Removing unwanted downloaded software

Hi... Seems I've been angered by a recent download I performed called GROKSTER. With this download came a whole slew of other programs primarily aimed at advertising. I have removed GROKSTER with an uninstall utilitie I have. Grokster was removed OK but the other programs were not. I have tried relentlessy to uninstall them which seems successful only upon rebooting windows, here they are again. I feel they have a registry entry which, upon rebooting, reloads them each time. How can I find these gremlins and get rid of them without re-formatting my hard drive? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks

 

The easiest way, is to restore the registry to the point before the software install.
Boot to DOS, and type: scanreg /fix
Choose the date of the day you did the install, and it should restore to the first boot that morning, before Grotsker ****.

 

That should be scanreg /restore to pick a previous saved registry.

scanreg /fix will repair some things in the registry but not what you're trying to fix.

You might also want to get Spybot - Search and Destroy and Adaware and run these on a regular basis to rid yourself of unwanted spyware.

 

Heh, you're right...it's been so long since I used 98, I've forgotten.
Another good point, Search & Destroy in conjunction with Adaware should rid you of those demons.

 

Make sure you update ad-aware and spybot - search and destroy as soon as you install them, and then run the update for both at least weekly so you have the latest definitions.

 

Thanks gentlemen..... What is the system risk when running scanreg/restore? Does the program ask you a date? I know the registry is backed every time you boot. Is this the source for restoring the registry from a previous time? After using the adware program, something was damaged to prevent me from going back on line.. ???? Anyhow, with help, the problem seemed to be winsock files in the registry and these were removed, reloaded and the ipconfig was redone. This re-established the internet. After this event I'm a little leary of adware.... Funny, sometimes when I boot for each day, the ad stuff doesn't load and sometimes it does. This is strange.

 

No it is not backed up every time you boot. This is miss-leading info provided by none other than Microsoft itself.

It is only backed once per calander day. And then only if windows it restarted in some way. And Scanregistry MUST be in the startup sequence.

And yes it is the source for restoring a previous registry. But if the programs involved were on the machine for more than five ( 5 ) days restoring will do no good.

Unless the default settings have been increased above the default 5.

BillyBob