How to Uninstal Programs not listed in ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS of Control Panel etc.

[rav123]

Hi,

While surfing the Net I have noticed that sometimes unsolicited Exe Programs instal themselves and start running in the background. These Programs do not seem to figure in the list of Add/Remove Programs of the Control Panel nor do they advertise themselves in other places like the Start Menu, where Programs usually also expose their uninstal menu item.

I was wondering whether there is a prescribed or recommended method of uninstalling such programs efficiently, other-than crudely locating such programs through Find Files and deleting them by selecting these programs and deleting their entries from the Registry also. However, even such an approach doesn't always work and is inefficient sometimes as it may create orphan entries on the Hard Disk. I request clarification on the above matter.

I wish to thank the members in advance, for the advice I am expecting.

[manicchester]

Can you be more specific.....what kinds of programs are you running that don't label themselves in the add/remove list?

[rav123]

[quote)Can you be more specific.....what kinds of programs are you running that don't label themselves in the add/remove list?[/unquote]

This has reference to the above.

For example Programs like Winservn.Exe, Purinty Scan.Exe.

[FrameWork]

I just use two registry programs that give you the add/remove feature aswell as the ability to remove registry entries, make backups, and remove startup programs. I use these two programs all the time, and i love them. It's especially good for me, because i'm always on a limited acount, so i just run these programs as root to remove programs i don't want. Sure beats switching to my other account, or looking for uninstall .exe's that are never where their supposed to be.

Here are the links to them:

Jv16powertools : http://www.vtoy.fi/jv16/index.php

RegCleaner : http://www.webattack.com/download/dlregcleaner.shtml

On a side note, you might wanna look into a program called Script-Trap or maybe even Script Sentry. When installed these programs will prompt you before a script is run so you can verify whether you want it to execute just incase it contains malicous code. I don't especially like the newest version of Script-Trap, but i'm sure the older one can be found somewhere on the net (it's much smaller and less of a pain). I have the old one, and it's great.

This is a link to Script Sentry if you want to check it out: http://www.webattack.com/get/scriptsentry.shtml

Hope i was able to help.

Take care.

[manicchester]

If there is a program that exists that the computer doesn't recognize on the add/remove list, getting rid of the file itself and registry entries seems to be the easiest way to do it, as far as I know. I'm sure there is software around if you search through google a bit for them.

[thread_killer]

Besides having (and using!!!) a good virus scanner, Spy bot search and destroy does a pretty good job of getting rid of all that pesky crap that gets automatically installed when you're connected to the net and too lazy to lock down your box properly. Click

[r8devil]

I think regcleaner would be the best alternative in this case. Remove the files on the hard disk and then use regcleaner to clean up the mess left in the registry.

To prevent this from happening in the future u should lock down your system use a non root account when on the internet.

[(V)URD0K]

Those are spyware/ad thingees.... run the free version (or paid) of ad-aware 6. That'll get rid of them for good, hope this helps! -(V)

[rav123]

Hello everybody,

I thank once again, all the above members for their valuable and timely advice.