Junk accumulating on my hard-drive

  • Thread starter Thread starter Gary
  • Start date Start date
G

Gary

My operating system is Windows XP home. I was web-surfing today, and a
few times a few different web-sites seemd to be trying to install
Microsoft Outlook on my computer, probably in preparation for some
scam. I stopped it each time. Later I noticed that my hard-drive had
an extra 200 megabytes or so of I don't know what kind of junk
installed on it. I also don't know where the stuff is hiding, if it's
dangerous or merely wastful junk.

I erase internet explorers temporary files regularly, so I know that's
notwhat it is

Does anyone have an idea of what it is, where it might be hiding and
how I can safely erase it?
 
Hi,

Check these folders for excess files that can be safely deleted:

C:\Windows\Temp
C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\local settings\temp

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
 
Aside from emptying the IE temp folder, delete the contents of c:\documents
and settings\your user name folder\local settings\temp as well. If you still
have something that doesn't seem right, clean out the locations mentioned above
and delete the contents of c:\windows\prefetch.

If still odd happenings are going on, Outlook IIRC is part of MS Word and if
you have it installed you may have inadvertently told it somewhere along the
line to install Outlook. Either run the Word install disk and perform a custom
install where you can add/remove components.
Or
Start > Settings > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs.
Hilite an Office app or Word.
Select to remove.
You will be given the same choices as if run by the install disk.

--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375
 
Brian A. said:
Aside from emptying the IE temp folder, delete the contents of
c:\documents and settings\your user name folder\local settings\temp as
well. If you still have something that doesn't seem right, clean out the
locations mentioned above and delete the contents of c:\windows\prefetch.

If still odd happenings are going on, Outlook IIRC is part of MS Word and
if you have it installed you may have inadvertently told it somewhere
along the line to install Outlook. Either run the Word install disk and
perform a custom install where you can add/remove components.
Or
Click to expand...

MS Outlook is part of MS Office but not part of MS Word.
Regards Mike.
 
Gary said:
My operating system is Windows XP home. I was web-surfing today, and a
few times a few different web-sites seemd to be trying to install
Microsoft Outlook on my computer, probably in preparation for some
scam. I stopped it each time. Later I noticed that my hard-drive had
an extra 200 megabytes or so of I don't know what kind of junk
installed on it. I also don't know where the stuff is hiding, if it's
dangerous or merely wastful junk.

I erase internet explorers temporary files regularly, so I know that's
notwhat it is

Does anyone have an idea of what it is, where it might be hiding and
how I can safely erase it?
Click to expand...

Help with Hijackware
All MS - MVP Sites.
http://aumha.org/a/parasite.htm
(http://aumha.org/a/quickfix.htm)
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware
(http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm)
(http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/darnit.html)
(http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k/Malware_Defence.htm)

Unexplained computer behavior may be caused by deceptive software.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/827315
 
Gary said:
My operating system is Windows XP home. I was web-surfing today, and a
few times a few different web-sites seemd to be trying to install
Microsoft Outlook on my computer, probably in preparation for some
scam. I stopped it each time. Later I noticed that my hard-drive had
an extra 200 megabytes or so of I don't know what kind of junk
installed on it. I also don't know where the stuff is hiding, if it's
dangerous or merely wastful junk.

I erase internet explorers temporary files regularly, so I know that's
notwhat it is

Does anyone have an idea of what it is, where it might be hiding and
how I can safely erase it?
Click to expand...

Get ccleaner, www.ccleaner.com. Click the Analyse button, and you will see
exactly where all this stuff is. You can then click the Run button to get
rid of it. You might find that the default settings are a bit extensive
for you.

Once this is installed and configured the way you want it, you can run it
from a right-click on the Recycle Bin.

HTH
-pk
 
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