BulletCatcher

I work for a hotel and we provide a public terminal for guest to check their email, surf and what not in our lobby.

i usually run ad-aware and spybot at least once a week as well as go through and remove any programs that our guests decide are 'must haves' but are really just crap (i.e. weatherbug, turbo download, AOL chat, etc..).

I just recently returned from a 2 week vacation to find that no one else bothered to keep it clean while I was gone. In fact, when I arrived at work today the computer would only boot into Safe mode and I guess it had been like that for the last 5 days. So I start going through removing a ton of shit. I decided to start with removing unnessassarty programs first and worry about getting it reconnected to the network last. Once I was done with that I ran Ad-Aware and it found....Drum Roll.......4,437 files! I was stunned. I didn't even think that it was possible to have that much on one system.

Anyway, the problem is, when I go to quarintine and delete these files, the computer hard locks. Same with Spybot. I guess there's just so much on there that it's overloading the system trying to get rid of it.

Is there a way to remove the junk files in batches without having to go in and select each one by hand? The only options Ad-Aware and Spybot give me are 'select all' and one by one. Any help will be greatly appreciated!

saltfish

Some options...

Flush your disk cache first.
Delete all your cookies.
Run AAW, set priority to HIGH, (assuming you're running NT/2k/XP)

The number of junk files should be lowerd dramaticially.


Let me know how well it works.

-SF

CS733t

__________________
So tired now of paying my dues
I start out strong but then I always lose
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It's such a waste of time

BulletCatcher

Thanks for the suggestions saltfish. I have already cleared the cache and cookies. This particular computer is running Win98 SE. It's only a 433mhz Celeron with 128MB RAM and 10GB HD. We tried to install WinXP awhile back but it just barely crawled along.

I know one of the problems is that we have IE security set to low. We had to do this because people were having a problem connecting to certain sites like Yahoo and MSN to check their mail when we set it higher. I know there are other ways to go about correcting this but this terminal is really not much more than an after thought. We had a few requests for this amenity and an extra computer lying around so I'm about the only one, besides the guests, who even cares if it's working or not.

Thank you too CS733t but I am already running Ad-Aware with the latest reference file.

cheerios

Bullet: I'm guessing the best thing to do would be just to remove a few at a time. sounds like a labor of love... may just be better to wipe it and start fresh... good luck!

Prophecy

another opinon is to run a custom scan with ad-aware so it only scans your registry. Then you could run a scan so it searches everything but your registry. Etc.

I have a program I run called Spy Hunter that allows me to scan sections a lot easier than Ad-aware does. The only problem with Spy Hunter is that it isn't free, only the "scanner" is free for download.

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La Fede È Il Mio Schermo,
Non salti Ciecamente In Incertezza,
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split lickety

seems easy enough to me. let ad aware run until it catches 500 or so bugs then hit abort. since you are only aborting the scan, you can now proceed to the quarentine/delete options. delete your bugs and start over... you may have to do it ten times but it seems less tedious than doing all 4,437 one by one.

Atomsk

sometimes if you get nailed with some new spyware that isn't listed yet and your a hardcore paranoid like me who surfs his running processes and outgoing network connections all the time you might find it hard identifying and removing them. i have a couple of software programs that really help identify these guys who change their names and have multiple .exe's running and reloading when you kill others. first program is called process explorer which will give you REAL information about what the process is doing and running. the next is called dependancy walker which you can then look at those exe's you've found and figure out what dll's they are using so you can break them nice and solid ;P if anyone needs some help finding these programs just PM me and i can help out.

Modo

Have you tried HighJack This from http://www.spywareinfo.com ?

The_Dude

Here is a suggestion.

1) Reinstall windows
2) Install all the necessary program that you want on it.

3) Set a restore point and restore the pc back to the restore point every week.

__________________
"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." - Darrel K Royal

BulletCatcher

Well I went in and did what split lickety suggested and removed them 400 - 500 at a time. Took me about 3 hours to get rid of them all.

Thanks for the help and for the links to other programs to try.

Atomsk--- I'm intrested in the programs you mentioned, not just for this work computer but for home as well.

Prophecy

http://www.answersthatwork.com/Taskl...s/tasklist.htm

That's a good site to tell you what alot of those tasks running in your task manger are and what they do.

__________________
La Disciplina È La Mia Spada,
La Fede È Il Mio Schermo,
Non salti Ciecamente In Incertezza,
E Potete Raccogliere Le Ricompense.

blockmaan2000

Try adaware from lavasoft. Works for me.





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