Tarq57

Woops, sorry. In my one its the program files, I don't remember having changed it.

When you choose to clean "issues", the default is to prompt for a backup. Hopefully you did just that. Find the backup and click (or double click) on it. I have no experience of editing the registry this way while in safe mode, but hopefully it should work. Typically the backups are in with the CCleaner program files, unless you've created a different path for them.

Same problem here, in addition the message "CCleaner has encountered a problem and needs to close.." etc always appears, with any secure delete mode.

Claire, if you want your money back, that is probably between you and the site you downloaded it from. Sounds a bit suspect, to me!

MS patch released today. KB925902.

Tham, I had (probably) the same infection over a year ago. AVG AV alerted, but could not touch the dreaded spywarequake (aka spyaxe, current incarnation appears to be Spylocked.) I was a total ignoramus. My initiation/interest in malware really started to kick off after that. Haven't really had an infection worthy of the name, since. All using Avast home. I do think people can put a little too much stock in malware testing, with results (like the most recent) where only a few percentage points separates the leaders from where Avast (and currently AVG 7.5) are, in tested performance. For the average user, who isn't especially high risk, the real-world results are probably not much different. Unless you are unlucky enough to click on/open/allow script for a zero day exploit, in which case advanced heuristics might save you. I do believe that a gram of prevention is worth a tonne of cure, but if you need that cure, there's nothing like having a handful of powerful cleaners handy. Nice thing about Avast home, is that in operation, it's almost identical to the pro, except for ability to schedule a scan. It's extremely configurable, gives very few problems, and updates fast. As you mentioned, boot scans can be useful. (So can removing scumware in safe, once identified.) So although Avira (which I've nothing against, by the way, I've used it and liked it) may perform better in testing, I wouldn't be surprised if in real world use Avast performs at least as well. Just my two Ringit's worth.

Confirm you don't have a resident antivirus? How about a firewall? What anti malware programs do you run?

Is it possible that the slowdown is coincidental with another application? I've managed to half kill my system with jv16 reg cleaner. I don't have a high opinion of Norton security, but didn't have any problems with disk doctor and win doctor. The others I don't know. You might try restoring a reg backup, just in case. Could be a bit of a troubleshoot. I've not noticed a slowdown, ever, after using CCleaner, and I use it a lot.

If you are using windows XP chances are you've set CCleaner to delete old prefetch data. Good idea to leave that box unchecked, from many articles I've read about prefetch. (Can supply a link if you want) Prefetch assists in loading applications. Cleaning it removes those settings. They will, over time, be re-created. If your computer starts to resume normal speed over the next day or two, then that's probably at least part of the reason.

I've had few problems with IE7, except for cookie handling, but prefer Firefox. I thought IE7 always had been considered a critical update?

I'm one of those that use SpywareTerminator. I've used the others (except Defender) and keep them as demand scanners. Since installing ST on the computer, I've been pretty much infection free. The company is focussing more on the realtime protection and HIPS side of it rather than trying to get every definition in the www nailed, and there are demand scanners that fill that gap very well (SAS, Asquared,AVG) but I have noticed the definitions are increasing. Frequent updates, most bugs sorted, active forum. I used to use MSAntispyware. When it died, and became Windows Defender, I read enough about it to not want to try it out.

I manually update all security programs (on demand) daily, and monitor the two that auto-update. With the exception of DrWeb's Cureit, which, due to the update size, (5.5Mb) update weekly just before a virus scan. Run a full Avast boot scan weekly. Run SAS, AVG AS, Asquared, SpywareTerminator (alternating) weekly; Spybot and AdAware every two weeks. Often less frequently, unless I have a suspicion about something. If anything is found, which can't be identified, file is uploaded to Virustotal or jotti. (Very seldom is anything found. The occasional FP.) CCleaner daily (or more) prior to shutdown. Manually check for windows updates weekly. (Sometimes the security centre is a bit slow to advise of these.) Run a HJT scan twice weekly. Remove old restore points weekly. Visit Wilders, CCleaner, Scott's Newsletter, and SpywareTerminator forums almost daily.

I based that on one of the comments by one of the ST forum administrators. http://forum.spywareterminator.com/Default...posts&t=856 3rd post. Although exactly as to what is meant by "not a full true HIPS", I confess to ignorance.

Ditto. Seems more thorough. A little slower. (Auslogics is warp speed fast.) Computer performance improvement is noticeable after using JKDefrag, has to have seriously needed defragging to notice any improvement with Auslogics.

I use it. I like it. (Must be a doofus.) I haven't had an infestation worthy of the name since installing it. The screen shots show apparent malware; they are (sort of) false positives, actually harmless txt files installed by Malware Immunizer. Apart from WindowsDefender, AFAIK it's the only freeware resident antispyware. And it appear to be constantly on the improve. Although the scan might be considered inferior to some of the others, it's improving in comprehensiveness all the time, as any newcomer should. (I also have on demand SAS and AVG, for routine scans.) I've found that the realtime shield, without HIPS enabled, is generally adequate. The realtime shield is more comprehensive than S&D's teatimer (which I've deselected) and faster than Winpatrol (free). With HIPS enabled, nothing can install or run - in the areas it guards (It's not a full HIPS) - without user approval. (Means it's best to disable it before installing new software-if you trust the software.Else, many pop-ups.) Current version is 1.8.3.951. Definitions are updated regularly. Forum is active.

Thanks for the replies. I had seen that thread, but since time had gone by, wondered if it was being noticed or acted on. We'll just have to wait and see, I guess.

For about two weeks now I have to log on afresh every time I visit this (and only this) forum. The cookie is whitelisted. Any one else having this problem?

Did you use any registry cleaner/s?

Not to criticize, Nick, but you did give it permission to install. I've been caught by that before, too. Once. Personally I don't like the way it installs by default, but you can opt out during the installation, if you read the info on what you're installing.

Call me insane, but I'm going to avoid it like the plague. Don't personally know the details, (not techy enough) but have read a lot about things from those who are techy.Like DRM and how it will slow things down, and how it will prevent me (or you) from realizing full quality on video/audio media. (ie: it degrades a lot of stuff unless a license has been recognised). Also, many third party softwares will have problems running on it, because of the complicated drivers requirements.

If this is touchstone.com, I've had the same thing. Went to Nvidea and downloaded the latest driver package appropriate to my 'pooter. (That was a bit of a learning curve.) After installation, the driveragent scan reported similar results. I elected not to use the service after that, as it seemed clear to me there were no newer drivers available for the network bus enumerator. The others updated good as gold. I think Andavari has it spot on, especially as they want you to pay for the drivers after they've told you what's ""bad".

I already suggested that to Siteadvisor. No response. Uninstalled it. (siteadvisor). WOT.

I second SpywareTerminator. Since installing and using it I've turned Spybot's teatimer off, they were warning of the same things. But ST warns of much more besides. Their aren't too many freeware realtime antispy programs around, either. another option is Winpatrol. Warns of startup changes and a few other things,(BHO's, "bad" cookies,etc) quite a few handy tools. Not quite realtime, though...it scans the various parameters every one to eleven minutes (or more), these time intervals can be changed by the user down to a minimum of one minute.

So, what's the answer? Would right clicking on parts of a page to check properties of same be adequate?

It would take a lot of programs to fill a 21G disk to within 5% of it's capacity. If you have a lot of data (documents, photos, videos, music etc) that could be what's filling it up. The hard disk will run much slower when full or near full, and if that's the case, it's time to transfer at least some of that data to a backup medium. (Disks, another hard drive, flash drive etc). If it's from lots of programs installed, time to work out what you can do without. A lot of programs add themselves by default to the start menu also (start with windows) which means the computer will take a long time to fire up. If it's an older computer (and the hd size suggests it might be) running newer programs might be too much for it. Do you know what sort of processor and how much RAM it has? You say you've deleted a lot of the programs. As mentioned above, "add/remove programs" using the uninstaller is the way to do it. Sometimes even then the program files remain in a folder taking up valuable space. If the program has been uninstalled, it is usually safe to delete these. (from c:/program files, NOT c:/windows. Nothing in Windows should be touched by the inexperienced.) Often after uninstalling a lot of programs the registry becomes cluttered. CCleaner's registry cleaner (Issues) is safe to use. Set it to make a backup (it does by default) and note where the backup is kept. (In the unlikely event you need it.) What's in the text of the warnings you are getting?