Computer people HELP!

[scotts]

Well I have picked up a wicked bug on my computer. A little back ground. I have a 1.3 Gig AMD chip with 384 meg of RAM, running Windows XP, a little out dated but descent. Also I am somewhat computer literate, not a complete idiot, but I can do some stuff.
About last Thursday I picked up a bug that installed some gambling programs on my computer. I was able to delete those, but now it is installing other programs on my computer. Such as a Lycos search bar and countless pop up adds. I did a system restore for last Monday, hoping that this would eleminate the problem. It worked for a couple of hours, but then the same problems. I did learn that the firewall in XP had to be activated (I thought it already was activated). So I did activate that, but still having problems.
I guess what I need to do is to find out the programs that are opened on start up, but I can't remeber where to find that. I have also run spyware a number of times since the problem started but that has not helped. Of course because this is not a spyware problem, but a bug on my computer going out and telling these pop ups that it is OK to come to my computer.
Can anyone help????????
Scott

 

[nicky1.8t]

sound like what my friend has on his pc i did a system restore for 1 months earlier and it still is happening i would suggest a complete reformat of hard drive save all of your good stuff to disk and start over. but i would waiut untill others chime in

 

[aarone]

go find adaware and install it....then find a program called jv16 powertools and use it to thouroughly clean your registry.
make sure you update both of these programs before you use them..
jv16.org
and google ad aware

 

[sashimi]

Try MSCONFIG in the run window

 

[fshhub]

msconfig wont fix this one
adaware and spybot(nto sure about jv16) but adaware and spybot are both free and great programs
you can get both from download.com, justput it int heir search bar on their site.
unfortunately, be ready to reformat. normally these things can be cleaned out, but if not............ I recently had to reformat my dads systembecause of this. no matter what i did, I even cleaned the registry, it would keep coming back.
believe me, i uninstalled(didnot work)
uninstalled and cleaned the registry, WITH SYSTEM RESTORE TURNED OFF(still did not work)
same as above but in safe mode and i was ready to pull my hair out. no matter what i did, they came right back when i rebooted it. I hate software like that!!!!!!!!!!!! and if i ever find out who's program bought it in, they will never see mine or anyone i know's system. I would prefer to deal with a virus, and mentioning a computer virus in my house will get you into serious trouble(i liked saddam better than i like viruses)

 

[fshhub]

Ps, scotts
if i may, unless you are doing nothing other than surfin
I would really reccomend a little more ram(when it comes down again)
MS says xpwill do fine with 128
HOGWASH!
IMEO, win xp should never be run with anything less than 256
MINIMUM
and if it is shareed video or you do any photo or games or music/video work, I wont use less than 512.
Even if you think it is doing fine, you may not miss it by not having it
BUT i can assure you that by increasing it(even if you dont notice it directly other than less freezing and stalling) you wil NOT be unappreciative. In other words, you may not celebrate the difference, but it WILL help your system to run better and will not hurt one bit to do it.

 

[blackomne]

In one simple word. SPYWARE.
go to download.com
under utilites you will see a catergory called spyware removal tools
Personal favs
Spysweeper active guard
Adaware removal tool
and Spyblaster sets ie and netscape so that spyloaded are blocked out.

 

[scotts]

I am pretty sure this is what I have. http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/interne...eut/index.html
Actually for me it is good news because that means that someone will be working on a fix for it. Thanks for your help guys. I did forget the msconfig.
fsh, When I bought the computer it had 256 Meg of RAM, good at the time. I found a deal on another 256 of RAM. When I went to put the card in I found out that there were only 2 slots for RAM, so I took out one of the old cards and put in the new 256 card. Also since this is a home computer we do not do any heavy duty stuff on the computer, mainly surfing the internet.
Also so that I do not sound like a complete idiot I had always heard that Windows XP has a firewall. True it does, however you have to enable the firewall. I found this out while I was working on my problem. I just assumed that it was enabled. Well you know what happens when you assume something.......
Scott

 

[fshhub]

yeah, we all know......
you get rich, right???
seriously, assumptions do have thier places tho. i am a manager at a car lot, adn a damn good salesman too. I would not be half as good, if i never assumed the close.
so, assumptions are not always a bad thing, they keep me eating.

 

[aarone]

the firewall on XP sucks hard.....i would not trust anything but a good little unix box!

 

[wamp]

Also,
Go under Internet Explore- Tools and Disable Install on demand (Internet explore and other) and disable the 3rd party browser extinsions..
These can be found under Tools-Internet options- Advanced Tab.
It will then ask you if you want to install browser extensions and programs that use IE.exe before it installs them...
Good Luck!

 

[sashimi]

Originally posted by Scotts
I guess what I need to do is to find out the programs that are opened on start up, but I can't remeber where to find that.
Scott

Try msconfig

 

[wamp]

With XP you have to download the msconfig file...
Anyone know why it does not come with it?

 

[blackomne]

Originally posted by wamp
With XP you have to download the msconfig file...
Anyone know why it does not come with it?
Since when I have xp home edition and so do my friends. And I have never had to install msconfig.
Go to run and type msconfig It should pop right up if you are under the admin account. Always do your changes under the admin account all or you will miss pieces of an spyware or virus. Working under a user account will get you no where.

 

[scotts]

Wamp, thanks. I still need to get rid of this GD worm, but at least it is workable now.
Scott

 

[saltymom]

Hey.
Do you even have the factory restore cds that came with the computer when it was new?
Cuz I bet your gonna need them! These things usually only get worse and it seems like the harder u try to fix them, the worse things get! lol
If you do have them..have you ever used them? Its easy. just save all your photos and important things to a floppy or burn your cds ..and start all over. new again. just like when ya bought it. Ya have install all the kids games and things like that over again..but its worth it to have your computer working like its supposed to! You do loose everything you had thou..thats the downside. For some people I guess its not an option to restore.
For me..I dont have anything I cant live without if the thing crashes!