computer dificulties help please

[TexasT]

thanks in advance. The computer seemed to be gettting slower so I heard about a download at safenetworking.org. I downloaded it and ran it. It finds a bunch of back web things at the location that begins with HKEY_ and also a bunch of cookies. Then they want you to buy the full thing to erase these files. I found the cookies and seem to be able to delete them and this helped speed up the machine some. Question is where do I find these backweb items and delete them. Thanks again.

Rich

 

[krom]

try
www.regvac.com

 

[GN SBS]

AdAware & Spybot Search and Destroy are also nice shareware programs that complement each other nicely.

Both are available for download at pcworld.com

-S.

 

[wlaukaitis]

Hi

Don't screw with the "HKEY_" stuff that is the registry, you can really hose things up.

You can go with the software that the other posts mentioned.

be careful what you are downloading, sometimes you get those security warning dialogs with the "Always trust content from xxxx" Watch for Gain publishing and Gator. I don't download anything but Microsoft. They call those "drive-by-downloads"

 

[TurboJunky]

What you have is 3rd party software installed without your knowledge and doesn't show up in the ADD/REMOVE programs in control panel. Most is there to monitor your web habits without your knowledge and report back to a central server. Some also use your PC's processor (again without your knowledge) and internet connection as a large network to process pop-up ads and other computing capabilities that slow down your machine. Instead of an advertising company running a huge server and computer system, it uses thousands of internet users machines when they're on and on-line to do the work for them.

This stuff is usually installed when you download and install freeware. It's installation agreement is included in all that legaleeze everyone skips past and hits OK. The best free removal tool by far is Spybot Search & Destroy. Much better than Ad-Aware. You can download it here.

As far as the H_Key stuff goes those are registry entries as already stated. Let Spybot S&D delete those as needed. You can delete them manually IF you know what you're doing. You'll need to be an advanced computer user to know which registry settings to screw with. If not, you can seriously screw up your PC.

Moral of this story, monitor what is installed on your PC. If you have multiple users then you'll have to do double duty. Oh, some of this can be installed simply visiting web sites via Java Script or Active Scripting, which is only one reason I have mine disabled.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say not only is your computer running slowly but you're getting a lot of pop-ups too.

 

[TexasT]

A BIG thank you to the experts

I will try to download a different one(spybot I guess seems to be the one of choice). I have spyhunter and it runs for a long time but gets to the end and wants one to purchase the full version to delete the files. Thanks again.

Rich

 

[Vendor Defendor]

i second, or third... whatever spybot search and destroy.

 

[TexasT]

spybot s&d is greatness

Thanks again! This really helped speed up the machine.

Rich

 

[TurboJunky]

Were you getting a lot of pop-ups??

Did Spybot S&D find tons of stuff to dump?

 

[GeneralB44]

Some other Windows speed tips include defragmenting the HDD, keeping the disk space usage as low as possible (data transfer speeds trail off quickly as the hard drive fills up with data), and removing old *.tmp files (temp garbage).

Spybot and Adaware run weekly on my machines, as does free AVG Antivirus.

 

[TexasT]

not too many popups

it did find a bunch of stuff and I dumped it all. This is a 4 gig hd laptop 333mhz processor so it isn't that blazing as it is. But it works and it's paid for so I keep using it. Where can I find this AGV antivirus? I do try to keep the temp stuff dumped off with disk clean up.

Rich