Hi! I need some help

Hi! My name is Renee and I am a 34yo single mom of 4. I am having some major problems with my computer. Before I go into great detail, I have a question. I read the sticky Major Attitude wrote about doing basic scans before asking for support. However, my computer won't scan . I bought Spyware Doctor and tried to run it. I downloaded Ad-Aware and tried to run it. When I do a full system scan, it goes along great until the program scans my file c/windows/local settings. Then it terminates the program and I get a fatal exception message. So, I tried to scan just that folder and once again it terminated. Then I ran a full system scan without that folder included and it was able to finish. So, my question is.... what the heck is in that folder and how do I get rid of it? I deleted all the temp. internet junk in there and then scanned and it still crashed.

I want to scan everything like Major Attitude says to, however I know that none of the scans will run all the way with this darned problem file. Thanks for any help.

 

First of all, I want to welcome you to MG.
Someone much more knowledgable than I am should be coming along shortly to help you out.
In the mean time, what is your OS? I know that is something they will probably want to know.

Gal

 

Hi! Thanks for the welcome. I have windows 98. My computer is old and slow. But I can't afford a new one right now. Although my kids wish we had a new computer.

Renee

 

There isn't anything of particular note in the c/windows/local settings and sub folders except for some Microsoft application data related to Internet Explorer. Have you tried scanning in safe mode?

It maybe that doing an Internet Explorer repair can correct this but before we do, what are the other symptoms that you are experiencing in "having some major problems with my computer"?

 

Well, first let me say that the only protection I had is Norton 2000. I have never had a problem before. The other night when I went to bed my 15 yo son went online and was listening to music at a site called Xanga. When I got up in the morning and got online, I got a warning from Microsoft that there may be spyware on my pc... then started getting porno popups. The computer then went nuts, ie .... cursor was all over the place, pages wouldn't load, windows opened that I didn't click on. Things like that. I downloaded and bought Spyware Doctor and tried to scan like I said in my earlier post. And I did scan in safe mode and once again it shut down the program when it got to that folder.

I have downloaded all the programs that Major Attitude says to use to scan your pc with. But I know I have to fix this problem first. Any ideas? Thanks.

Renee

 

When you "deleted all the temp. internet junk in" "C:\Windows\Local Settings" did you also remove the index.dat file in "C:\Windows\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files\Content IE5"? If not, download CCleaner from here (http://majorgeeks.com/download4191.html) and select the options to clean Temporary Internet Files and to Delete the Index.dat files. Reboot back into Safe Mode and verify that the contents of the above directories are clean except (perhaps) Msimgsiz.dat located in "C:\Windows\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Internet Explorer" - this happens to be the only other file on my Windows 98 system. Perform a rescan to see if there is still a problem within the directory and sub-directories of "C:\Windows\Local Settings". Are there any other files within that directory tree?

 

Hi again! I didn't delete that file. I did just try to do the CClean but it is saying it cannot find the server.
However, after you first replied, I went ahead and downloaded IEfix. I am not a very patient person Anyway, after I ran that program I did a scan with Spyware Doctor again..... and it worked! Yeah!
Ok, so now that I have fixed that problem, should I now proceed to follow Major Attitudes scanning program. I do have all the programs downloaded and ready to go. Although I did try to do the Housecall scan and once again it shut down. Told me IE did an illegal something and shut down Hopefully I will get this working right again.

Renee

 

Yes and when you've finished make sure you install SpywareBlaster, SpywareGuard and have all the Windows Updates and updates for firewall and virus scanner. Norton 2000 seems a little old, you may wish to try Avast! or AVG, which are free and can be downloaded from here.