Sal Ferrara said:
I somehow ended up with something running on my system.
It will open up up to fifty webpages at one time. It
often wants me to install lottery games and other
freeware.
I think it is called webassist which I removed from the
system but it still shows up. When this happens the
system locks up as the processor is pegged at 100%.
I downloaded spy ferret but this does not seem to remove
this program.
Incidentally all my virus definations are always up to
date so it is not a virus.
anyone encountered this?
Thanks
SAF
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When you say you removed webassist from the system,
how exactly was that done? Did you uninstall it from
Add or Remove Programs? Whether you did or not, check
to see if it is still listed in Add or Remove Programs.
If it is still listed there, before uninstalling it, click on
Start button and then Run... and type in "msconfig" (without quotes)
and press <Enter> - System Configuration Utility should come up.
If it is not in Normal Startup, put it in Normal and click on the Startup
tab at the top. In the list of Startup Items, do you see anything related
to webassist? If so, make note of its Location. It will most likey be located in:
Common Startup
or
Startup
or
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
or
HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
If you had to put System Configuration Utility into Normal when you
opened it, click Apply at the bottom and then Close and then click on
Exit Without Restarting. If it was already in Normal, then just click on
Cancel at the bottom.
If webassist is still listed in Add or Remove Programs, try uninstalling it again.
After uninstalling it, restart and check System Configuration Utility again.
If you did find something related to webassist in the Startup tab, check to
see if it is still listed there. If so, then cancel System Configuration Utility.
You will need to remove that Startup Item manually.
If the Location is in either:
HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
or
HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run
Then it is loading from the Registry.
Be very carefull when you edit the Registry as mistakes could render
the whole system inoperable, but this should be pretty straight forward.
Click on Start and then Run... type in "regedit" (without quotes) and press <Enter>
Registry Editor should come up.
Navigate to the Location found in System Configuration Utility and delete
the value for webassist and then close the Registry and restart the computer.
If the Startup item Location is Common Startup,
then right click My Computer and click on Explore
On the left hand side, expand to
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Startup folder -
Open the Startup folder and delete the webassist icon.
If the Location is just Startup, then follow the same path, except substitute
your own folder in place of the All Users folder.
If none of the above is getting you anywhere, then I suggest this:
(You may want to do this in addition to the above anyway)
Control Panel | Internet Options | General tab
Delete all cookies
Delete all temporary internet files
(include all offline content)
Remove all Downloaded Program Files
To do that, you click on that "settings"
button and then click on the "View Objects"
button and then right click and choose remove
for all of them, if any, one at a time.
Close the Downloaded Program Files window,
Click OK to the Settings window.
Now clear History
Now click on the "Advanced" tab at the top
of Internet Options.
In the Browsing section, uncheck the box for
"Enable third-party browser extensions (requires restart)"
Click "Apply" and then "OK" at the bottom
of Internet Options
Close out of Control Panel
Restart the computer
Download one or both of these Anti Spyware programs
and install them, update them and scan your system
and delete any spywares that may be found.
Ad-aware 6.0 build 181
http://download.com.com/3000-2144-10214379.html?tag=list
Spybot - Search & Destroy 1.2
http://download.com.com/3000-2144-10194058.html?tag=list
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