A few issuses.

[Guest]

I'm new to posting, so I don't know if I should've posted seperate posts for
each issuse or save hunting time and include an all-in-one post.

OS is XP Home SP2:

1) Before I installed SP2 (just after release date), I ran virus scans,
everthing seemed clean and SP2 took a few tries, but eventually installed. If
there was a virus (undetected before installation) on the computer, did I
just throw a blanket over the virus/spyware and it won't be detected by
todays virus/mal/spy/keylogger scans?

2) If I uninstall SP2, will todays scanners work without SP2? (Using Norton
Secutiy 2006 now, along with Ad-aware, MSAV, ewido, Spysweeper & spython)

3) The programs I've install after SP2, would they have to be uninstall
prior to uninstalling SP2?

4) When I uninstalled downloaded programs or the ones from disk, I notice
they have left a lot of traces of being on my PC and some active "startup"
programs that keep appearing after deletion. Is there a way to pull up "all"
rogue programs (Windows search doesn't seem to find all) to delete manually?

4) When I delete a file from the explore tree (ie: uninstalled programs),
doesn't that erase everything that file contained and all of it's associates?

5) Under regedit, do I delete the files or what's in the files (ei:
Yellowpages, CWS, etc.) and would those registries rebuild from a hidden file?

Whew, that's a mouth full. Thanks for taking time read to my post and any
help or guidence is appreciated (Should I have posted seperately?) .

Troy.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I'm new to posting, so I don't know if I should've posted seperate
posts for each issuse or save hunting time and include an all-in-one
post.

In general one post per issue is best, unless your questions are likely be
related.

OS is XP Home SP2:

1) Before I installed SP2 (just after release date), I ran virus
scans, everthing seemed clean and SP2 took a few tries, but
eventually installed. If there was a virus (undetected before
installation) on the computer, did I just throw a blanket over the
virus/spyware and it won't be detected by todays
virus/mal/spy/keylogger scans?

No. Not a problem.

2) If I uninstall SP2, will todays scanners work without SP2? (Using
Norton Secutiy 2006 now, along with Ad-aware, MSAV, ewido, Spysweeper
& spython)

Yes. Are you considering uninstalling SP2? Why?

3) The programs I've install after SP2, would they have to be
uninstall
prior to uninstalling SP2?

No.


4) When I uninstalled downloaded programs or the ones from disk, I
notice they have left a lot of traces of being on my PC and some
active "startup" programs that keep appearing after deletion. Is
there a way to pull up "all" rogue programs (Windows search doesn't
seem to find all) to delete manually?

Not easily, but it mostly doesn't matter and can be ignored.. Anything that
starts up automatically identifies itself, so you can readily delete those.

4) When I delete a file from the explore tree (ie: uninstalled
programs), doesn't that erase everything that file contained and all
of it's associates?

I'm confused by your asking about "everything that file contained " Do you
mean if you delete a *folder*, will all the files within it be deleted? If
so, the answer is yes.

As far as "all of it's associates," no. There is no intelligence in the
delete and it doesn't know anything about what its associated files may be.

5) Under regedit, do I delete the files or what's in the files (ei:
Yellowpages, CWS, etc.) and would those registries rebuild from a
hidden file?

There are no "files" in regedit. What you delete depends on what you are
trying to accomplish. I don't mean to insult you, but this question
indicates that you have a very muddy idea of what the registry is, and what
you might be doing there. I caution you not to go into the registry and
start deleting *anything* unless you have a *very* clear idea of exactly
what you're doing, why you're doing it, and what the result should be.
Deleting registry entries is a very dangerous thing to do, and can easily
leave you with an unbootable computer if you make a mistake.

Rarely do you need to do anything in the registry. Most people never do.

 

[jim.mantle]

Many uninstall routines are not thorough in their deletion... sometimes
they leave behind empty folders, or unused registry entries.

All this flotsam and jetsam is ugly, but causes no harm... it just sits
there unreferenced. A trivial amount of disk space is consumed.

If it is really important to you -- yes, you could delete the
leftovers manually and cause no harm. However, as noted elsewhere in
this thread, if you delete something which is NOT a leftover component
you could have a non-working application or - worse - a non-working
copy of Windows. There is no undelete function in regedit, and any
change you make is made immediately, it isn't like Word or Excel where
nothing is changed on disk until you save&exit.

The quick summary... ignore the flotsam.

 

[Guest]

Hi Ken, thanks for responding, my new responses are under yours (hopefully).

In general one post per issue is best, unless your questions are likely be
related.
Okay, one post per issue.




No. Not a problem.




Yes. Are you considering uninstalling SP2? Why?

I was suspecting I was infected prior to SP2, but you answered my first
question and I won't have to un & re SP2.

No.

Okay, that's good to know. More knowledge, the better.

Not easily, but it mostly doesn't matter and can be ignored.. Anything that
starts up automatically identifies itself, so you can readily delete those.
Okay.


I'm confused by your asking about "everything that file contained " Do you
mean if you delete a *folder*, will all the files within it be deleted? If
so, the answer is yes.

As far as "all of it's associates," no. There is no intelligence in the
delete and it doesn't know anything about what its associated files may be.

I guess that should have been two questions, but you cleared me up on
exactly what I was wondering.

There are no "files" in regedit. What you delete depends on what you are
trying to accomplish. I don't mean to insult you, but this question
indicates that you have a very muddy idea of what the registry is, and what
you might be doing there. I caution you not to go into the registry and
start deleting *anything* unless you have a *very* clear idea of exactly
what you're doing, why you're doing it, and what the result should be.
Deleting registry entries is a very dangerous thing to do, and can easily
leave you with an unbootable computer if you make a mistake.

Rarely do you need to do anything in the registry. Most people never do.

No insult taken. One of the scans said it couldn't delete registry key
(CoolWebSearch), so I clicked on it, which brought me to regedit area and
that's when I noticed all the other names of past programs. It's the split
window that confused me. Left side has the name of keys and the right side
(when name clicked) has the icons.
I didn't complete the manual delete as per spyscan 'cause I know on wrong
move and the machine will be in-op. Does the scanner mean to delete what's on
the left side (CoolWebSearch) or it's contents on the right side? I was just
trying to follow it's directions.

 

[Guest]

Many uninstall routines are not thorough in their deletion... sometimes
they leave behind empty folders, or unused registry entries.

All this flotsam and jetsam is ugly, but causes no harm... it just sits
there unreferenced. A trivial amount of disk space is consumed.

If it is really important to you -- yes, you could delete the
leftovers manually and cause no harm. However, as noted elsewhere in
this thread, if you delete something which is NOT a leftover component
you could have a non-working application or - worse - a non-working
copy of Windows. There is no undelete function in regedit, and any
change you make is made immediately, it isn't like Word or Excel where
nothing is changed on disk until you save&exit.

The quick summary... ignore the flotsam.

Thanks for your reply Jim,
Yeah, it's not that important for me to get rid of empty files, I was just a
little concerned of what's in some of those files left behind. For a little
piece of mind.
As for the registry question, I hope I made it a little more clearer why I
ended up there in the string response to Ken.

 

[Guest]

CoolWebSearch is considered Malware, and requires a special procedure to
remove it.
Do a search for that name and look for one that says "Remove CWS".

 

[Bruce Chambers]

I'm new to posting, so I don't know if I should've posted seperate posts for
each issuse or save hunting time and include an all-in-one post.

OS is XP Home SP2:

1) Before I installed SP2 (just after release date), I ran virus scans,
everthing seemed clean and SP2 took a few tries, but eventually installed. If
there was a virus (undetected before installation) on the computer, did I
just throw a blanket over the virus/spyware and it won't be detected by
todays virus/mal/spy/keylogger scans?

Not likely, but theoretically possible, I suppose.

2) If I uninstall SP2, will todays scanners work without SP2? (Using Norton
Secutiy 2006 now, along with Ad-aware, MSAV, ewido, Spysweeper & spython)

Impossible to say. Refer to the system requirements published by each
individual product's manufacturer.

3) The programs I've install after SP2, would they have to be uninstall
prior to uninstalling SP2?

Second verse, same as the first. Impossible to say. Refer to the
system requirements published by each individual product's manufacturer.

4) When I uninstalled downloaded programs or the ones from disk, I notice
they have left a lot of traces of being on my PC and some active "startup"
programs that keep appearing after deletion. Is there a way to pull up "all"
rogue programs (Windows search doesn't seem to find all) to delete manually?

This doesn't generally happen if one installs quality products from
reputable manufacturers. And there's no automated means for Windows to
know what is "rogue" or simply broken.

4) When I delete a file from the explore tree (ie: uninstalled programs),
doesn't that erase everything that file contained and all of it's associates?

I'm going to presume that you mean "... delete a folder...." Yes, the
contents of that folder are gone. However, any other files that the
program's installation placed in other folders, such as the Windows
systems folders, might remain. Also, any file associations will remain
unchanged until replaced with something different.

5) Under regedit, do I delete the files or what's in the files (ei:
Yellowpages, CWS, etc.) and would those registries rebuild from a hidden file?

There are no "files" in the registry. Rather, the registry consists of
several files stored in different parts of the hard drive. Do nothing
in the registry unless you are absolutely sure of the results
beforehand. The registry contains all of the operating system's
"knowledge" of the computer's hardware devices, installed software, the
location of the device drivers, and the computer's configuration. A
misstep in the registry can have severe consequences.


--

Bruce Chambers

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