Calling All Pc Gurus

[Knight]

I have a very annoying problem with my computer. Would love some direction.

Often, while on Internet Explorer, I get what appears to be a radio station start playing. It does not appear in Windows Task Manager, and I have tried deleting all wierd programs in Control Panel Add/Remove. If it's playing, it will play right over any other program I'm running with sound. Only way I can get it to go away quickly is to restart.

Any Suggestions are appreciated.

[RustyVape]

Sounds like malware to me.

It might be easy to just un-check all un-necessary programs in the startup programs list. Be sure to leave your antivirus program checked.

If that don’t do it, you can do a system restore, to a date before it started happening. Of course, this will un-install any resent programs.

Hope this helps.

[ROOR]

I have a very annoying problem with my computer. Would love some direction.

Often, while on Internet Explorer, I get what appears to be a radio station start playing. It does not appear in Windows Task Manager, and I have tried deleting all wierd programs in Control Panel Add/Remove. If it's playing, it will play right over any other program I'm running with sound. Only way I can get it to go away quickly is to restart.

Any Suggestions are appreciated.

it could also be something in one of those lame search bars that that take part of your browser. Try this.

Boot your pc in safe mode with networking enabled

log in as admin

and then run this http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

its a free virus and malwear remover. I think it is the best on the market and its free i don't even purchase any because that is so good.

another thing u can do is go to a previous restore point from a time before when you know you didn't have that problem.

good luck! i hate when my pc is on the frits!

[Christopher]

Hmm hard to tell if this is be installed on your browser or computer.

But there is one way to find out. You can completely reset Internet explorer back to it's factory settings (this will remove all ads ons)

1. Open IE

2. Go to Tools> Internet Options>advanced

3. Click "reset"

That will restore your browser back to it's normal state. If that STILL doesn't work then we know it's not something installed on your browser and we can go from there.

[Ray]

I have a very annoying problem with my computer. Would love some direction.

Often, while on Internet Explorer, I get what appears to be a radio station start playing. It does not appear in Windows Task Manager, and I have tried deleting all wierd programs in Control Panel Add/Remove. If it's playing, it will play right over any other program I'm running with sound. Only way I can get it to go away quickly is to restart.

Any Suggestions are appreciated.

Is something showing on your screen?

If you can provide a screen shot, that will give a clue.

[JHammy]

Try Downloading Avast Virus Scanner....you can get it free from Avast.com. once installed do a Boot Time Scan. It will do a scan before any Virus or malware can load and delete it, if that is the problem. Ive had Avast since forever, and never really had any problems like this since i installed it.

[FTJoe]

Hi - for scanners on a windows machine, I have a post on another thread I copied below. Everyone should have malwarebytes, superantispyware and spybot along with a virus scanner like avast or avira on their machines and be at the latest service pack level for Windows so they at least have minimal firewall protection (IMHO). In regards to radio playing I see people talking about interference but that doesn't sound right if it stops when you reboot. I also see references to real player being an issue sometimes and I would check any add-ons in IE. I guess another observation would be why are you using IE (firefox, chrome, safari are all good alternatives) and what version of the operating system and internet explorer are you on? Does it stop when you kill explorer from task manager?

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My favs are explained here:

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=35407

Get to the section at the bottom where you pick your operating system. I would install and run malwarebtes and superantispyware. Don't run any others (especially combofix) unless you do a backup. If you can, I would do a backup anyway, at least create a system restore point. Also, If you install SAS, I think it runs on windows startup by default, uncheck that option on the main preferences screen.

Ccleaner is a great tool as well.

I also usually install and run spybot search and destroy on problem machines or to just keep them healthy.

http://www.safer-networking.org/index2.html

[elem187]

I recommend malware bytes, it seems to find everything

[FTJoe]

I recommend malware bytes, it seems to find everything

The nastier ones can hide from that, then its on to combofix which is awesome, but...drastic.

[Knight]

Hi - for scanners on a windows machine, I have a post on another thread I copied below. Everyone should have malwarebytes, superantispyware and spybot along with a virus scanner like avast or avira on their machines and be at the latest service pack level for Windows so they at least have minimal firewall protection (IMHO). In regards to radio playing I see people talking about interference but that doesn't sound right if it stops when you reboot. I also see references to real player being an issue sometimes and I would check any add-ons in IE. I guess another observation would be why are you using IE (firefox, chrome, safari are all good alternatives) and what version of the operating system and internet explorer are you on? Does it stop when you kill explorer from task manager?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

My favs are explained here:

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=35407

Get to the section at the bottom where you pick your operating system. I would install and run malwarebtes and superantispyware. Don't run any others (especially combofix) unless you do a backup. If you can, I would do a backup anyway, at least create a system restore point. Also, If you install SAS, I think it runs on windows startup by default, uncheck that option on the main preferences screen.

Ccleaner is a great tool as well.

I also usually install and run spybot search and destroy on problem machines or to just keep them healthy.

http://www.safer-networking.org/index2.html

Thanks everyone. I look at majorgeeks too Joe, and they are useful. Problem is I haven't had enough time in a day to go through their entire cleaning guide! But right after I posted this, I remembered a program (malwarebytes) that I downloaded on another computer in the house, and downloaded it. Even after running Norton 360, that thing found like 50 issues. It seems to have gotten rid of the problem, plus has made my PC run a whole lot faster.

Curious about your comment on using IE? I hear about firefox alot, but I'm afraid to download. What will I lose/have to reload if I change browsers? I'm just good enough on a PC to really screw things up!

[Brian]

Hi - for scanners on a windows machine, I have a post on another thread I copied below. Everyone should have malwarebytes, superantispyware and spybot along with a virus scanner like avast or avira on their machines and be at the latest service pack level for Windows so they at least have minimal firewall protection (IMHO). In regards to radio playing I see people talking about interference but that doesn't sound right if it stops when you reboot. I also see references to real player being an issue sometimes and I would check any add-ons in IE. I guess another observation would be why are you using IE (firefox, chrome, safari are all good alternatives) and what version of the operating system and internet explorer are you on? Does it stop when you kill explorer from task manager?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

My favs are explained here:

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=35407

Get to the section at the bottom where you pick your operating system. I would install and run malwarebtes and superantispyware. Don't run any others (especially combofix) unless you do a backup. If you can, I would do a backup anyway, at least create a system restore point. Also, If you install SAS, I think it runs on windows startup by default, uncheck that option on the main preferences screen.

Ccleaner is a great tool as well.

I also usually install and run spybot search and destroy on problem machines or to just keep them healthy.

http://www.safer-networking.org/index2.html

FTJoe - you couldn't have posted this at a better time. My wife's computer went crazy over the past few days. This fixed me right up! Thanks a million!

[FTJoe]

Thanks everyone. I look at majorgeeks too Joe, and they are useful. Problem is I haven't had enough time in a day to go through their entire cleaning guide! But right after I posted this, I remembered a program (malwarebytes) that I downloaded on another computer in the house, and downloaded it. Even after running Norton 360, that thing found like 50 issues. It seems to have gotten rid of the problem, plus has made my PC run a whole lot faster.

Curious about your comment on using IE? I hear about firefox alot, but I'm afraid to download. What will I lose/have to reload if I change browsers? I'm just good enough on a PC to really screw things up!

Glad to hear your good. The three scanners I recommend are malewarebytes, superantispyware and spybot. They fix most anything, I really recommend you get all three down and every once in a while run them to maintain things (when you get a chance).

As far as firefox goes, just download it, install it and when it asks about importing your bookmarks, etc., just pick IE and it should end up copying everything over. You'll might have to install (when prompted) some plugins like flashplayer, acrobat etc., but it should lead you through it.

Here's some info, the download button is on the left.

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/switch.html

In rare cases, some web pages may not work as well or even at all with firefox. So the good news is, nothing is affected with IE, just go ahead and bring that up and do what you need to do. I would say 99.99% of main stream apps work with Firefox. If you install Firefox, you can click the button that says don't make it your default browser. This way when you click on a link, it will still bring up IE to view. Once you get comfortable with firefox, you can go into the tools button, options and make firefox the default. Don't like, when you bring up IE, it'll be peeved its not the default anymore and beg for you to make it the default again. Browser wars. ;-) Any specific questions PM or post here if generally useful.

[FTJoe]

FTJoe - you couldn't have posted this at a better time. My wife's computer went crazy over the past few days. This fixed me right up! Thanks a million!

Excellent, I can't stress enough not to use combofix unless its directed by someone who knows what they are doing, stick with the three I recommended (realt Malwarebytes and SAS, spybot is really a cleaner). Combofix is awesome, but destructive at times.

Also, Ccleaner as mentioned is a great tool for cleaning up temp files, internet files, etc. Again, settings should be looked at carefully, will not get you in trouble, but if you wipe out certain things like history and recently typed URLs, you are telling the browser to forget where you were in the past and lots of folks depend on that. At least killing temporary internet files (which can be done from the internet options tab) should be done to keep your browser spinning along. As long as I'm enumerating tools, if you have kids or parents that occasionally need help, a great free tool called teamviewer lets you easily connect remotely to another machine. Just install on both machines (choosing free private use options). The troubled machine will get an ID and pswd on left side oof screen that they give you. You type the ID on the right, then the pswd then you see the screen on the remote machine. Cool. When installing, don't choose start with windows. It's a pig so you don't want it running all the time. I do that when I know I'll be cleaning the machine, rebooting and cleaning some more. Then I set it off when done. If you do that you need to assign a permanent pswd that you will remember.

[Brian]

Excellent, I can't stress enough not to use combofix unless its directed by someone who knows what they are doing, stick with the three I recommended (realt Malwarebytes and SAS, spybot is really a cleaner). Combofix is awesome, but destructive at times.

Also, Ccleaner as mentioned is a great tool for cleaning up temp files, internet files, etc. Again, settings should be looked at carefully, will not get you in trouble, but if you wipe out certain things like history and recently typed URLs, you are telling the browser to forget where you were in the past and lots of folks depend on that.

I've been using ccleaner for a long time... back when it was called crapcleaner. I need to spend some more time with malwarebytes. That's the one that actually ended up getting the bad one off. Do you pay for this? Also, is this just something your run once in a while? Doesn't look like it's running in real-time. I will look at it some more over the weekend.

[FTJoe]

I've been using ccleaner for a long time... back when it was called crapcleaner. I need to spend some more time with malwarebytes. That's the one that actually ended up getting the bad one off. Do you pay for this? Also, is this just something your run once in a while? Doesn't look like it's running in real-time. I will look at it some more over the weekend.

Everything is free. Malwarebytes does not have a real time component. Superantispyware when set up will default to running a realtime protection component. Just go into preferences and turn that off, I think if you follow the instructions on major geeks they also tell you what scanning control options to choose. I usually tell folks to run the updates and then the scanners (quick scans) every couple weeks/month (but this is usually because they have kids and get crudded up every few weeks).

[Brian]

Everything is free. Malwarebytes does not have a real time component. Superantispyware when set up will default to running a realtime protection component. Just go into preferences and turn that off, I think if you follow the instructions on major geeks they also tell you what scanning control options to choose. I usually tell folks to run the updates and then the scanners (quick scans) every couple weeks/month (but this is usually because they have kids and get crudded up every few weeks).

Ok - that what I wanted to know about malwarebytes. Superantispyware is running and I'm also using AVG. Any preference for AVG or Avast? I've been using onecare for a few years, but MS is dropping it so I need to find something else soon. If these freebies work good, then I think that's what I'm going to go with on my computer also. Thanks for you help!!! Saved me from having to reinstall XP on my wife's computer.

[FTJoe]

Ok - that what I wanted to know about malwarebytes. Superantispyware is running and I'm also using AVG. Any preference for AVG or Avast? I've been using onecare for a few years, but MS is dropping it so I need to find something else soon. If these freebies work good, then I think that's what I'm going to go with on my computer also. Thanks for you help!!! Saved me from having to reinstall XP on my wife's computer.

I think Avast is a good one. I use Avira but more because you don't have to go through the registration process you do with Avast so I can just plop it on someone's machine and be done with it. I used to love AVG, then it became a pig. There was one scanner you had to know to disable and then disable the warning it was disabled. On a new machine it's okay, but most of my friends have old machines I like to keep going as long as there are no hardware issues. I don't let anything run real time but again because I deal with older machines and believe the slowdown is not worth it. So I would turn off the option to start SAS with Windows. Just make sure there's an anti-virus (just one) and a firewall. With XP Service pack 3 and later, the windows firewall is okay as long as you're up to date on service packs. That's not to say it's good, just that it's as good as the free firewalls out there (IMHO). I never have virus issues except for once in a while, so I don't run my stuff in maintenance mode (every few weeks). But my friends do because I warn them once something gets in, it actually opens up the machine for other problems. If I sign on and see they haven't run the scanners, I get upset (but still clean it). Usually kids are the common factor for issues. Adaware was another fav I've dropped as it became a pig as well and installed itself as a service!!! I used to joke it would be better to have a trojan than adaware installed, they're better behaved.

Here are the instructions I usually leave on someone's machine after installing the cleaners.

I ran three scanners against your computer. If you go into the cleaners folder you'll find them.

You have three scanners installed now, malwarebytes, spybot and superantispyware. You run them when you think you need to or when you're bored.

Malware and super have two options, run full scans or quick, you can run quick unless you really think there is a real issue. Spybot just runs.

Double click Malwarebytes: find the update tab, click it Click on the button "Check for update". They will download. When done, go back to the scanner tab. Make sure quick scan is selected and press the Scan button. Give it about 10 minutes or so, you'll get a popup saying to press "show results". Clear the message and press show results. Press remove selected, if the message says to reboot, do so (it always does).

Double click SuperAntiSpyware a bug will appear in the tray, double click the bug and it should open. Click on check for updates and wait for the latest updates to be loaded. Once updated, click scan your conputer make sure quick scan is selected and press next. The scan will start, when it's done you get a little report, clear that then click next and it will clean up what it found. If it requests a reboot, do it.

Double click spybot...press search for updates once its up. Double click any us site. Check all boxes. Press download. When done, exit. Now press check for problems and let it run. When done, press fix selected problems to clean. If it asks to run on a reboot, say no.