removing freeze.com from system

  • Thread starter Thread starter clueless
  • Start date Start date
C

clueless

My boyfriend installed a 3D falling leaves screensaver from freeze.com, and
then decided he didn't want it. I tried uninstalling it, but I still see
references to it. And when I try to uninstall it now, I get the message
"INSTALL.LOG does not exist". What can I do?
 
clueless said:
My boyfriend installed a 3D falling leaves screensaver from freeze.com, and
then decided he didn't want it. I tried uninstalling it, but I still see
references to it. And when I try to uninstall it now, I get the message
"INSTALL.LOG does not exist". What can I do?
Click to expand...

Freeze.com is a well-known source of malware. Screensavers are also a
well-known source of malware since they are actually programs. The
normal fix for missing install.logs is to reinstall the program and then
uninstall it. In cases where malware may be present, I don't suggest
doing this. Clean up the computer instead.

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

Standard disclaimer: I can't see and test your computer myself, so these
are just suggestions based on many years of being a professional
computer tech; suggestions based on what you've written. You should not
take my suggestions as a definitive diagnosis. If you can't do the work
yourself (and there is no shame in admitting this isn't your cup of
tea), take the machine to a professional computer repair shop (not your
local equivalent of BigComputerStore/GeekSquad). Please be aware that
not all local shops are skilled at removing malware and even if they
are, your computer may be so infested that Windows will need to be
clean-installed. If possible, have all your data backed up before you
take the machine into a shop.


Malke
 
have you checked back at freeze.com to see if they have an uninstaller.
the web page is unavailable to me to check.

instead of looking for a $$$ SHOP to help. Geek Squad is known for stealing personal data.

first check to see if there is a computer club in your area that might have someone that can help.
check library and schools for a club.




(e-mail address removed)



My boyfriend installed a 3D falling leaves screensaver from freeze.com, and
then decided he didn't want it. I tried uninstalling it, but I still see
references to it. And when I try to uninstall it now, I get the message
"INSTALL.LOG does not exist". What can I do?
 
instead of looking for a $$$ SHOP to help. Geek Squad is known for stealing
personal data.
Click to expand...

Mikey, what evidence do you have for Geek Squad stealing personal data?
Certainly they have hired a few bad apples, but in general, Geek Squad is a
reputable company, owned by Best Buy, one of the biggest, and best respected
electronics chains in the U.S.
 
been reported in major computer magazines.
they took computers to particular shops and discovered this problem.

just because it is owned by best buy does not automatically make it honest.


similar case to taking a disabled car to auto repair shops to check their honesty.



(e-mail address removed)



Jesper said:
instead of looking for a $$$ SHOP to help. Geek Squad is known for stealing
personal data.
Click to expand...

Mikey, what evidence do you have for Geek Squad stealing personal data?
Certainly they have hired a few bad apples, but in general, Geek Squad is a
reputable company, owned by Best Buy, one of the biggest, and best respected
electronics chains in the U.S.
 
Jesper they do
I have many clients that come to me after going to Geek Squad, and one of
them told me they took his personal data but because it was only heresay he
cannot prosecute.
Also they are very out for the buck.
I have a client that went to Geek Squard because his computer was running
very slow.
They said he had a virus and charged him $79.99 to remove it.
A few weeks later the computer was back to a crawl. they wanted another
$79.99 just to look at it.
He brought it to me to see what I could do.
First- he is running xp home sp2- 160gig hd- with 256memory.
Mega programs on it included, Office 2007, Quicken, Turbo Tax, Adobe
elements
Umm as soon as I saw how much memory he has, I suggested to update that
first.
I put him at 1gig and the computer now flies.
His computer could go up to 2gigs but with xp I did not think he needed to
go that high.
Besides it is 4yrs old.
What I am amazed at is how come Geek Squad never checked the memory?
and worse Geek squad only quarrantined the virus but never looked to see
where it was and remove it.
Turned out the virus was in a system restore file which if i had that
computer would have been real easy to remove. and which I did once i
updated his memory.
He was running an outdated Norton Antivirus and virus updates were not done
for 6mths- how come they did not tell him that either? They actually gave
him back it in the exact way they had it and did not remove the old antivrus
program but told him he should get a newer version which thank goodness he
did not listen to them. I put AVG free on once I updated the memory because
it was running so slow I wanted to wait till I had more memory before i
started running another program on it and it found 5 more viruses and 5
trojans, which of course i removed---DUH?

In fact I would say half my clients come from Geek Squad, they give me great
business :P

robin
 
This is really interesting. I have not personally used Geek Squad and know
them only from reputation. I always thought a service that helped small
businesses and end users would be a great and needed business. I can't defend
them or Best Buy, but I have to say that I can't believe this is organized
theft in any way. It has to be that criminals simply figured a job at Geek
Squad would be an easy way to perpetrate their criminal enterprise.

The sheer incompetency of not understanding about memory, that's not too
surprising I guess. There are lots of so-called "experts" who would fail to
look at that one.
---
Your question may already be answered in Windows Vista Security:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0470101555?ie=UTF8&tag=protectyourwi-20


Robinb said:
Jesper they do
I have many clients that come to me after going to Geek Squad, and one of
them told me they took his personal data but because it was only heresay he
cannot prosecute.
Also they are very out for the buck.
I have a client that went to Geek Squard because his computer was running
very slow.
They said he had a virus and charged him $79.99 to remove it.
A few weeks later the computer was back to a crawl. they wanted another
$79.99 just to look at it.
He brought it to me to see what I could do.
First- he is running xp home sp2- 160gig hd- with 256memory.
Mega programs on it included, Office 2007, Quicken, Turbo Tax, Adobe
elements
Umm as soon as I saw how much memory he has, I suggested to update that
first.
I put him at 1gig and the computer now flies.
His computer could go up to 2gigs but with xp I did not think he needed to
go that high.
Besides it is 4yrs old.
What I am amazed at is how come Geek Squad never checked the memory?
and worse Geek squad only quarrantined the virus but never looked to see
where it was and remove it.
Turned out the virus was in a system restore file which if i had that
computer would have been real easy to remove. and which I did once i
updated his memory.
He was running an outdated Norton Antivirus and virus updates were not done
for 6mths- how come they did not tell him that either? They actually gave
him back it in the exact way they had it and did not remove the old antivrus
program but told him he should get a newer version which thank goodness he
did not listen to them. I put AVG free on once I updated the memory because
it was running so slow I wanted to wait till I had more memory before i
started running another program on it and it found 5 more viruses and 5
trojans, which of course i removed---DUH?

In fact I would say half my clients come from Geek Squad, they give me great
business :P

robin
Click to expand...
 
most IT companies i know would at least look to see how much memory is on
the computer if a person comes in and says their computer is running slow.
I know myself as an IT company the rule of thumb is to check to see how much
memory there is before you proceed further. Sure if you have 1gig and it is
still slow then you need to investigate further and yes even with 256mb one
would think to look at that first before investigating further. Running XP
and have no other programs except the operating system programs you can run
it at 256 but once you put on more programs, 256 just doesn't cut it even if
the computer is sqeeky clean of viruses or spyware, and worse you probablly
cannot load more antivirus or antispyware programs to check if there are any
bad stuff because you cannot get the program to run with so little memory
and so much stuff on it.

And worse he had an outdated, expired Norton Antivirus 2002 just sitting
there- umm of course he was going to be prone to viruses. and why would
they disregard this? and then on top of it run another antivirus program
right on top of it? I would think they would know running two antivirus
programs (even though one was expired it was still running in the backround)
is a big NO NO. "sigh"
robin

robin


Jesper said:
This is really interesting. I have not personally used Geek Squad and know
them only from reputation. I always thought a service that helped small
businesses and end users would be a great and needed business. I can't
defend
them or Best Buy, but I have to say that I can't believe this is organized
theft in any way. It has to be that criminals simply figured a job at Geek
Squad would be an easy way to perpetrate their criminal enterprise.

The sheer incompetency of not understanding about memory, that's not too
surprising I guess. There are lots of so-called "experts" who would fail
to
look at that one.
Click to expand...
 
Back
Top