I hate computers. Seriously.

[NikPreviousAcct]

Browser:
I uninstalled MyIE2 and now when I type in a URL from the run box, there's no association to Internet Explorer. Grr. I tried resetting ever setting I can find in Internet Options, but that didn't do any good. The little check box for IE to verify it's the default browser is checked again, too. Any ideas? And don't give me that crap about using another browser. You people are as bad as those assmonkey religious zealots that used to knock on my door every Saturday morning.

Video:
Whenever I play video intensive games like FarCry, UT2k4, XIII, etc., the game will periodically freeze up for a certain period of time. If any sound is playing at the moment, it will replay half a second of sound over and over again. This stays frozen for, maybe, 10 seconds before returning to normal game play. However, I can't play for more than a few minutes before getting locked up again. I've uninstalled and reinstalled video drivers. I've reinstalled DirectX 9.0b. Ideas?

Internet:
I have POPUPS! GAH! Every few minutes, a new browser window will open and load an ad. This is the first time in probably two months that this computer is up and running again. It's sitting behind a WRT54G. I've scanned with up-to-date Adaware and SpyBot S&D, but they do not find any form of spyware or adware on my system. I've gone through Add/Remove Programs and there's nothing there that I didn't install myself. I've disabled everything in the startup tab of MSCONFIG and rebooted. WTF am I doing wrong? What am I missing?

 

[CTho9305]

Originally posted by: FFMCobalt
Browser:
I uninstalled MyIE2 and now when I type in a URL from the run box, there's no association to Internet Explorer. Grr. I tried resetting ever setting I can find in Internet Options, but that didn't do any good. The little check box for IE to verify it's the default browser is checked again, too. Any ideas? And don't give me that crap about using another browser. You people are as bad as those assmonkey religious zealots that used to knock on my door every Saturday morning.

I have a .reg file that I wrote last year to fix that. I have to find it.

Video:
Whenever I play video intensive games like FarCry, UT2k4, XIII, etc., the game will periodically freeze up for a certain period of time. If any sound is playing at the moment, it will replay half a second of sound over and over again. This stays frozen for, maybe, 10 seconds before returning to normal game play. However, I can't play for more than a few minutes before getting locked up again. I've uninstalled and reinstalled video drivers. I've reinstalled DirectX 9.0b. Ideas?

Do you allow your hard drive to spin down?

Internet:
I have POPUPS! GAH! Every few minutes, a new browser window will open and load an ad. This is the first time in probably two months that this computer is up and running again. It's sitting behind a WRT54G. I've scanned with up-to-date Adaware and SpyBot S&D, but they do not find any form of spyware or adware on my system. I've gone through Add/Remove Programs and there's nothing there that I didn't install myself. I've disabled everything in the startup tab of MSCONFIG and rebooted. WTF am I doing wrong? What am I missing?

[/quote]
That sure sucks. But presenting a workaround to decrease the likelihood of this happening to you would get me called an "assmonkey religious zealot"

 

[NikPreviousAcct]

I didn't realize that I had control over my HDD spinning down or not. I would prefer that it does not spin down. This also happened in CS just now, too. In CS, it seems to be fine for about 10 or 15 minutes before it starts fvcking up. Then it fvcks up every 30 seconds or so just like the rest.

 

[OZEE]

For your popups, go to Schadenfroh's spyware faq in the software forum. There will be a link to HiJackThis -- download it, run it, post the log in that faq-thread for someone to review it. One of us ought to be able to find the source of your popups. Then after it's clean, install SpywareBlaster to help keep it clean.

 

[NikPreviousAcct]

Originally posted by: OZEE
For your popups, go to Schadenfroh's spyware faq in the software forum. There will be a link to HiJackThis -- download it, run it, post the log in that faq-thread for someone to review it. One of us ought to be able to find the source of your popups. Then after it's clean, install SpywareBlaster to help keep it clean.

I've got SpywareBlaster already installed.

 

[mechBgon]

Could you post a spec list of your system? I hate having to spy on you through your router to get that info and it might help with the troubleshooting of the game problems.

As for the URL thing... open My Computer, click Tools > Folder Options, hit the File Types tab, go down the list to URL and hit the Change button to change it to open with IE. See if that gets it back on the right track.

On the popup issue... maybe you installed ad-supported software. If you don't read your EULA's all the way to the bottom... yeah.

 

[mechBgon]

By the way, to gather some info on the popups, install ZoneAlarm and note down what apps are trying to reach the Internet.

 

[Ryoga]

Originally posted by: FFMCobalt
Browser:
I uninstalled MyIE2 and now when I type in a URL from the run box, there's no association to Internet Explorer. Grr. I tried resetting ever setting I can find in Internet Options, but that didn't do any good. The little check box for IE to verify it's the default browser is checked again, too. Any ideas? And don't give me that crap about using another browser. You people are as bad as those assmonkey religious zealots that used to knock on my door every Saturday morning.

Now, now, being caustic ins't going to win your friends.

Try this:
XpAssociate

Also, you can try downloading and installing the most recent version of MyIE2 (now called Maxthon) to see if it fixes the problem. If it does, then uninstall Maxthon. Maybe the new uninstaller is nicer than the old one.

Video:
Whenever I play video intensive games like FarCry, UT2k4, XIII, etc., the game will periodically freeze up for a certain period of time. If any sound is playing at the moment, it will replay half a second of sound over and over again. This stays frozen for, maybe, 10 seconds before returning to normal game play. However, I can't play for more than a few minutes before getting locked up again. I've uninstalled and reinstalled video drivers. I've reinstalled DirectX 9.0b. Ideas?

If you have real-time antivirus running, try disabling it while you play a game. This seems reminiscent of Norton AV to me. Most often this ind of behavior as attribited to some backgroud program wanting to do something, and AV programs tend not to play nice with the system like that. It could be another program, too.

Next, I would try updating your motherboard chipset drivers. Additionally, consider using Driver Cleaner 3.1 (maybe up to 3.2 now) to completely uninstall the old video drivers (instructions are in the readme for that program).

Internet:
I have POPUPS! GAH! Every few minutes, a new browser window will open and load an ad. This is the first time in probably two months that this computer is up and running again. It's sitting behind a WRT54G. I've scanned with up-to-date Adaware and SpyBot S&D, but they do not find any form of spyware or adware on my system. I've gone through Add/Remove Programs and there's nothing there that I didn't install myself. I've disabled everything in the startup tab of MSCONFIG and rebooted. WTF am I doing wrong? What am I missing?

I assume this is while you are running IE? This is some form of browser hijack, most likely.

First, make sure you have no browser windows open. Most scan programs can't remove stiff if IE is open.

Next, make sure you're running Ad-aware with the optimal setting configured. Open up Ad-aware, and click the Settings button (the gear on the top middle of the window).
General> activate these: "Automatically save log-file" and "Automatically quarantine objects prior to removal"

Scanning > activate these: "Scan within archives", "Scan active processes", "Scan registry", "Deep scan registry", "Scan my IE Favorites for banned sites" and "Scan my Hosts file"

Tweaks > Scanning Engine> activate this: "Unload recognized processes during scanning."

Tweaks > Cleaning Engine: activate these: "Automatically try to unregister objects prior to deletion" and "Let Windows remove files in use after reboot."

Click "Proceed" to save your settings, then click "Start," make sure "Activate in-depth scan" is ticked green then scan your system. When the scan is finished, the screen will tell you if anything has been found, click "Next." The bad files will be listed, right click the pane and click "Select all objects" - this will put a check mark in the box at the side, click "Next" again and click "OK" at the prompt "# objects will be removed. Continue?".

(Above copied from random website forum.)

Next, try the following programs:
CWShredder
About:Buster
HSRemove
VX2 Cleaner Plug-In for Ad-Aware (requires Ad-aware)

Additionally, you should run an up-to-date virus scanner, since numerous types of these programs are actually considered full-blown trojans. Try an online scanner like http://housecall.antivirus.com/ or http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/ in addition to updating your system AV scan (if you don't have one, download and install a free one such as AVG Free or AntiVir free). You can also run an online trojan scanner at http://scan.sygatetech.com/pretrojanscan.html .

If none of that seems to work, download and execute HijackThis (be very careful with this program, it is an advanced spyware detection tool, but it doesn't discriminate between good programs and bad ones!). Save the scan log to a file, and then post your system specs, the behavior of the problem, and the log file to these forums. Be aware that it can take a few days to get help, and the more information you give the more helpful people will be (they're doing it for free).

I've also heard very good things about SpywareStopper, but that's shareware ($20). That might keep you from having to do all the hassle with the above free programs.