is half rant and half asking for help. My brother asked to borrow my laptop this morning, and I let him, figuring that there wasn’t much damage he could do. Oh how wrong I was. Now I know to never ever let him go near my baby again. Argh. This laptop is very important. It goes practically everywhere with me. I bring it to school so I don’t have to break my wrists trying to copy down the notes the professors are so fond of piling onto me. I use it to get me through the oh so boring classes. Now, it’s chalk full of spyware and crap because of my brother’s stupidity!
Gr. He installed the crappy file sharing program imesh and as soon as I found out, I went postal on him. It’s full of spyware and all that, and I don’t want that stuff!! I mean, I’m not exactly computer competent, but anyone dumbass should know not to install that crap!! And now I can’t remove it, and worse of all, it’s making my Internet Explorer crash over and over again. I’m just glad I have Mozilla. I don’t know what the hell is going on, but it just won’t uninstall! So, here I am angry and ranting, and hating my stupid brother for being such a dumbass. What the hell do I do to remove it? I know I can download those spyware removing programs, but my main concern right now is just to uninstall the damn program, that won’t fucking uninstall! :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:
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### Author:  [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2004, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-am-i-supposed-to-do-now/235438/2 "2004-03-20T19:55:56Z")
I’d just start over with a new one. That’d be the least hassle, probably.
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### Author:  [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2004, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-am-i-supposed-to-do-now/235438/3 "2004-03-20T19:58:31Z")
Do a search for SpyBot and AdAware. Download, install, run. Those two programs are FREE (though SpyBot will accept donations, it won’t nag you about them) and they remove all sorts of nasty stuff.
And don’t let your brother near your computer again, unless he makes some sort of promise that he won’t download stuff, with forfeits.
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### Author:  [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2004, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-am-i-supposed-to-do-now/235438/4 "2004-03-20T20:02:15Z")
[How to Remove iMesh From Your Computer](http://www.hmc.edu/cis/doc/how-to/network/sharing/remove_imesh.shtml). Hope it helps.
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### Author:  [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2004, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-am-i-supposed-to-do-now/235438/5 "2004-03-20T20:04:17Z")
> [@Libertarian](#):
>
> I’d just start over with a new one. That’d be the least hassle, probably.
A new laptop or a new brother? Because I’m thinking either would work…
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### Author:  [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2004, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-am-i-supposed-to-do-now/235438/6 "2004-03-20T20:05:21Z")
> [@Libertarian](#):
>
> I’d just start over with a new one. That’d be the least hassle, probably.
Generally, parents don’t like starting over with new brothers, they prefer to keep the ones they have, even if they ARE defective. 😃
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### Author:  [@jmpride62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jmpride62)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2004, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-am-i-supposed-to-do-now/235438/7 "2004-03-20T20:05:58Z")
> [@Libertarian](#):
>
> I’d just start over with a new one. That’d be the least hassle, probably.
Do you ever suppress your need to post? Ever?
Jeff
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### Author:  [@7\_up\_yours](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/7_up_yours)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2004, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-am-i-supposed-to-do-now/235438/8 "2004-03-20T20:07:14Z")
Thanks **Lynn** , I figured I’d download/run those two as soon as I figure out how to uninstall them.
**Ice Wolf** , thanks for the link, but I did exactly what the link tried to show before I posted here out of frustration, and that window to uninstall just won’t load. Instead, there’s a brief flash of “preparing uninstall wizard” or something along the lines of that, and it dissapears, never to be seen again. It also, freezies the add/remove list so that if I try to click on the button again, nothing happens. :mad:
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### Author:  [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2004, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-am-i-supposed-to-do-now/235438/9 "2004-03-20T20:07:28Z")
> [@Ice Wolf](#):
>
> [How to Remove iMesh From Your Computer](http://www.hmc.edu/cis/doc/how-to/network/sharing/remove_imesh.shtml). Hope it helps.
Remove Imesh - Delete the Imesh folder - Remove the adware programs. :rolleyes:
Why did anybody even need to create a webpage explaining that?
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### Author:  [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2004, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-am-i-supposed-to-do-now/235438/10 "2004-03-20T20:09:07Z")
> [@7 up yours](#):
>
> Thanks **Lynn** , I figured I’d download/run those two as soon as I figure out how to uninstall them.
>
> **Ice Wolf** , thanks for the link, but I did exactly what the link tried to show before I posted here out of frustration, and that window to uninstall just won’t load. Instead, there’s a brief flash of “preparing uninstall wizard” or something along the lines of that, and it dissapears, never to be seen again. It also, freezies the add/remove list so that if I try to click on the button again, nothing happens. :mad:
Sounds like there’s processes still ruunning. Start in Safe Mode and try from there.
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### Author:  [@7\_up\_yours](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/7_up_yours)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2004, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-am-i-supposed-to-do-now/235438/11 "2004-03-20T20:12:05Z")
Thanks **GorillaMan** , but while I’m not exactly computer incompetent, I’m not computer competent either. How do I restart in safe mode? I have Windows XP.
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### Author:  [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2004, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-am-i-supposed-to-do-now/235438/12 "2004-03-20T20:18:16Z")
IIRC, it’s by pressing F8 as it boots up. Just keep tapping F8, to make sure you catch it at the right time. If that doesn’t work, then do the same with left-shift. Never can remember which it is for which windows versions.
This is a very basic mode - the screen will be at a low resolution setting, none of the drivers for the modem or anything are booted, just the bare bones. Hopefully that’ll sort you out.
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### Author:  [@7\_up\_yours](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/7_up_yours)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2004, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-am-i-supposed-to-do-now/235438/13 "2004-03-20T20:57:23Z")
I restarted in safe mode and tried to uninstall from that, but it still just flashes the “preparing to uninstall wizard” then dissapears. I’m about to go bald from tearing my hair out! :mad:
On the bright side, my internet explorer stopped crashing. I think I’ve managed to remove a lot of the spyware. The damn program jsut won’t fucking uninstall! :mad:
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### Author:  [@elfbabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfbabe)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2004, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-am-i-supposed-to-do-now/235438/14 "2004-03-20T21:33:00Z")
If you have a CD burner in the laptop and know where all the install disks for your important software are, (a CD to let you reinstall Windows XP and the accompanying software should have come with your laptop) you may want to consider doing a complete reformat and reinstall someday. This is a big pain in the ass, and I wouldn’t recommend it to fix any one non-crippling problem, since you have to burn ALL the files you want to save to CD and take a few hours to format the disk, reinstall Windows, get all the correct drivers working, and get your software back. But it’ll fix anything that isn’t a hardware problem.
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### Author:  [@catsix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/catsix)
#### Post date: [March 20, 2004, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-am-i-supposed-to-do-now/235438/15 "2004-03-20T21:38:53Z")
Windows XP?
Go to your Start Menu, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, System Restore.
Roll your laptop back to just before your brother borrowed it.
I had to do that with some rather nasty spyware that Spybot S&D and Adaware couldn’t get out of my registry.
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### Author:  [@PastAllReason](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastAllReason)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2004, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-am-i-supposed-to-do-now/235438/16 "2004-03-21T00:03:17Z")
> [@Lynn Bodoni](#):
>
> Do a search for SpyBot and AdAware. Download, install, run. Those two programs are FREE (though SpyBot will accept donations, it won’t nag you about them) and they remove all sorts of nasty stuff.
Thanks very much for the advice. I’ve just completed installing and running SpyBot, with results better than they could have been. Could you please confirm if AdAware if from LavaSoft? When I searched, I got returns for Ad-aware from LavaSoft.
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### Author:  [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2004, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-am-i-supposed-to-do-now/235438/17 "2004-03-21T00:07:08Z")
Yes, it’s Lavasoft.
Don’t forget to get updates for both Adaware and Spybot (do it within the programs themselves) before using them.
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### Author:  [@spectrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spectrum)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2004, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-am-i-supposed-to-do-now/235438/18 "2004-03-21T04:19:57Z")
Just as a suggestion, the next time you loan out your computer, go to the Control Panel and create a new account for the other user, and password protect your own account. There should be a way to make their account a non-administrator, so that they can’t do much in the way of damage.
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### Author:  [@monica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monica)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2004, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-am-i-supposed-to-do-now/235438/19 "2004-03-21T05:22:00Z")
When I was away for a month this summer, the laptop stayed here. Boy was I pissed off when I got home and found all sorts of crap on my computer. Turned out my little brother and his friend had decided to use it while I was gone. They downloaded all sorts of crap. Luckily, it’s all better now, although I partially blame it for some problems I had later on that meant that all of Windows had to be reinstalled. :rolleyes:
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### Author:  [@htns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/htns)
#### Post date: [March 21, 2004, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-fuck-am-i-supposed-to-do-now/235438/20 "2004-03-21T14:12:56Z")
[http://www.spywareinfo.com](http://www.spywareinfo.com)
Hope it helps. The folks at their forum are full of good advice.
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