Are you sure it's Pest Control?  Of course doing a search for Pest Control on the web just returns thousands of hits for exterminators, so it's a difficult program to find anything about if that is it's real name.  Are you sure it isn't Pest Patrol, which is a legitimate spyware removal program.  For a list of suspect/rogue antispyware programs, see the following:

http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm

How did this program get on your computer?

Steve

hi steve, and thanks for your response.  i guess it was my mistake typing the wrong spayware name, the real name is pest patrol and i see now reading on trustworthy programs this is one you could trust tho the spyweeper is trying to prevent it from startup giving all this info about not having identification.  ill try and get some preventive programs, spywareblaster and spywareguard that with the ones i already have, adaware se personal, spysweeper, cwshredder and pestpatrol should be enough protection, maybe.

Angelmarie,

Here are some of the best tools ...

Ad-Aware (powerful detection and removal application that scans memory, registry, hard drives, removable drives and optical drives for datamining, advertising, parasites, scumware, keyloggers, trojans, dialers, malware, browser hijackers, and tracking components

AVG (the best antivirus application that money can't buy - includes a resident shield, email scanner, shell extension and more)

BHODemon (detects and optionally disables Browser Helper Objects in the registry)

FireEyes (reveals ports and IP addresses that make a connection to your PC)

MRU-Blaster (detects and cleans over 25,000 MRU (most recently used) lists and other stores of hidden information)

PestPatrol (powerful privacy and security application that blocks and removes cookies, removes keyloggers and deletes or quarantines more than 62,000 non-virus "pests" (malicious scripts, trojans, adware, spyware, hacker tools, password crackers, remote access and network sniffer tools and denial of service agents) - capability to delete or quarantine found "pests" is disabled in the trial version)

Script Sentry (with configurable file associations and scripting permissions, a set it and forget it script interceptor that complements your anti-virus application by circumventing malicious scripting activity)

SECRETMAKER (privacy/security application that includes several powerful tools (Worm Hunter, Spam Fighter, Banner Blocker, PopUp Killer, Cookie Eraser, History Cleaner, Privacy Protector - some tools are currently in development) - Privacy Protector is a "cloaking device" for the web surfer that ensures anonymity by changing the internet user's computer IP address to phantom's, effectively counteracting tracking and profiling mechanisms

Spy Chaser (database comprised of more than 900 known spyware programs searchable by program name)

SpyBot (powerful privacy and security "Search & Destroy" application that detects and eliminates trojans, adbots, dialers, start page hijackers, key loggers, usage tracks and specific invalid registry entries (missing help files and DLLs, invalid uninstall information and application paths, broken desktop links) - includes an assortment of useful tools)

SpySites (with a database of over 1,500 known spyware websites, a tool that assists the user in the process of incorporating websites into Internet Explorer's Restricted Sites Zone to prevent intrusive operations that would compromise a user's privacy and/or security - effectively prevents installion and/or running of ActiveX controls, Java applets, JavaScript, Cookies, download and installtion of desktop items, use of a user's email address as an anonymous FTP password, home page and/or search page hijacking and concealed installation of malicious "scumware")

SpyStopper (anti-spyware application (personal webserver) that makes use of the Windows hosts file to map known spyware servers hosts to your own IP address (localhost - 127.0.0.1) in order to block ads, web bugs, cookies, profiling scripts, network worms and prevent spyware programs from transmitting tracking information)

SpywareBlaster  (an anti-spyware protection solution that prevents the installation of ActiveX-based spyware, adware, browser hijackers, dialers, and other potentially unwanted pests, blocks spyware/tracking cookies in Internet Explorer and Mozilla/Firefox and restricts the actions of potentially dangerous sites in Internet Explorer
WebWasher (highly configurable local proxy server application that filters scripts, animation, web bugs, cookies, popups, etc., ensuring a more private, more secure, and faster browsing experience)

ZoneAlarm (arguably, the defacto standard of firewalls)

Here are some excellent spyware/privacy/security website resources to assist you in learning more ... cexx.org and www.staff.uiuc.edu/~ehowes/main-nf.htm, and you'll find many more freeware tools here ... www.wilders.org/free_tools.htm and www.mnsi.net/~jhlavac/freeware/security.htm

Jim McNamara

Message Edited by jimmymac_4 on 09-20-2004 10:46 AM

i really would like to know if theres a program that will remove entries from registry left by unistalled programs, since when u remove a program there will still be traces of it in registry and it might not be possible to trace all of them manually.  i have installed spyware guard, and i dont think its being of much help there, even less than spyware blaster, tho this one doesnt delete anything after finding, but i see so many entries in registry for sg that i dont know if its worth it to try removing anything.

angelmarie,

Well, why didn't you say so in the first place ;^) ???  You should be aware that none of the tools are flawless, so it is best to use several.  I use EASYCLEANER, followed by REGCLEANER, followed by REGSEEKER, followed by REGCLEAN and quite often each tool finds something else to remove/fix in the registry.  Even so, some fragments (remnants) of uninstalled programs can still remain as I have learned from snooping around in the registry.  Regardless, here is a list of some of the better freeware candidates and their download sights:

EASYCLEANER 1.7f ... (www.gswi.com/downloads.htm)
EASYCLEANER 2.0.6.373 ... (www.majorgeeks.com/download414.html)
REGCLEANER 4.3.0.780 ... (www.majorgeeks.com/download460.html)
REGCLEAN 4.1a ... (www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,4666,00.asp)
REGSEEKER 1.35 ... (www.hoverdesk.net/freeware.htm)

Jim McNamara

P.S.  I know that there are "uninstaller" applications designed specifically for the purpose of cleaning up after poorly uninstalled programs, but I have no experience with any of them so I can't offer a recommendation.  Perhaps someone else can.

Message Edited by jimmymac_4 on 09-08-2004 06:30 PM

 i tried to install one of those progs but i cldnt make em work for me.  i got clean my pc reg cleaner and it found a few mistakes on active x, shared dlls, application path and file path reference.  since i just reinstalled windows i find hard to believe so much could be wrong.  and of course it wont say which ones is safe to delete or not.  i think this is all so confusing and maybe best not to mess with things.  i mean, if they cant tell which is safe to remove or not how can i?

angelmarie,

I have never had any of these programs delete anything that later caused me a problem and I select nearly everything for deletion.  Besides, each has backup provisions to restore what was deleted just in case.

Jim McNamara

anglemarie,

Since this is a Windows 98/95/3.1/DOS forum, I naturally assumed that you were not an XP user.  Here is what one website has to offer in answer to your questions...

http://www.createwindow.com/wininfo/regclean.htm

You could try to run RegClean in Widows 98 compatibility mode, but I'm not sure if that will work or not.  Perhaps one of the XP gurus could offer some advice in that regard.

Jim McNamara