Fantom

Hi guys, just wondered if anyone could help me. Once upon a time my computer was wonderful, absolutely perfect. But then **** happens and now theres a couple of really irritating things that I cant fix. Firstly, I never used to have to log in, but one day, I had to! I run XP and it used to just load up on to the desktop. Then one day it came up asking for a password and now I have to log in everytime I switch it on. Whats that all about? I assume thats something to do with a windows update or something?? Anyway, forget about that as the most irritating problem that also magically started happening, is everytime windows loads up, it opens internet explorer. It never used to, but for the last few months it has. And I cant find out how to stop it!! Theres nothing in the options that I can find about "open on startup" or anything like that. Under the start menu in "startup" is the Microsoft windows shortcut bar, and thats it.............

Does anyone have any ideas please ?
These may sound like petty problems, but trust me, they are very annoying!

Cheers
Steve

EP82

Spyware i'm afraid.

Do you have Anti-Virus and anti-spyware aps installed?

Fantom

hmmmmm. It only loads up my default page, nothing dodgy or anything.
I have the latest version of adaware and that hasnt stopped it Not sure what the next port of call is

D16GER

Okay, I agree you have spyware. And btw Adaware is now crap. They are in cahoots with some companies and as such, have agreed not to detect their crap!

You need to get Spybot and Spywareblaster. Run Spybot first to clear the spyware, then install Spywareblaster. It runs in the background, stopping spyware getting in.

I would also advise a virus scan. I am sure you have virus software, but a lot of them let some virii past. Go to Kaspersky.com and run their online scan. If it doesn't find anything, then you are clean.

As for the logon issue, go to run, type 'control userpasswords2' Then remove the tick from the box 'users must enter a.........' and that should fix the logon.

Fantom

ok mate, I've done the log on businees so hopefully that will work. Thanks
I recently ran a virus scan with Panda software, so should be clean of viruses. I will have a look at the spyware thing some time and hopefully sort that cheers for your help

Steve

D16GER

No worries, I would still recommend the Kaspersky scan though. It is one of the best detection engines around and finds all sorts that others miss.

D16GER

Oh, btw...

Spybot here

SpywareBlaster here

Kaspersky Scan here

There you go, I have almost done the work for ya

Fantom

ok mate, spybot found loads of stuff, but didnt stop it loading up internet explorer. The login thing worked but it took me into the administrator account. didnt even know I had one of these. Managed to log back out and back into my own account. It wont let me delete the admin account. I also have a user account under the name of ASPNET??? what the hell is that? sounds dodgy!!!!!

Cheers for advice.............steve

Fantom

any idea how to get rid of the microsoft security centre which now keeps telling me im not using the firewall??? I managed to get rid of this before.... I hate bloody icons in the bottom right hand corner!!!

Daz34

http://www.mvps.org/marksxp/WindowsXP/aspdot.php



START - CONTROL PANEL - SECURITY CENTER - Change the way Security Center alerts me - uncheck box.

D16GER

Yeah, the ASPNET account is nothing to worry about.

You cannot delete the Admin account as it is for system restore/recovery purposes.

Oh and as for the logon, here is what you need to do, sorry I wasn't thinking about the admin thing earlier....

Go to run and type 'control userpasswords2'

clear the 'Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer' check box.

Click Apply

Enter your user name and password that should be used to logon automatically in the dialog box that appears.

Click OK

Go to Control Panel>User Accounts>Change the Way Users Log On and Off

Uncheck 'Use the Welcome Screen' and 'Use Fast User Switching'

Fantom

wooo hooo, login screen fixed
just doing the kaspersky scan thing now........ Also installed spywareblaster. Wish they put all this stuff in Windows as standard. Would certainly help stop all the constant virus and spyware worries!

Are you sure there is no tick box that says "load ie6 on startup" or anything like that? My dad reckons on his windows ME under system information there is a tab for startup which showed everything the computer loads when it loads up windows???? wheres that screen on xp??

Cheers for your help D16GER

Steve

Fantom

ok, kaspersky found 4 viruses and 17 infected files. But it doesnt remove or fix them!!! just gives me the option to do a new scan!!! Its no use knowing that I have viruses if it doesnt fix them Am i doing it wrong??

D16GER

Okay, to carify, there is not an option for IE to load on startup.

To see the list of items that load on startup, go to run and type 'msconfig'

The last tab is the startup list.

As for Kaspersky, sorry I didn't realise that, perhaps thats a limitation of the online scanner.

You could always download the trial version of their virus scanner and let it work it's magic. Just be sure to disable or remove your existing one first, then you can reinstall it afterwards again.

Get Kaspersky's Demo here

Good luck, you are nearly there.

D16GER

Oh and here is instructions to remove a browser hijack, which you may have.

You need to use Hijack this to perform that process.

But, get the Kaspersky trial and run it first as it should cure the problem.

Fantom

ok, problem solved!!! wooooooooooooo

iexplore was in the startup list so i now run with selective startup and wahey it doesnt load it anymore.. If it starts doing it again then I will try the other things you suggested.

Cheers d16ger

Steve
Case Closed

D16GER

No probs. Just dont forget to get those virii removed!