Anti_Freak_Machine said:
Folks, look- Its not a problem with hijacked
homepages/spyware/exploits, its a problem with legitimate software
adding links to my favorites list in IE. For example- I recently gave
1st page 2000 a shot- It added a few links to its homepage to my
favorites list in IE. Seeing as how I rarely use IE, I was kinda
surprised to see links to pages for software I installed.
I use programs like adaware, spyware blaster and a firewall. The
problem is coming from regular old software that I install. Its more of
an annoyance, so thats why I asked. Thanks for all the input though.
Installers add a lot of unneeded krap. They add much krap to the registry,
as well as to the drive - with tons of vain shortcuts spewed all over the
drive. So you're seeing a variation of the same general kind of behavior.
I find it best to deal with an installation in two stages. That first stage
is the one where I am forced to use an installer, in order to get at the
program files. The second stage is to take a log of what gets written to
the registry when the program is actually run.
To take the two-stage approach, there are different ways to go about it.
One is that you could enlist Total Uninstall (pricelessware.org). Have
TUN monitor the installer. Then, very next step, have TUN do an uninstall
on everything the installer did to the registry. Plus have it remove the
extra .lnks on the startmenu, toolbars, desktop -- and those additional
..urls you're finding getting pushed into your msie favs folder. If there
were personal DLLs the installer put into the system directory, move those
into the program's folder, which is where they belong.
After you've cleaned up after the installer, you will take the TUN snapshot
that is for the long-term (to enable you to one day cleanly uninstall the
program). Take the "before shot" right before you run the program for the
first time. Take the "after shot" once you're done poking around with the
program a bit, including dealing with whatever options dialog it might have
regarding whether it is given associations.
Cases where the program won't run properly due to your not keep the registry
entries put in by the installer? Very rare, quite less than 1/200.
It's with very little exception that executables tend to write all the
registry entries they want, when not exist, as part of their launch process.
Further, most usually know how to look within their directory when they
launch, and register whatever supporting DLLs and OCXs they might use.
Occasionally, when having bypassed what an installer did, you might need
to register a DLL yourself. Windows is shipped with a commandline program
to do this (REGSVR32.EXE). I find the easiest method is to have the
register/unregister command configured on the explorer menu.
Note, having to do this last, it's not majority, but it is recurrent. For
those who don't like the idea, you could still keep the routine of using the
two-stage approach to installers. Then for the occasional case where you
found you the program did not run properly, say because of the program's DLLs
needing to be registered, go ahead and start back again. Rerun the installer,
this time letting its writes to your registry stay on. (Of course, still kill
off all the installer's spew in the way of .lnks and .urls.)
