Help Please (non mac related)

  • Thread starter Boz Mon
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Boz Mon

Boz Mon

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This has been going on for like a year now. I have made several posts about it and have tried numerous things only to be back to square 1. Heres the story, whenever anyone starts up the desktop pc, (sony vaio) these 2 error messages pop up, the one that says the file is not there is because the file actually isnt there, I was told that it was a virus or spyware file and I could safely remove it. The one about giga pocket seems to be confirming something good happened but I dont know what or how to stop these from popping up. Once again, any help or input will be greatly appreciated
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The second picture is an incomplete spyware removal. MyWebSearch is a really crummy piece of spyware, which has evidenty been deleted, but the startup command still exists in your registry. If you know what HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run means, then delete it out of there. If you don't, find someone who does.

The Giga Server is apparently something from Sony, don't really know what it does.

Edit: weird, that space in CurrentVersion is not there in edit mode, and is not supposed to be there in the text.
 
Have a loot around msconfig (start -> run -> 'msconfig' without the quotes) for those two programs. Without knowing exactly what GigaPocket is, I can't say either way to delete it or not, but the other is a tell-tell sign of spyware being removed, without the startup key being deleted (as said). You should be able to find that entry in msconfig.
 
To add a bit of helpful information to the above, you want to select "selective startup" then click on the "startup" tab to find the missing component.

When you restart the machine, a message will pop up regarding you've mucked about in the Configuration. Click the little square and continue about your business.
 
wfooshee
The second picture is an incomplete spyware removal. MyWebSearch is a really crummy piece of spyware, which has evidenty been deleted, but the startup command still exists in your registry. If you know what HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run means, then delete it out of there. If you don't, find someone who does.

The Giga Server is apparently something from Sony, don't really know what it does.

Edit: weird, that space in CurrentVersion is not there in edit mode, and is not supposed to be there in the text.
Click to expand...

Advice: Correct. 👍
Weird Space: vB automatically puts spaces in very long strings of text to stop people from breaking the page layouts.
Sony Giga Pocket Server: Giga Pocket allows users to view and record TV directly from the VAIO computer. I would uninstall it if you're not using it.
 
Burnout
Have a loot around msconfig (start -> run -> 'msconfig' without the quotes) for those two programs. Without knowing exactly what GigaPocket is, I can't say either way to delete it or not, but the other is a tell-tell sign of spyware being removed, without the startup key being deleted (as said). You should be able to find that entry in msconfig.
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I'll try that even though I hate doing the msconfig thing. Every time I do it something seems to get screwed up. I'll see what happens.
 
Boz Mon
I'll try that even though I hate doing the msconfig thing. Every time I do it something seems to get screwed up. I'll see what happens.
Click to expand...

Experimenting with it and going "Wonder what this does?" is how systems get screwed up. Looking for a specific item you want to kill, whose name you know, is perfectly safe. Nothing can go wrong.

go wrong.

go wrong.

go wrong.
 
Any last minute advise before I go and try to find this thing? It'll probably be within the hour, seeing as how I have to make a flipbook and take out the garbage. Then I'll see what I can do......:nervous:
 
Boz Mon
Any last minute advise before I go and try to find this thing? It'll probably be within the hour, seeing as how I have to make a flipbook and take out the garbage. Then I'll see what I can do......:nervous:
Click to expand...

Put the computer in the garbage????


No, wait, that's wrong. bad man! bad man!

The easiest thing is to find the registry key I pointed to above, and one of the data items will be the same filename you get in the window at startup. Delete that data item from the right side pane and the computer will quit trying to run it. (The "Run" key is a more modern version of the old DOS AUTOEXEC.BAT.)
 
HO HO, theres 2 mywebs in the msconfig! Pics up in a second....

So do I just uncheck them and be done with it or what do I do now? I remember last time I unchecked something it screwed up on startup. Any help with details would be appreciated.

Edit: theres also a bunch of blank areas with check boxes by them.

Edit again: Heres what happened when I unchecked them, hit apply, and restarted my computer:
 
That's fine. Check that box, hit ok, and you're all good my friend.

Otherwise, you'll see it everytime you boot up. I think.... or it goes back to the old config. Just do it, reboot, check that box, hit ok, and be good.

Exactly what Der Alta said. :-d
 
ok, and what about the blank lines? Can I uncheck those too?
Edit: when I hit the check box, the computer is still in selective startup mode. Isnt there a way to prevent that?
 
Boz Mon
ok, and what about the blank lines? Can I uncheck those too?
Edit: when I hit the check box, the computer is still in selective startup mode. Isnt there a way to prevent that?
Click to expand...

Yes, actually edit the registry.

MSCONFIG is a diagnostic tool, not a configuration tool. It allows you to turn things on and off and see if the PC behaves better. It is NOT intended to set a permanent configuration, as you're being advised here.

That said, editing the registry is D A N G E R O U S ! ! !

There is no Undo function in the registry editor. If you delete something and think, "Oh, wait. That's the wrong thing." well tough t***ies. You must be VERY SURE you're doing the right thing.

But it's obvious when you run REGEDIT and drill down to the key I listed above. The data in the right pane will have the filename you saw in the screen from your original post. Just delete that line from the right side. Done! MyWebSearch go bye-bye.
 
Ok, so lets say that I wanted to permanently turn several things that I know are not needed during startup off that are in msconfig, how would I go about finding them? This includes some printer things, realplayer, and some random programs. I opened regedit but I dont know where to look.

Now I am nervous about this, I found the printer that shouldnt even be installed but I dont know if I should delete it or not.
 
Boz Mon
Ok, so lets say that I wanted to permanently turn several things that I know are not needed during startup off that are in msconfig, how would I go about finding them? This includes some printer things, realplayer, and some random programs. I opened regedit but I dont know where to look.

Now I am nervous about this, I found the printer that shouldnt even be installed but I dont know if I should delete it or not.
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Stuff like that just needs to be uninstalled, not manually trashed from the registry. What we're trying to fix for MyWebSearch is the fact that it HAS been uninstalled, but the uninstall was incomplete, in that the registry entry to start it still exists. That's ALL we're trying to fix with the registry, is to delete the entry for MyWebSearch.

You can't just randomly decide, well, I don't want that to start, or this is annoying. You have to remove the package they belong to, as all these things are too interconnected to mess with pieces separately. (That would be the "I messed up my startup with MSCONFIG" post you had earlier.)

The registry is NOT the place to go to remove things you don't want. We're going there for MyWebSearch because its registry key still exists even though the programs have been removed, probably by anti-spyware.

If you want to remove items that are part of a package, but you want to keep the package, then you need to investigate the package's settings. For example, you have a media player, but don't want the player's System Tray icon to appear. Don't kill the startup, the player may die. Find the player's settings screen and un-check "System Tray Icon."

If you have a printer utility starting up for a printer you no longer have, uninstall the printer's software in the Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs.

Don't just play with MSCONFIG and the registry to see what happens. Sounds like you've been there, and we're not trying to send you back. Everything has a right way and a wrong way. The wrong way is always easier to find and harder to fix afterwards. :sly:
 
I must say that you have the patience of jesus, thank you. 2 (hopefully the last) questions I have are:
1. I dont know where in the registry to look to find the mywebsearch folder or whatever it might be
2. How do I make things not startup automatically when they are in the startup tab of mscnfig instead of leaving the computer in selective startup mode?
Thank you again.

Sooo, if I just delete these, everything will be good?

P.S. sorry for the poor quality circle.
 
Boz Mon
I must say that you have the patience of jesus, thank you. 2 (hopefully the last) questions I have are:
1. I dont know where in the registry to look to find the mywebsearch folder or whatever it might be
2. How do I make things not startup automatically when they are in the startup tab of mscnfig instead of leaving the computer in selective startup mode?
Thank you again.

Sooo, if I just delete these, everything will be good?

P.S. sorry for the poor quality circle.
Click to expand...

There's nothing wrong with killing those, but the startup is in the key I listed in my first post. HKLM is an abbreviation for HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. Then you go to Software, then Microsoft, then Windows, etc. When you select Run, one of the items on the right will be the MyWebSearch startup command. It may have a funny name or it may actually say MyWebSearch, but the data will contain something about MSW, MSWBAR, or MyWebSearch. That's the one that's causing the error at login, when it tries to run what it's been told, and the program file is gone (deleted by anti-spyware.)

It might also do to investigate another spyware detector. My favorites are Ad-Aware (click on the FREE one) and Spybot (click any of the "Download here" buttons), both free to individuals, and very thorough. They do a good job of cleaning, maybe not so good at preventing, but that's for the $ versions.
 
Ok, I deleted those ones that I circled that say mywebsearch etc. The error is no longer popping up on startup and the computer is booting up much faster now. As far as spyware programs, I have the spybot one but maybe I should look into the other one you have there. Thank you again :) 👍
 
Boz Mon
Ok, I deleted those ones that I circled that say mywebsearch etc. The error is no longer popping up on startup and the computer is booting up much faster now. As far as spyware programs, I have the spybot one but maybe I should look into the other one you have there. Thank you again :) 👍
Click to expand...

Yeah, since that error message is about a missing DLL, not a missing EXE, one of the other keys had a reference to that missing DLL. That's another spyware trick, load a dll by the registry rather than execute a program. It still runs, but it's a bitch to find!
 

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