Grass_Hopper 18263 Report post Posted April 9, 2015 So I'm in front of my computer since MONTHS, having terrible issue with ads. I share the monster with my 13yo, who always download programs to look at her videos, download free music... And Addwares. So, I have couple of them that show so many popups on the Internet, I can't even get to Lyla's. A real PAIN! And I foud Revo Uninstaller. A jewel in the rough! I was'nt able to remove those at all, even through the add/remove programs, but when I found it, well, it deleted everything, and I mean EVERYTHING (trace, cookies, access) on my computer I did'nt want. Be careful though, you have to make sure (perhaps some research) you want to delete it because when it's gone, well, it's GONE. All of it. But overall, I would give it a 4/5. Very friendly, clear, with a lot of options and security warnings before deletion (well appreciated). 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cinelli 22184 Report post Posted April 10, 2015 Do you make system recovery discs? Sometimes it is easier to just nuke the drive and start with a clean slate. You need to set up an admin account for yourself. Some of the things kids download can be very bad, steal your identity or passwords. 1 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
PatrickGC 10792 Report post Posted April 12, 2015 Hello GrassHopper et al. Here's an old-school trick which might help in the future and actually works on, most if not all, operating systems. "The hosts file" is part of every computer and, now days, is used as a blacklist of known bad sites and servers. It is checked before the computer tries to go to a site on the Internet. So if an address matches in the list you will simply get a "server cannot be found" message or an empty window. This also stops bad software from contacting home to download more offensive ads or viruses. This file exists in different locations depending on the kind of computer you have. [eg. Windows, Mac, or Linux] and the normal approach is to use free add-on software which updates the file periodically. As you can imagine the hosts file size can become huge and may slow down computers that are older than six years. However most software allows you to limit the size of the file. Without further adieu, here's a link covering most of the free software out there and complete background on how the hosts file works. Please do not be intimidated by the Geekyness of this page. Detailed information is at the top with the software near the bottom. Hosts File software. (a.k.a There's no place like 127.0.0.1) PatrickGC 2 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cinelli 22184 Report post Posted April 26, 2015 You might be able to restore the computer using the system Restore program. It should be easy to find in "All Programs". And run your machine in Private Browsing mode, that gets rid of a lot of junk when you log off automatically. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
