I have a PITA computer problem...

[Candyman]

OK, here's the deal. First off, I am a computer novice so I don't know too much. But on my mom's machine, whenever I go to start my dialup, this other program starts. It seems to do the same as my dialup program. Says it's dialing and connecting. But it's only visible on the toolbar at the bottom of the screen. When I click on it, nothing happens. If I right click on it, no menu comes up so I can't close it. I'm pretty sure it started doing this right after I loaded Kazaa. I uninstalled Kazaa and it's still there. I even ran AdAware 6.0 and that didn't do anything. It's this little box that has a purple megaphone in it. Anyone know what this is and how to get rid of it?

 

[FastEddy]

From your start menu > settings > Task-bar and Start menu > advanced > remove >

Find startup in the tree and see if there is any unwanted programs loading up. If not try this little app.

http://download.com.com/3000-2094-8050438.html?tag=lst-0-1
Dont delete anything you not sure of.
If you have any questions post the paths and someone will know what they are.

 

[TwiZtiD25]

Or you can go to start menu/ run/ in the run box type in msconfig, and you should be able to disable any program you want by selecting or deselecting a check box.

 

[pacers40]

Try using Spybot on your machine, You can get it from downloads.com IMO it works better than AdAware.

 

[FastEddy]

Originally posted by TwiZtiD25
Or you can go to start menu/ run/ in the run box type in msconfig, and you should be able to disable any program you want by selecting or deselecting a check box.

Depends on what OS he is using. MSconfig is only good up to ME not 2000 or XP.

 

[WoodiE]

Actually MSconfig does work on windows XP, but NOT Windows 2000.


-Michael

 

[Candyman]

Sorry guys, forgot to tell you she's got Windows 98.

I check both Eddy's and Twiztid's stuff and surprisingly there's still some residue of Kazaa left over so I'm going to try that.

 

[WoodiE]

There is one place that will clear it out completely I'm very sure, though this place is the LAST place anybody that doesn't know much about computers should be, and that place is the registry. Delete or even edit one wrong entry and you'll find yourself reinstalling windows.

What I will recommend doing it opening Regedit via Start -> Run -> Type in: regedit -> then hit OK.

From there click once on My Computer in the Regedit program then goto Edit -> Find -> Type in Kazaa any entries found delete them.

Also take note of the directories of which you find entries for Kazaa so you can go back in windows explorer and delete those too.

Again I can not stress how much caution you need to be in when deleting or editing any entires in the registry.


-Michael

 

[FastEddy]

Backup your reg first.
Don't say I didn't tell you...

 

[robriguez]

Here are a few links that will help you with backing up then restoring the registry if you make a mistake:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;183887

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;256419

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;221512

 

[Candyman]

Well, the first round of advice worked. I didn't need to scour the registry to get it to stop. I just de-clicked any Kazaa stuff in the areas that Eddy and Twiztid recommended and it's fine. Thank you all for your advice.

 

[TwiZtiD25]

No problem, I'm glad you got it strait.