[batpark]

After recently downloading a program (from Belarc, I think) my desktop now shows (much as a screen saver) a video of various subjects, cute dogs, other novelties. I’d like to eliminate that video.

I can turn it off by clicking an X on the screen but I see no way to turn it off permanently. I see no identification of the owner or producer. If I go to Task Manager I see nothing running that matches the unwanted video.

Can anyone suggest how I go about deleting this program? Thanks.

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Being this is a XP system from your profile description try the following.
Go to Start then to All Programs.
Now scroll down till you find Startups and check what is in there.
If there is a video or maybe even a slideshow entry then right click on it and then click on delete. That would take it away.

If there is nothing there then try this:

Lets see what you have in your startup

Please click on
Start and then to Run
Type in msconfig and press Enter
Now click on Startups
Then uncheck everything that may say it is a slideshow and restart.
IMPORTANT! In case of laptop, make sure, you do NOT disable any keyboard, or touchpad entries.
If system boots correctly and is running smoothly and faster then we have a startup problem
Try going back into msconfig and check one item and reboot
Keep doing that till you have found the problem or all are finally checked.
Post back with the results

[rshaffer61]

Being this is a XP system from your profile description try the following.
Go to Start then to All Programs.
Now scroll down till you find Startups and check what is in there.
If there is a video or maybe even a slideshow entry then right click on it and then click on delete. That would take it away.

If there is nothing there then try this:

Lets see what you have in your startup

Please click on
Start and then to Run
Type in msconfig and press Enter
Now click on Startups
Then uncheck everything that may say it is a slideshow and restart.
IMPORTANT! In case of laptop, make sure, you do NOT disable any keyboard, or touchpad entries.
If system boots correctly and is running smoothly and faster then we have a startup problem
Try going back into msconfig and check one item and reboot
Keep doing that till you have found the problem or all are finally checked.
Post back with the results

[batpark]

rshaffer61: . When I go to Run\msconfig\etc and look at StartUp i get some three dozen files and I can't tell which if any is a video or slideshow. For now, at least, I'll just live with the [bleep] videos. Thanks (as usual) for your help.

[rshaffer61]

What about the first set of instructions?
Going through Start then All Programs then to Startup?

[batpark]

rshaffer61: Start\All Programs\Startup brings up these four items:
AudioDownload Manager
Wireless USB LAN utility
NETGEAR Smart Wizard
Logitech Set Point

None looks like my offending popup video.

(And there seems to be no indication of some of the programs that DO show up in my tray to the right of the Start button. Aren't they (e.g. WORD) part of my Startup?)

These videos are like an anonymous milkman bringing me five gallons of cream ever morning and not telling me who he is (so that I can stop him). Oh well, I can always toss the cream away. Web providers should be required to provide an Unsubscribe link.

[devper94]

It runs every time you start up Windows?

Then
Download Autoruns from here

• Extract the contents of Autoruns.zip (by right clicking)
• Double click autoruns.exe
• Click Options at the top, then click Hide Microsoft and Windows Entries
• Click File > Refresh
• Click File > Save and save the file as AutoRuns.txt
• Attach the AutoRuns.txt to your next reply

To mods: Is asking for Autoruns logs allowed in this forum?

[rshaffer61]

Devper94 beat me to the next step.
Since it is running everytime then going into autoruns and disabling should stop it.

[batpark]

devper94: I tried to follow your steps but found I could not comply with the next-to-last. When I clicked FILE the Save was shaded out (as not active). Were you instructions correct or did I do something wrong? ...batpark

[rshaffer61]

Try these instructions and see if they help.

Download Autoruns from the link in my signature below:

1: Extract the Autoruns Zip file contents to a folder.
2: Double-click the "Autoruns.exe".
3: Click on the "Everything" tab
4: Remove any entries that mention "File Not Found" by right-clicking the entry and select Delete.
5: Go to File then to Export As or Save in some versions.
6: Save AutoRuns.txt file to known location like your Desktop.
7: Attach to your next reply.

[devper94]

You must wait for the scan to finish before you can save the log.
Also, please run the to

[batpark]

The attached per rshaffer61's instructions.

Don't understand devper94's comment "Also, please run the to."

Attached Files

•  autoruns311.txt   55.24KB   200 downloads

[rshaffer61]

Open Autoruns, click on "Logon" tab, and UN-check:


+ "Adobe ARM"
X "DellSupportCenter"
X "igfxtray"
X "iTunesHelper"
+ "QuickTime Task"
+ "SelectRebates"
X "SunJavaUpdateSched"
X "DellSupport"
X "RegistryMechanic"
+ "SVCHOST.EXE"


When done restart computer and then:



Download TFC by OldTimer to your desktop

• Please double-click TFC.exe to run it. (Note: If you are running on Vista, right-click on the file and choose Run As Administrator).
• It will close all programs when run, so make sure you have saved all your work before you begin.
• Click the Start button to begin the process. Depending on how often you clean temp files, execution time should be anywhere from a few seconds to a minute or two. Let it run uninterrupted to completion.
• Once it's finished it should reboot your machine. If it does not, please manually reboot the machine yourself to ensure a complete clean.

Download Auslogics Defrag from the link in my signature below. Auslogics Defrag in my opinion is better because:

It does a more comprehensive job at Defragging
It will actually show you what it is doing
At the end of working it will show you how much speed you picked up
You can view a online log of the files that Auslogics defragged
Please do not run any other Auslogics programs other then this one as they may cause unwanted results.

[devper94]

rshaffer61 beat me by a minute...

Don't understand devper94's comment "Also, please run the to."

It's "Also, please run the tool as Administrator". My connection timed out when I was posting, so part of the post was cut off.

I don't think defragging would give a noticeable performance boost. It only wears down the drive. NTFS is not that bad at managing file fragments.

[rshaffer61]

I am suggesting the Defrag because we have no ideal what TFC will remove and in some case I have seen a gig or more of cleanup using it.

[batpark]

rshaffer61 and devper94: Here is an update on my attempt to get rid of those unwanted videos.

I followed your instructions re unchecking the programs you noted in Autoruns; and I then ran TFC.exe.

I also ran auslogic defrag --- with these (partial) results (in case they tell you anything useful):

Disk Size 33.87 GB
Free Space Size 5.32 GB
Clusters 8877920
Sectors per cluster 8
Bytes per sector 512
Started defragmentation 3/11/2011 10:19:15 AM
Completed defragmentation 3/11/2011 10:28:01 AM
Elapsed time 00:08:45
Total Files 83706
Total Directories 12152
Fragmented Files 2949
Defragmented Files 1785
Skipped Files 1164
Fragmentation Before 56.69% |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Fragmentation After 51.31% ||||||||||||||||||||||||||

I am afraid, however, that those unwanted videos are still there. They seem to appear only
after I leave the pc inactive for a while (like 30-60 minutes). As they are easil turned off I can live with them. But I sure wish I could identify WHO was putting them there. Inasmuch as the videos are quite professionally produced I would think there would be a fingerprint somewhere, but I can’t find it. ....batpark