Hi. I really need help. I was logged into my nephew’s Webkinz yesterday on IE 7. For some reason, I’m getting pop ups when IE starts even though I have pop ups disabled. Anyway, while I was trying to close a window, I accidentally clicked on a link to install something called Zenturi, a program to detect spyware. I didn’t even realize I had done it till it was too late because there was no download file to click on. It was just automatic. It uninstalled it right away, but apparently some of it stayed behind and I also had a screen saver called Bugs from it. Anyway, it took all last night and all day today, but I think I got rid of the little pest, but it has completely screwed up my computer. I have lost my desktop wall paper and the screen saver and wall paper windows are nowhere to be found. The pictures are still there to use, but I can’t set anything. I’ve tried everything. I’ve run Avast, no virus/adware/spyware. I’ve disabled start up items, and I’ve even cleared things out of my registry. I’ve tried to do a system restore, but that wouldn’t go back any further than this month, I’ve tried safe mode last known good configuration. HELP! I don’t know what else to do. Any suggestions?
UPDATE: I have been trouble shooting since last night…Turns out that the desktop options when I right click on the desktop and the Desktop Tab that has the options for the wallpaper and screen savers is gone. I have no idea how or where it went. Any thoughts on that or how to get it back would be appreciated. TIA!
Can you first proceed with the general cleaning steps?
Disable System Restore and reenable it after step 3.
Clean your temporary files.
Schedule a boot time scanning with avast with archive scanning turned on.
Use SUPERantispyware, MBAM or Spyware Terminator to scan for spywares and trojans. If any infection is detected, better and safer is send the file to Quarantine than to simple delete than.
Well before I did anything, I decided to do an experiment and I created a new profile for the computer. Guess what. The Desktop options (wallpaper and screen saver menus/tabs) are there. So I’m guessing that it’s just a corrupted file/path in the old profile. Now, question. Is there a way to copy the display settings from the new profile to the old profile to make the old profile work? I was just going to delete the old file and use the new profile, but that will screw up my settings with other programs, and I’m scared to mess with that stuff since I’m not very computer literate. TIA for any help you can give me.
It’s not an easy way to go… specially if you have a lot of programs already configurated.
If you’re using XP/Vista there is a way to “transfer” files and configurations through Acessories > System Tools > Easy transfer (or whatever is called).
Thanks for the tip. I forgot about that program. Unfortunately, I just tried it and cannot seem to access “Control Panel” to copy it’s Display settings. Don’t know if I’m doing something wrong or what.