Lisanne

Let us know if it helps!

If the things on the list aren't helping enough, post your system info (year you bought it, brand, operating system, processor, amount of memory, whatever else seems useful) and what your problems are.

sandpat

I did everything on the list and it has helped. The free version of the ad/spy ware thingie (you notice how technical I am with my computer)...said that it cleaned 100 things and left 1316 other things it found. It wouldn't clean those unless I buy the full version. I'm leary of doing that...I don't know if I believe it found all those things. I used to use AdAware....haven't seen it for awhile, although I haven't looked. Should I try the cow muncher link you listed above?

craftiladi

Ok our computer wizard, :-D after I deleted norton & switched to avast for my anti versus , any addresses in my computer that have hotmail get bounced back to me-any clue?
thanks much

Lostn51

Hotmail=viruses and tons of spam.

CCleaner by Piroform is the best at cleaning out all the junk that the other programs would charge you for and all my comps run like I just bought them yesterday. The newest one I own is 4 years old and this laptop is almost 8years old and is lightning fast.

Just go to Cnet.com and get to the download center and punch in CCleaner. Get it update it and run it!! And if you want it to fix you registry issues it will do that also.

Billy

craftiladi

Thanks Billy but i am confused how is that going to help w/ friends that have hotmail addresses?

Lostn51

Almost all Trojans and hackers use Hotmail because it is owned by Microsoft and it will attach itself automatically to the System32 files in the windows program.

You will have to go in and set the perimeters if you still want to let the hotmail to go through the antivirus but if I were you I would go to Aol or Yahoo for another email addy.

Billy

Lisanne

sandpat, I'm glad you noticed an improvement. I'm surprised it won't wipe all the stuff it found. Does it at least give you a list or a file of the other thousand or so things so you can see what they are?

I haven't seen Ad Aware in years, either, don't know what happened to it.

As for Ad Muncher, you can download a free trial, if you don't want ads in your face when you're on the web. If they don't bother you, then there's no reason to try it. It doesn't do scans and removals, it just blocks the ads from getting into your computer. I really hated all the ads, so for me the $25 to buy it has been well worth it.

craftiladi, I don't mean to be a self-styled computer expert - I'm not. But I know a lot of people are having problems with slowness and whatnot, so it seemed a good idea to share some basics.

And, okay, I've done a good deal of troubleshooting on my own computer, and I'm unemployed and rotting away here, so I'm really up for using my brain to help others with their computer issues.

Glad Billy and Chasing Hawk are here contributing, too, because they know about apps I've never heard of.

About the Hotmail program, Billy, she needs to be able to receive and send to friends who do have Hotmail. Counseling her not to have a Hotmail address doesn't solve that problem. What parameters does she need to reset? Where are they?

craftiladi, I don't know the first thing about Avast, but you might find this info helpful (from their support knowledge base):
http://support.avast.com/index.php?_...d=295&nav=0,66 Or post your problem there and I'm sure someone will know the answer.

sandpat

Thanks! My computer is much faster today...but I think I'll look into the info that Billy provided. Its put out on the same site as the old AdAware. I really liked that program.

Its weird...the program I ran yesterday did NOT give me a list...just said that it found x #...cleaned x#, then I had to buy to get the rest cleaned...made me suspicious. I'm sure I can find something else to check to make sure whether there is still junk on or not. I have McAffee...it blocks "most" junk.

Lisanne

sandpat, I only have the free version, nothing more than what you have. Can you open yours up? You should see tabs marked Quarantine and Logs. You might find the list in one of those tabs.

I wouldn't be too suspicious of the results you got. It's a reputable company. Maybe that's just how they handle it when there are that many different kinds of adware and spyware on a system.

By all means, check out Billy's link. Let the rest of us know how it works for you.

Just remember that McAfee is for viruses and such, so it won't remove your adware/spyware. It has to be an adware/spyware removal tool.

sandpat

I have a security package from ATT....It includes a spyware/add blocker and a segment of the security package says that it cleans those buggers off my system...but heck...who knows?? :roll: