Is it even POSSIBLE to uninstall Internet Explorer?? -
grooveless touque - 12-29-2004
Over a year ago my IE was hijacked by a sponsored ad-based search engine...I cannot access a single website. If I type in "cbc.ca" and hit enter, it comes back with "search results for cbc.ca". It does this EVERY time. And I have run Ad-Aware with no luck getting rid of it, AND I have McAfee on my computer which apparently hasn't found anything (though I don't really know how to work it, but the little blue shield is always on my taskbar saying it's running).
So I want to delete IE altogether and reinstall it from nothing, but it doesn't come up in my Add/Remove Programs list and Windows won't let me delete the whole Internet Explorer folder from Program Files. How the heck do I fix this without reformatting my hard drive?!
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beanmedic - 12-29-2004
depends which version you are running........
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LastStop - 12-29-2004
Touque - just forget about IE and get Firefox :-)
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grooveless touque - 12-29-2004
I want to access something that only works with IE. I'm using Nav right now and I'm perfectly happy with it but I do want to use this one application that only works in IE.
Beanmedic, according to the links on that search, you are supposed to be able to delete it from Add/Remove Programs. As I said before. it doesn't appear in my list of programs available for deletion. I did, however, find it in a list of Windows Components and I told it to delete from there, and it told me to reboot to complete the deletion. However, two reboots and one re-attempt later, the damn IE still works when I click the icon. This is a pain in the ass...not only does the program not work, but the supposed methods of uninstallation don't work!!
PS: In the Add/Remove Programs list, I didn't see IE but I did see the IE icon with a list of numbers (876801). I deleted that, but it didn't delete IE. That only seemed to be a Windows update related to IE. And even though I was able to delete that thing, IE STILL appears in my list of Windows Components available for deletion.
I think this is something Microsoft has done to make sure you can't completely delete IE.
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grooveless touque - 12-29-2004
Never mind. I was just told by a friend that they tried to uninstall it a while ago and they "failed miserably". Whether it can be done or not by more technoliterate people, I have officially given up.
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mark - 12-29-2004
make sure your adaware definitions are up to date
get spysweeper and run it
get spybot: search and destroy and run it
that should take care of it
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VioletlightHeron - 12-29-2004
Have you tried the Add/remove Windows Components section of your control panel?
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chris - 12-30-2004
mark Wrote:make sure your adaware definitions are up to date
get spysweeper and run it
get spybot: search and destroy and run it
that should take care of it
Unfortunately we have a Windoze machine at work, and suffered a similar fate. Using Ad Aware SE & Spybot S&D on a weekly basis is the only way we've been able to keep things operating. On Mark's suggestion, I'm going to download/install Spysweeper today and see if it provides any improvement.
(My other advice, when all else fails, and most Hipbasers saw this one coming; get a Mac - virus, spyware & crash free.

)
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mark - 12-30-2004
i was infected really bad with spyware and i ended up reformatting.
the programs that i suggested wouldn't get rid of it all.
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PurposelessPlay - 12-30-2004
What if you were to upgrade IE? Or just reinstall same version over itself? I'm no expert but you could try and see if that does it.
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hipkid33 - 12-30-2004
Hate to say it, but the only sure thing in my book is to start fresh. Format and reinstall always works for me. A little less painful if you can backup personal stuff though.
Or, get a Mac. I head their better than Windows machines? Is there a Mac fan here to confirm. Ummm...Chris...are you there? :lol:
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chris - 12-30-2004
hipkid33 Wrote:...Or, get a Mac. I head their better than Windows machines? Is there a Mac fan here to confirm. Ummm...Chris...are you there? :lol:
I'm here, and smiling!
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scottitude - 12-30-2004
The spy / adware may be gone but an IE setting that it changed may remain. Since nothing else has worked, try this:
Click the
Tools button at the top of your IE browser and the select
Internet Options. Click on the
Advanced tab and scroll down until you see a magnifying glass icon and the statement "Search from the Address bar".
Click on the circle next to "Do not search from the Address bar", then click
Apply, and
Okay.
Unless you do have some deeply embedded hijacker, this should eliminate the issue. See the attached picture for illustration.
Good luck.
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joehipfan - 12-30-2004
I use Mozilla Firefox as my web browser, but I can't do much downloading on it, so I use IE for downloads and nothing else.
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Lizard King - 12-30-2004
hey joehipfan, I think your emperor penguin quote is missing something, ASSES!