remove

Infopackets Reader 'P.S. Liew' writes: " Dear Dennis, Over the years, my 'temp' folder in Windows [located at c:\windows\temp] has gathered quite a substantial amount of temporary, space-eating files as well as Internet browser history items such as ... cookies, cache and the like. I am contemplating whether or not I should delete these files in order to reclaim hard disk space, but prior to doing so, I would like to get some pointers from you as to which selection of files in this folder is safe to delete. Am I wrong to assume that it is safe to completely delete all files in c:\windows\ ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Jim L. writes: " Dear Dennis, Please Help! I have apparently acquired some kind of virus (or Spyware) on my computer. I scanned my computer using AdAware and Spy Sweeper in hopes of resolving the issue; AdAware (downloaded the ... latest 'free' version) refuses to delete or quarantine any of the detected programs, and eventually locks up -- preventing me from even closing it down. Spy Sweeper continuously pops up a window telling me if I want to remove the detected Spyware, even after I click on 'remove'. One of the filenames is iekw32.exe, and another one was ipna.exe. It ... (view more)

This feature article is a step away from our normal discussions, as I am currently out of town visiting a friend in Toronto, Ontario for the next few days. RE: My encounter with the Backdoor.Agent.B Trojan I arrived at Frank's place in Toronto this ... past Sunday, and was unable to access the Internet until Wednesday. Unfortunately, Frank's computer was host to 35 virus-infected files, 7 Spyware variants, 4 Trojans, and 2 Internet worms (including MyDoom and SoBig) -- and he didn't even know it. I spent much of Monday and Tuesday "undoing" the damage caused by the malware. I have to ... (view more)

This feature article is a step away from our normal discussions, as I am currently out of town visiting a friend in Toronto, Ontario for the next few days. RE: My encounter with the Backdoor.Agent.B Trojan I arrived at Frank's place in Toronto this ... past Sunday, and was unable to access the Internet until Wednesday. Unfortunately, Frank's computer was host to 35 virus-infected files, 7 Spyware variants, 4 Trojans, and 2 Internet worms (including MyDoom and SoBig) -- and he didn't even know it. I spent much of Monday and Tuesday "undoing" the damage caused by the malware. I have to ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Doug D. writes: " Dear Dennis, I get a lot out of your newsletter, and hope you can help me. I recently read that I can control the number of programs that 'autostart' themselves when I start my computer, thereby speeding up my ... boot time dramatically. I've used the built-in Microsoft utility for editing Startup programs, called MSConfig, but there are so many things listed, I don't know what is legitimate and what is not. Some programs that are listed in my Startup have been uninstalled and no longer exist on my computer -- but the names still appears on this startup ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader 'SweetImage' writes: " Dennis is there any way to get rid of the Mirar toolbar once and for all? I have searched sites where I have found loads of people having the same problem. I have used at least 8 different Adware-blocking ... programs to remove the toolbar from my system, but none of them can get rid of this rotten thing! Mirar support has not answered my emails and I am going absolutely crazy trying to remove it from my system. I cannot use the Windows System Restore because it won't allow me to roll back (except for today's date) -- and furthermore, Dell can't help ... (view more)

Infopackets Readers Sid M. writes: " An icon with the word 'Matcli' appears on my task bar at every boot up. As soon as I open a program, Matcli goes away. I did a little research on Matcli and found that it is an acronym which stands for Motive ... Chorus Command Line Interface. The purpose of Matcli is to gather information about your system's identity like your name, email address, city, state, etc, and all of this gets written to a log file. One of the sites I visited told me that in order to remove Matcli, I need to 'uninstall HP instant support'. Unfortunately, I don't have any HP ... (view more)

Last week, Infopackets Reader Cospul warned me of a problem he had with a browser enhancement, called MyWebSearch: " I downloaded and installed [the browser plug-in] only to find out that it hijacked my Internet Explorer ... Whatever [web site I ... visit, MyWebSearch either displays their site or an error message]. ... I emailed the Mywebsearch [support many times], but they have not [provided any useful technical advice]. I even hired a certified Microsoft technician to fix the problem -- but after a week, all they could tell me was that Mywebsearch acts like a virus (no kidding!). I can't ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader "Cospul" writes: " Dennis, please warn all your subscribers to avoid the browser plug-in called 'MyWebSearch'! I downloaded and installed the said browser enhancement, only to find out that it hijacked my Microsoft Internet ... Explorer every time I went on the Internet! Whatever web page or site that I go to, MyWebSearch either displays the Mywebsearch website or displays an error message which reads, 'Can't find website notice.' My Internet Explorer is completely useless and acts if possessed! I emailed the support at Mywebsearch 3 times and explained how their ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Paul B. writes: " Hi Dennis! I recently downloaded a free Spyware removal program called AdAware 6.0. The problem is that I am not sure what settings are safe to remove and which ones are safe to omit after it scans my system? ... ... Can you help? " My response: I have received a number of related questions pertaining to this issue, so I will do my best to explain. RE: how does Spyware get identified? AdAware and similar Spyware removal tools work by comparing Spyware signatures against known offenders present in a database. A Spyware signature can be part of a file ... (view more)