Computer Help?

[Daisies_22]

I'm not sure if this is in the right forum. If it's not, I apologize and would appreciate this being moved to where it needs to be. Thank you!

I tried to research this first but could'nt find what I needed. What I need help with is this:
I have a corrupt file called "stopzilla (anti spy) that I cannot remove. Any thoughts?

I loaded a program called Free Ram Memory saver (or something like that) and it does'nt even show up in my programs for me to try to remove it. It seems to be messing up my computer even more so than it already is.

Also, how do you remove sites in your address browser? Mine goes on and on, full of sites I no longer visit and want to remove them. Is this possible?

Lastly, my computer seems to freeze up at the point in which it reads "Windows is now shutting down" and never gets to the point in which it reads "It is now safe to turn your computer off".

I appreciate any helpful advice, thank you!

 

[belladonuts]

download panda software from pandasoftware.com

it usually does a very good job of finding "evil" programs running on the computer without your knowledge, also detects and deletes viruses

 

[Ljbonobo]

I'm not sure if this is in the right forum. If it's not, I apologize and would appreciate this being moved to where it needs to be. Thank you!

I tried to research this first but could'nt find what I needed. What I need help with is this:
I have a corrupt file called "stopzilla (anti spy) that I cannot remove. Any thoughts?

I loaded a program called Free Ram Memory saver (or something like that) and it does'nt even show up in my programs for me to try to remove it. It seems to be messing up my computer even more so than it already is.

Also, how do you remove sites in your address browser? Mine goes on and on, full of sites I no longer visit and want to remove them. Is this possible?

Lastly, my computer seems to freeze up at the point in which it reads "Windows is now shutting down" and never gets to the point in which it reads "It is now safe to turn your computer off".

I appreciate any helpful advice, thank you!

I googled Stopzilla and its a antispyware program that seems to cost something to get. Here is their support website http://www.stopzilla.com/support/support.aspx

For the free ram saver program the exact name of the program is needed for me to google it to find a support page for you. One thing I did see in the stopzilla stuff I read is that it can delete files and that you can't then get them back, perhaps it tried to remove your ram saver program? Do you remember?

For the address browser what browser do you use? If you use IE, then go to tools, internet options and then clear your history and it'll clear the address bar.

For your pc not shutting down completely, that could be a number of things, what version of windows are you using? If it was my pc, i would reformat and start anew, but that's a pretty large pc tech step for someone who is not very computer literate. I don't know how much it costs at a pc tech place either, sorry. Hopefully Weird Harold will comment on this, he's a pretty good pc genius.

 

[Daisies_22]

Thanks to both of you, very much.

I'm running Win98, my browser is IE 6.0 and I know all about internet options and history. I have my history set to "0 days" so there shouldn't be anything in it other than what I'm currently doing. Yet, I have about 20 something sites in my browser.
All I know about stopzilla ia that when I boot the computer, at the bottom of the page it says something like C: and then program files/common files/stopzilla and it just sits there about 2 minutes before it goes to the next screen to ask for my password. t has said before that it was corrupted, so I don't know what to do. Add/Remove programs doesn't work.
The Free Ram thing is something I can't remember the name of because I always disable it when my desk top is loading. I'll have to reboot to answer that.

I just can't figure this out.

 

[southerntierguy]

Thanks to both of you, very much.

I'm running Win98, my browser is IE 6.0 and I know all about internet options and history. I have my history set to "0 days" so there shouldn't be anything in it other than what I'm currently doing. Yet, I have about 20 something sites in my browser.
All I know about stopzilla ia that when I boot the computer, at the bottom of the page it says something like C: and then program files/common files/stopzilla and it just sits there about 2 minutes before it goes to the next screen to ask for my password. t has said before that it was corrupted, so I don't know what to do. Add/Remove programs doesn't work.
The Free Ram thing is something I can't remember the name of because I always disable it when my desk top is loading. I'll have to reboot to answer that.

I just can't figure this out.

Are you able to do the following:

Type this in the Run dialog box exactly (Or copy and paste... you MUST include the first quotation mark all the way thru clean):
"C:\Program Files\STOPzilla!\SZUninstall.exe" /clean
that will completley remove it.

 

[Ljbonobo]

Thanks to both of you, very much.

I'm running Win98, my browser is IE 6.0 and I know all about internet options and history. I have my history set to "0 days" so there shouldn't be anything in it other than what I'm currently doing. Yet, I have about 20 something sites in my browser.
All I know about stopzilla ia that when I boot the computer, at the bottom of the page it says something like C: and then program files/common files/stopzilla and it just sits there about 2 minutes before it goes to the next screen to ask for my password. t has said before that it was corrupted, so I don't know what to do. Add/Remove programs doesn't work.
The Free Ram thing is something I can't remember the name of because I always disable it when my desk top is loading. I'll have to reboot to answer that.

I just can't figure this out.

If you hit the clear history button it'll clear out the sites you've typed into the address bar.

 

[Apollo6470]

While the following people gave fine examples of how to get rid of those nasty programs, here are a couple of ways to prevent it.

First off your using IE, stop using that Web Browser and step up to the new generation with Firefox, you can get it free at http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

Also get some free anti spy programs, Nortons Anti Virus doesn't do that well I find. Try Spyware Search and Destroy or my personal favorate Ad-Aware.

 

[DemonOuterverse]

Believe it or not...I'm going to recomend the Microsoft Anti-Spyware BETA (Formerly GIANT Anti-Spyware). http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx

Beleive it or not, it's actually pretty good. It seems to pick up things that AdAware SE and Spybot don't. It also has built-in anti browser-hijacking (seems to work with a moderate degree of success.)

But all in all, Firefox (http://www.mozilla.org) is the better way to go. Don't expect it to be very reliable on popups anymore, but when it comes to no spyware it's aces (No ActiveX crap).

 

[bholderman]

Thanks to both of you, very much.

I'm running Win98, my browser is IE 6.0 and I know all about internet options and history. I have my history set to "0 days" so there shouldn't be anything in it other than what I'm currently doing. Yet, I have about 20 something sites in my browser.
All I know about stopzilla ia that when I boot the computer, at the bottom of the page it says something like C: and then program files/common files/stopzilla and it just sits there about 2 minutes before it goes to the next screen to ask for my password. t has said before that it was corrupted, so I don't know what to do. Add/Remove programs doesn't work.
The Free Ram thing is something I can't remember the name of because I always disable it when my desk top is loading. I'll have to reboot to answer that.

I just can't figure this out.

One trick I've commonly used is simply booting up in SAFE MODE. Thats worked fairly often with kind of little irritation.

You can also try Ad-aware: Ad-aware

By the previous post, it looks like there is confusion over it being spyware or anti-spyware, you can also see if its removable through the "Remove Programs" sectin of Windows Control Panel.

 

[Daisies_22]

While the following people gave fine examples of how to get rid of those nasty programs, here are a couple of ways to prevent it.

First off your using IE, stop using that Web Browser and step up to the new generation with Firefox, you can get it free at http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/

Also get some free anti spy programs, Nortons Anti Virus doesn't do that well I find. Try Spyware Search and Destroy or my personal favorate Ad-Aware.

Thank you very much, but I'm not sure in which order to do the browser part. First, how do I get rid of it, and then should I load firefox first, or while I still have IE? I only have a small amount of memory. I'm guessing it won't support both at the same time?
If I remove IE first, how do I get to Firefox to load?

I do have search and destroy but it doesn't run properly. It gets stuck and I have to stop the process.

No amount of clearing my history or cookies will get this junk out of my address bar! Again, thank you all for the help.

 

[elfin_odalisque]

Thank you very much, but I'm not sure in which order to do the browser part. First, how do I get rid of it, and then should I load firefox first, or while I still have IE? I only have a small amount of memory. I'm guessing it won't support both at the same time?
If I remove IE first, how do I get to Firefox to load?

I do have search and destroy but it doesn't run properly. It gets stuck and I have to stop the process.

No amount of clearing my history or cookies will get this junk out of my address bar! Again, thank you all for the help.

Time to come out of the closet.

I have the same problems. All daily history clears but whatecer I try I'm still left with a residue of old sites in the address bar history, like stickies.

Also, is there any way of getting rid of Google search history? Each letter now throws up pages of old searches and is getting boring.

 

[DemonOuterverse]

Thank you very much, but I'm not sure in which order to do the browser part. First, how do I get rid of it, and then should I load firefox first, or while I still have IE? I only have a small amount of memory. I'm guessing it won't support both at the same time?
If I remove IE first, how do I get to Firefox to load?

I do have search and destroy but it doesn't run properly. It gets stuck and I have to stop the process.

No amount of clearing my history or cookies will get this junk out of my address bar! Again, thank you all for the help.

Sorry, been on hiatus for a while.

You can't "get rid" of MSIE. Mainly becuase it's integrated into Windows & still needed for Windows Update. As far as Firefox, when you run it for the first time it will ask if you want to make it the default browser. If you want to get rid of the MSIE "E", you can either delete it (usually) or go to Program Access & Defaults in Add & Remove Programs and deny it access.

The addess bar will always save addresses you type, but setting "Days to keep History" to 0 (zero) should clean them out as soon as you close the browser. Unfortunately they will be there as long as the browser is open. For stuff saved in Google searches and like that, under "Options..." there's an option to turn off AutoComplete. MSIE sticks it in the "Content" section, while Firefox has it under "Privacy". Turning this off should stop thing typed in forms from being saved.

 

[HornyHenry]

Try:

Tools, Internet Options, Clear History

 

[Xenolan]

I happen to be an IT guy with MCSE training. This is what I recommend:

First, to get rid of what you have, make use of two utilities: AdAware SE (previously mentioned) and Spybot Search & Destroy. I suppose the Microsoft Anti-spyware is also fairly harmless, but I don't think it does much good either. Here's the important thing: NEVER make use of a free anti-spyware program that is not one of the above three. Other programs can be worse than what they claim to eliminate. (Especially, do not fall for pop-up windows that say you have spyware and "Click here to remove". Legitimate anti-spyware programs do not need to use such tactics.)

After you load both of these programs, make sure they are fully updated, and then run them one at a time (I usually run AdAware first, but that's just me). Eliminate everything they find. If you are using certain free programs that require spyware, you will lose them, but you're better off that way.

For preventative care, load and use Firefox or Netscape, and use that for web browsing instead of IE. I only use IE for Windows Updates (something that, as a '98 user, I don't think you need to worry about anyway).

Finally, do not click on pop-up windows and avoid free contests, IQ tests, smilies, and really any kind of software that you didn't specifically go looking for. It's 98% crap, it wastes RAM and other resources on your machine, and you really don't need it.

Good luck!

 

[pike_7]

Try Ccleaner

www.ccleaner.com

It is a great freeware program.