AdwCleaner Problems

Question

System wouldn't let me post this as a reply, said I needed moderator approval! And I have a sad tale to tell about the unwanted junk. According to scans with Hitman Pro Free, in addition to the usual cookies, in the final part of the scan where it searchs for remants, I picked up something called 'Television Fanatic', most likely from *** episodes of TV shows I missed. Thought I still had AdwCleaner on board, but apparently I had somehow deleted it. Could not find it in installed programs or in the download folder, no trace of it anywhere. So.....I went searching to download it again. Little did I know my troubles were only beginning.  :emotion-9: A search for AdwCleaner brought up several sites to down load it. I didn't bother to write down the names, but I do remember that on one of them you had to decline 6 separate offers to get to the download part, so I clicked out of that one and kept looking. So I got it downloaded thinking I had refused or declined several offers of PUP's, toolbars, and such. I got the message that I had an outdated version, even though I didn't as explained above, so I clicked OK and it went to the page where everything is in French. I changed it to English, and still couldn't figure out what to do as it showed several other things to download on that page. To make a long story short, I attempted a few more downloads from what I thought were reputable sites, like Major Geeks, but all I gained in the was more junk like Conduit (again), IM\, and something called Sweetpacks. These do show up only as remnants and not as a 'threat'  with the Hitman Pro scans. Scans with WD, MBAM Pro, SAS, and Avira don't detect these remnants. I can't get AdwCleaner to work again like I was able to do a few weeks ago, so will just set Hitman Pro to ignore those remnants. To sum it up, it is very easy to get this junk on your system even if you think you are doing the right thing and going to the right sites.

Bugbatter · Answer

Sorry you had to go through that. I wish you had asked here or at SpywareHammer for the direct link to AdwCleaner: http://general-changelog-team.fr/fr/downloads/finish/20-outils-de-xplode/2-adwcleaner

Why don't you go over to SH and let them help you clean those remnants?

dalem29 · Answer

Thanks BB, I knew the correct link was here on the messages somewhere, but I was too lazy to look for it.

This time it came up and some of the unwanted stuff was removed, but not all of it on the first pass. The same thing happened previously. It took about three to four tries before it got rid of everything. When I try to go to the link again it says it cannot display...this might be a problem with my browser

Is the program supposed to install, or does it just work while online? i just hit RUN and let it do its thing. Should I try to SAVE it first the next time? I can't find it in installed programs or even in downloads.

At any rate, I will keep playing with it until I get the rest of the remnants deleted. I am in active search for a new or refurbed Dell here in Denver and this computer will be relegated to being a back up.

Let my story be a warning that it can be difficult to avoid all this stuff even if you try to browse and download safely and seemingly reputable sites can silently give you unwanted "presents".

Bugbatter · Answer

Is the program supposed to install, or does it just work while online? i just hit RUN and let it do its thing. Should I try to SAVE it first the next time?

Dale, download, save to the Desktop, and run as Admin.

dalem29 · Answer

Well, after fussing around with this for a few more days, HitmanPro still finds traces of TV Fanatic and Sweetpacks. However, AdwCleaner does not detect them during a scan and running it does not remove them.

Where are they? Have you flushed System Restore?

Did you get help at SpywareHammer? I suggest that you do that so, depending on where and what those files are, so they don't call home and invite their friends.

Bugbatter · Answer

Well, after fussing around with this for a few more days, HitmanPro still finds traces of TV Fanatic and Sweetpacks. However, AdwCleaner does not detect them during a scan and running it does not remove them.

Where are they? Have you flushed System Restore?

Did you get help at SpywareHammer? I suggest that you do that so, depending on where and what those files are, so they don't call home and invite their friends.

dalem29 · Answer

No System Restore in quite some time, not sure of what effect that would have. Not sure why they show up in the HitmanPro scan, but not in the AdwCleaner scan.

But I am close to getting another Dell computer over at MicroCenter here in Denver in the next week or two, so I don't want to waste a helper's time getting to the bottom of this, since this computer will only be used as a backup and I won't be keeping any sensitive info on it.

Virus & Spyware

Was this post helpful?