Genealogy Chat

Bob Thanks for the advice. I spent Saturday afternoon playing with it. I tried what you suggested on the existing connection and that failed, so went through the process of setting Virgin up as a new e-mail account manually. That nearly worked, it dialed out OK, logged on to the remote computer, verified username and password, but then timed out having failed to establish a connection. And when I went back in the password had reset itself to the Freeserve one. So something still isn't quite right, I think I'll have to try to get our computer guy round.

I think Tony now takes the prize for the most spies on his computer!

Tony.....I could do a lot with your last comment but will control myself! LOLOLOLOLOL! Glad the Adaware helped! JUDY

Judy,took your advice and installed Ad-aware207 spies deleted,what a dirty boy I must be! Regards Tony

Brian go to internet options/connections and see what dial up connections you have, freeserve may have made it self default. I use cable broadband which uses the LAN settings underneath. I think it should be the same for your broadband. If Virgin isn't listed in dial up settings you may have to re-enter them manually or re-install Virgin. Some ISPs will down load a little file to reset your computer. If you have your details recorded make sure "never dial a connection" is unchecked then properties then settings to enter your details and apply. You can get to options through OE and IE Bob

Can anyone advise on the following problem: At home I have a Freeserve broadband connection with a Freeserve e-mail address. I also have a Virgin e-mail address set up on a pay as you go basis. I have received an e-mail from Virgin to say that I need to dial into the Virgin address at least every 60 days to keep it active. However, if I put the Virgin e-mail address and password into the dial-up connection box in Outlook Express and press "connect" I get an error message to say "invalid user name or password" and find that the password has reverted to the Freeserve one. Presumably hence the non-recognition. Any ideas whether I can change any settings to allow dial-up into Virgin, or do I need to physically disconnect the broadband modem to access Virgin? I don't want to lose the Virgin address as I keep it for personal stuff and use the Freeserve one for business/general.

Maurice: I asked my nephew (computer tech) about Spyware Nuker. He advised me not to put it on my computer as it, as does many of the free downloads obtained from the internet, actually puts spyware on your computer. Curious now, and wanting to see if I could come up with an answer for you, I downloaded Spyware Nuker. I then ran it at the same time I ran Adaware. Spyware Nuker picked up 31 suspicious items in my registry keys, as well as files. I then checked what Adaware had found. Adaware had found 39 suspicious items in my registry keys, as well as files and a program. Guess what the extra spyware items were? All of them were labeled Spyware Nuker. So Spyware Nuker did indeed work, but it added it's own spyware to track me. I've uninstalled it. In answer to your question as to what Spyware Nuker did with what it found: After the scan was done, there was a button to hit NEXT (I assume you went that far?) After clicking NEXT it listed all the spyware items it had found. I didn't go past here as I wanted to allow Adaware to remove the things it found (I didn't trust the Spyware Nuker) but I didn't see where it was clear what it did with it. Clicking on back up would have saved it somewhere on your computer, where I have not a clue. I didn't see anywhere where I could choose to delete or quarantine the items like Adaware allows (a nice safety feature of Adaware's.) I didn't see anything user friendly about it nor did I care for the fact that it PUT spyware on my computer! Judy

WooHoo Eleanor! Congrats! And yes, I think, so far, you are the winner.....the one with most spyware found! Judy

Hi Judy and Bob, Well I took your advice and went and installed and ran the Ada-ware! Nerving wracking as it was I have now, succeefully quarantined, awaiting deletion 199 items/files!!!!!! 199! Does that mean I qualify for the dirtiest hard drive competition! Thank you for all you help. Lol Eleanor xxxx

Eleanor: Andy got back to me and he said it sounds as though there is a bad address to your ISP provider. Those options are in your found in TOOLS when you bring up Outlook Express. Being I don't use Outlook Express for mail I can't be much help there and wouldn't be comfortable trying with the distance between us. If you call your ISP provider they should be able to walk you through it, step by step, over the phone. Most ISP providers allow access to your mail, from any computer, through the internet, opposed to using Outlook or similar program so while waiting for a fix you should be able to access you mail that way. Judy

Eleanor: Funny you mentioned this as another had a similar worry on another thread here on the message boards. I'll copy and paste my response to her. (For those of you who read this elsewhere, just bare with me....I know, I sound llike a broken record sometimes!) Although there is a possiblity, by some freak of nature, that Ada-ware would find and mistake a program for spyware, there is a safetly net in the Ada-ware program that "quarantines" what it finds opposed to deleting it from your computer. If after a few days all is running well on your computer, you then have option to completely delete that day's spyware cache. If it did, by chance, quarantine a program your computer needed, you then have the option to restore all that was quarantined back to where Ada-ware found it. Spyware reaks havoc on ones computer and in many cases, cost you a trip to the repair shop. Most of the problems that come into my shop are spyware related. I have Ada-ware on all my computers and have never had a problem with it. Eleanor, if you would feel better having step by step directions to follow so that you know you are doing it correctly, let me know and I can e-mail them to you. Now go clean up your computer....you can do it! Woohoo! Judy

Ealanore Have confidence in Ad-Aware. It will not find anything that your computer needs. Delete the lot. I reccommend that you "update" the prog first as they keep finding new ones and run it at least once a week (more if you are on broadband) Bob

Hi Judy, Thanks for taking the time out to ask about my query. I'm really grateful and look forward to hearing what your man has to say about it! I did venture into adaware via majorgeeks as you have suggested in this thread as I'm sure my computer could do with a good clean up. I ran the spyware package and it found loads of things that it said shouldn't be there but I chickened out when it asked if I wanted to proceed with the clean up as I'm afraid I might lose important files. I'm sorry to sound so wet, but it's such a long time since I worked with computers than I'm always wary of these things!! I think I've turned into a computerphobe! Any advice for me that will temper my fears would be greatly appreciated! I feel like I'm in such alien territory. Thanks again. Love Eleanorx ps Janet, thanks for your message! I'd be lost without this site! But it's also so great when you can help someone else out too isn't it!

For those interested, Adaware can be gotten at: http(:)//majorgeeks(.)com/download.php?det=506 (Remove the brackets.) Scroll to towards the bottom of the page to the subheading DOWNLOAD FROM and choose one of the two links given. Using the link above will cut out all the hunting and pecking through the Ada-ware sight looking for the free version. Judy

Judy Thanks for all the good advice! I've been to places in my computer I didn't know existed! I've turned over a few stones, emptied my cookies cache, got rid of my temporary internet files and installed a spyware program! I had 61 unknown intruders! (I've actually installed Spybot, as I couldn't find the free Ada-ware download for some reason.) Thanks again to everyone. Janet

Hi Judy, checked my Program Files folder but there doesn't appear to be anything untoward in there. I'm also wondering whether it's affected MSN messenger also, as whenever I change my display name in Options, it reverts to the old name if I sign out and log back in again. Think I'll have to call out our local tech guy.

Andy: Have you looked in your PROGRAMS file on your C Drive to see if the program is there? I've come across, more times than I would like to count, programs that have installed themselves on my computer without my knowledge.....some spyware will do that. Fixing the problem was easy enough by unistalling (not deleting) the program using the "remove programs" option in the control panel. A few programs that come to mind to look for, that installed themselves, were COMMON NAME (not COMMON FILES...your computer needs that one!) and NEW....those would be the names that the yellow folders in PROGRAMS would be named. There are thousands out there, though, so be sure, before uninstalling anything in your PROGRAMS FILE that it's not an operating system file. Judy

I have Spybot on mine as well as AVG anti-virus and Outpost firewall but they've failed to keep out a hi-jacker site, which has now lodged itself onto my pc and set itself as the default home page. It doesn't make a difference if you change the home page as it ignores that setting when you do a complete shutdown and power back up again. The hi-jacker site also alters the Win.INI file, which Windows looks at when starting up, and tries to run a file that's not anywhere on my hard drive. Having browsed through Microsoft support, I think this site changes a setting in the registry but I'm not that computer savvy to go poking about in there blindly.

Janet: Yes and no on the wizard emptying temporary internet files. I've often gone back into the Temporary Internet file after deleting them using the wizard and find that it did not remove all of them....most, but not all. I prefer going into the folder itself and emptying everything manually (which takes less than a minute to do) opposed to depending on the wizard to do it for me....but that is just a personal preferance....the techie in me I guess! There is also a setting in your computer that you can set that will empty the Temporary Internet file folder everytime you close the browser. Again, it eliminates most, but not all of the Temporary Internet files (another personal preferance.) As for cookies, it does not empty this folder at all. There are several ways to empty cookies. Again, a personal preferance for me is to go into the cookies folder and delete manually....another 1 minute chore. If you need help with any of the above give me shout. Judy

Judy Just popped back to have a look before I go to bed! Thanks very much for answering my query. I have Norton Internet Security and get Live Updates from them. I also download and install Microsoft Windows updates as they become available. I haven't installed a spyware program yet, but I printed off your reply to someone else's query a couple of days ago, so I have the details of that - thanks! I wasn't sure whether the Maintenance Wizard emptied the Cookies Cache and the Temporary Internet files when it did the disk cleanup. If it doesn't, how do I go about that? Eleanor I don't mind you 'cutting in' at all!! That's what it's all about, isn't it. We can all help each other in different ways, and you'll probably ask questions in which the rest of us are interested! Janet