~ Free Spirit ~ wrote:
~ Free Spirit ~ said:
There's an "Remove Hardware" icon in the try next to the clock. How
do I get rid of it? It's not showing up in msconfig and I don't
need it sitting there using up resources. The Dummies book doesn't
say.....
## THIS does not work since no window comes up on a right click. A
right-click says "Safely Remove Hardware" and that is all! I'm
"assuming" the Notification Area means the Icon.
This is C&P from the website:
If you have an USB device attached to your system, you will notice an
icon in the Notification area, which - when clicked - will give you
the option to Stop your hardware, before you unplug it.
It is possible that you never unplug this hardware. So how do you get
rid of the icon? As far as I know the only way is to right-click the
notification area, and selecting Properties. Under the Notification
area heading, click Customize. Find the Safely Remove Hardware icon
and select Always hide in the Behavior column next to it (press OK
and Apply to back out).
## This one requires "signing in" before they answer anything. I
don't "sign in" anywhere anymore since I'm soon swamped with NEW spam.
## This one also requires "signing in" before getting any answers. I
don't "sign in" anymore since they seem to sell people's email
addresses to spammers.
I thought some one on here would surely KNOW how to remove this
unwanted icon from XP-Home. Both a right and left click bring up a
small white bubble widow that says "Safely Remove Hardware." There
is NOTHING else to click.
None of them required any sign in...
My guess is you are also infected with MUCH spyware..
Turn on that firewall...
http://www.microsoft.com/WindowsXP/home/using/howto/homenet/icf.asp
If you are getting "Messenger Service" popups - this will also remedy those.
(If you have AOL, you will have to get a third party firewall. IMHO -
another reason NOT to use AOL. Although, I suggest highly that if you want
to get better protection, you should get a third party Firewall anyway, it
still does nothing for my AOL dislike.)
Make sure you have all the updates (critical) installed from:
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/
(Scan for updates, Review and Install)
Get rid of the spy/ad/mal-ware..
(Yes - using MORE than one of these.. I recommend at least the first
three.)
Spybot Search and Destroy
http://www.safer-networking.org/
Lavasoft AdAware
http://www.lavasoft.de
Hijack This!
(For browser Hijacks - also look into CWS Shredder)
http://mjc1.com/mirror/hjt/
SpywareBlaster (to help prevent getting reinfected)
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html
And Assortment of Others:
http://www.merijn.org/downloads.html
After you cleanup your PC somewhat of spy/ad/mal-ware, verify your antivirus
software is updated and run a full scan of your computer. If you have no
antivirus software - get one NOW!
http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_dwnl_free.php
Empty your Temporary Internet Files and shrink the size it stores to about
80-120MB..
- Open ONE copy of Internet Explorer.
- Select TOOLS -> Internet Options.
- Under the General tab in the "Temporary Internet Files" section, do the
following:
- Click on "Delete Cookies" (click OK)
- Click on "Settings" and change the "Amount of disk space to use:" to
something between 80MB and 120MB. (Betting it is MUCH larger right now.)
- Click OK.
- Click on "Delete Files" and select to "Delete all offline contents"
(the checkbox) and click OK. (If you had a LOT, this could take 2-10 minutes
or more.)
- Once it is done, click OK, close Internet Explorer, re-open Internet
Explorer.
Uninstall any software you do not use often/ever. (If you have something
installed but never use it, uninstall it. If you go through Control
Panel -> Add/Remove Programs and see things you seldom if ever use, it is to
your advantage to remove it.)
