Security :: How To Uninstall Bunch Of Unwanted Junk
Jul 11, 2014
I installed a PDF metadata editor from the formerly respectable site Download.com (CNET). Turns out they joined the DARK side:
Despite me DECLINING all dodgy offers by the installer, it STILL installed a bunch of unwanted junk on my machine.
I've now spent an hour on and off trying to get rid of this junk. Just as I thought I was more or less done, I get an "Alert" from the "Microsoft Advanced System Protector" (yeah, right...)
I have of course checked in Add/Remove programs and uninstalled what I could find (although the uninstall hung).
I used HijackThis and deleted all the changes this junkware used. I am trying to restore homepages for my browsers.
I don't use antivirus, and I doubt it would have reacted to this junk which probably passes for real software.
How to spot and avoid installing potentially unwanted programs. This is a good example of all the hidden traps & pitfalls you have to watch out for when installing a new program.
How to spot and avoid installing potentially unwanted programs | PCWorld
Here are some tricks and traps to look out for during software installations.
It's already disabled but it still occupies some space nd maybe it's part still running in background. Once I had some instructions about uninstalling Windows Messenger from XP by hacking come config file and showing the component in Add/remove Windows features dialog. But i don't remember how this was done. Now need the similar thing about Defender and Security Central and UAC if possoble.
I have a bunch of directories, each one contains exactly 1 jpg file, What I would like to do is to rename all the files cover.jpg, but when I do search on *.jpg and try to rename, it renames every file to cover(1).jpg.
Is there a way I can rename the files without tedious folder-by-folder renaming?
I have 20 new, identical Windows 8 laptops to be set up with the same settings and applications. Can I set one up and disk-clone the rest or am I screwed?
how do I get this very important email out of the junk mail and into the regular mail so I can get to the link I need to get to?
then how do I set up this windows 8 so it's me and not this machine making the decisions about what is junk mail? I want to shut down the junk mail thing all together so I make all the decisions.
Somehow I have 2 junk folders in my Mail app on win 8.1. One is a bogus folder that I did not create. How can I delete it? I tried and nothing happens.
how do I get mail that comes in as junk to show up in the in box only. the website is an R rated site. do I need to adjust something so it does not show up as junk mail?
The Win 8.1 Mail app is showing two 'Junk' folders for my 'live.com' email accounts. One contains my junk mail, but clicking the extra folder just displays the 'busy' spinning icon and never opens the folder. How can I delete the extra folder? Opening my accounts with Outlook.com only has one junk folder. This problem showed up with the latest Windows 8.1 Update.
I can seem to delete or empty the file of my deleted or junk emails. I can individually do them by clicking the trash button, but then they go to the trash and I can empty that unless I go through each one. I don't have time to do this on 50-100 emails a day! I can empty through outlook but they are still in my windows 8 mail!
I am a traditionalist and so run permanently in "desktop" mode because I don't like the look and feel of the new Windows 8.
Ever since I installed Windows 8.1 a blank green Microsoft "Store" window pops up from time to time on my desktop. When I click on it, the green is replaced by a normal Store page advertising trending apps, etc.
This unwanted Store pop-up seems to appear at random intervals and is a real nuisance. I certainly never expected to get unwanted advertising pop-ups from a company like Microsoft!
My laptop is running Win 8.1 x64. On the same home network my PC (Win 7 Pro) is running a new Win 8 x86 install in a VM (VMware Player). Both were set up using the same Microsoft account rather than local accounts. What is sending me apoplectic is that if I change my desktop background on either system it causes the other to change too. If both systems have the same themes available then both will display the same theme. If not then the second system will display its default desktop theme.
I can only think that this is a completely unintended consequence of using a Microsoft account.
Windows 8 waits several seconds before it start my programs that are set to auto start. I would like to make Windows 8 behave like older variant. This new feature is of no value to me and annoying. The apps start too late and steal focus, or I just watch and wait stupidly for the apps to start while the system is basically idle... It's a lot quicke to start the apps manually lot of the, which of course defeats one main reason for auto-start.
Recently upgraded to Windows 8.1 on three PC's on home network but now I'm having a problem on my ASUS VivoTab Smart Tablet.
My main login screen has been setup to show three (3) users but shortly after upgrading, it started showing a fourth user. The user name for this fourth user is "zqtjerxnjfcz". When I clicked on it, it started the customizing process for a new user. As soon as I could I signed out and logged in under my own account and then deleted this new unwanted account but it keeps returning, usually after a restart or signing out and back in.
When I delete either the original or the duplicate, the other file is deleted as well and, when I restore the single example from the recycle bin, both are restored.
My own solution is:-
1) Drag and drop the original file onto its duplicate into the picture folder. 2) Stop creating files on the desktop.
However, I wonder if there is a better way of doing this that would allow me to create files on the desktop again. I often use the desktop to convert RAW photo files, prior to filing them in the picture folder, which may have something to do with this.
how to delete the masses of unwanted foreign 'system fonts' that came with my new Win 8.1 machine.
I know they don't slow up staring time in this version of Windows but they wreck your font selection in word processors. The 'hide' command is already on but it does nothing, they still show up in the font selection.
This system is:-
Asus T200 transformer Windows 8.1 system is fresh apart from installation of a start menu and word processor.
[I use 6 a month old desktop with XP as my main computer]
In the last couple of days the JUNK folder for the Windows 8.1 Mail app has not received any postings. I can see the email in the Junk folder if I use Outlook or my iphone. Unfortunately an important email was sent to the Junk folder and I missed it until I located it using Outlook. I have not changed any settings, as far as I know, prior to this problem starting.
I don't see any option to hide the updates which you don't want to install. In windows 7, one can simply right click and choose hide the update, but no such thing in windows 8.1.
My work's software is only compatible with Internet Explorer and I just upgraded to Windows 8.
Unfortunately not all features work in Internet Explorer 10 which comes packaged with Windows 8. Is there any way I can revert back to IE 9 or IE 8 using Windows 8?
Which registry settings should I change to set the top two default Windows rules back to 'Unrestricted' ?
I set up some rules in the local security policy some time ago when there was fuss in the news about the cryptolocker virus. They looked a lot like the rules above (I found that screenshot online as I can't take one myself, read on..)
Today I was installing some software that wanted access to the areas I restricted. I temporarily disabled the rules, then re-enabled them. Being a dumbass I also set the top two rules (which are Windows default rules) to Disallowed!
Over the following 10 minutes various aspects of my PC stopped working, telling me that the local security policy prevented access. I couldn't even get into the Control Panel or the Local Security Policy screen to change it back, once I realised what I had done. I rebooted the machine - it won't come back up
I've tried a system restore by booting from the installer on USB (which did not work, it grumbled that it could not restore due a file locked by anti-virus) so I think I've got two options:
Refresh my system using the Windows 8 tools - but I suspect that might leave the LSP rules in place, as it retains my settings & preferences.Hand edit the registry to correct the settings.
Option 2 is looking best, I can get into RegEdit from the recovery console, but I'm not sure what to edit and what to set it to? This is on Windows 8.1 Pro...
I came to some trouble installing CorelDraw software which apparently uses for it's setup launcher web active container performed by IE core. If I launch setup, the setup windows is evidently noninitialized showing the top warning band about active content being blocked for security reasons. Even allowing active content by selecting from the top bar menu doesn't make the setup continue. So now I'd need to temporarily bypass all IE's security checks, ie. allow everything. What I already did was browsing the security tab in IE options and allowing most of the choices in branches ActiveX controls and plugin modules + Scripting (Local Intranet). On Advanced tab I have checked in Security branch Allow execution of active content from CD discs on this computer + Allow execution of active content from files on this computer. Nothing of these affecting the installer to run (ie. I still see then active content blocking bar).
o.k. long story short before installing 8.1.1 in my real environment i tested it out extensively in vm. i found out that if you get past a certain point with the windows updates bitdefender will not install, if you install bd prior to a certain point it installs and works great even after you do the rest of the windows updates. How to get it installed and working correctly in a fully updated 8.1.1? i have eset smart security in, but i'd rather have my bitdefender.
I buy a new computer, all now come with windows 8.
I do not like it at all, it is so dumbed down and so difficult to use; I wish I could return to windows 7.
I have however over the last few months installed many of my old programs from windows 7. This was straight forward. It was also easy to uninstall them using the control panel.
Then suddenly, in the control panel window for uninstalling, many of these programs are not listed. Yes they are still working well, like Microsoft word and excel, but they do not show in the uninstall window.
Could my anti virus AVAST have anything to do with it.
How to I uninstall windows defender. I have disabled it however it is still running. I look in event log and it says unable to stop windows defender. It posts error 16 every 5 minutes. I have disabled it when I try to open it it says it is disabled. I really wouldn't care except several times a day my app will freeze. They always coincide with the windows defender error. I am running windows 8.1.
I understand how to uninstall a Windows 8 app from my computer but if I go into the "Your apps" option of the Windows 8 Store the app still appears as something I "own" (though, in this case, it happens to be free). What can I do to remove it permanently from my account? I do not want it showing up as an app that I own and is not yet installed on my computer.
Bought 8700 with win 8.1 on it not realizing the difference between it and the win 7 64 I use on my laptop. I run it in desktop mode. Twice I've signed on to live mail 2012 and all my email and subfolders have disappeared. Now I keep getting IE11 has stopped responding, can't find problem, must shut down. Never had any of these problems with my laptop or my old XP desktop. Any thoughts on un-installing win8.1 and installing a new Win 7 pro? Why did they stop support for XP
