Replies

Sorry Joe, not recent enough for me to want to go back that far.

It is interesting that the installer program is doing that now. For years I have had my computer set up as I described. My WIN 7 computer at work never does what I am experiencing, My home computer, where I have the problem only started doing this a month ago and no other flavor of Windows I have used, 3.11, 95, 98, XT, Vista or 7 till now has ever done that.

Fred, Thanks so much for walking us through your created experience. I am a part time IT consultant and have run into Lizamoon a half dozen or more times on other people’s computers. I have seen it get so far that it was impossible to use the computer with the pop-ups being constant. It did not allow any software to be run on the computer, whether already installed or not.
The only good way I found to get the cleaning process started is to run RKill, which does a wonderful job of stopping any running malware processes. Before that I could not even access or run Task Manager, even in safe mode it was impossible to do anything. For the people who rely on me, I now have a cocktail CD of RKill, Malwarebytes, Spybot Search and Destroy and sometimes one or two other malware killers. I give that to the people, tell them how and in what order to run the cleanup and have seen it work 100% of the time.
As I saw on one of the other posts, often the internet connection, for browser and email has a proxy server change or setup, which keeps the computer from getting on the internet. I always check that once the cleanup is done.
Harald

Thanks for the all the thoughts and input. I have a rudimentary knowledge and understanding of all that has been described and shared. Thanks so much. I still have a tough time understanding how a program that was introduced for Win 3.1, now runs without problems on WIN 7 64bit without re-installation. Either the programmers were brilliant, or did not know they put together something that was that good for that long.
Fred, I have had dual boot machines, but I don’t find the time and hassle worth it to dual boot for one or two programs. I also now have my OS on a SSD to speed things up a little and with limited space and wanting to keep that as clean as possible, I don’t particularly want to have another OS sitting around that I use 5-6 times a year.
Regards to all of you!
Harald

As Dora the Explorer would say, “We did it! We did it!” Thanks so much Ted, I did not even think in terms of rebuilding the icon cache, but that brought all the errant icons back!
Harald

Ted,
Thanks so much for the reply. On the desktop the icon looks fine, not a problem. I knew I had seen this before. On my desktop I have a program shortcut with exactly the same issue. A different program and one day the icon changed to the generic program icon and nothing I can do will change it. I will try flushing the icon cache.
Thanks
Harald

I am not sure if it has been mentioned here, but Magix makes some wonderful media programs. A free one that is very similar to Photoshop elements is Xtreme Photo Designer.
http://www.magix.com/us/free-downloads/free-software/xtreme-photo-designer/
Harald

Thanks so much. I did not think to go to Microsoft and find an answer. I am still not used to their trying to do something positive with their customer service. I am not using any of their mail systems, do not have them installed.
Harald

I have struggled with the issues discussed in this thread as well. I stumbled onto the article mentioned at the beginning of the thread about creating junction points. I did that and it has worked marvelously for me. I wish I had the time to complete the task and edit my registry to separate the rest of the “garbage” from my OS.

LogMeIn is dynamite. I use it whenever I need to be on my computer in the office. I sat in my sister’s house in Germany and worked on my office computer in Iowa without a hitch!

Reading this article, I have to weigh in as well. Not to mention AVG 9.0 in an article about all-in-one security suites, is like leaving Kleenex out in discussing tissues on the market today.
I have to heartily concur with the assessment of Symantec products. Their anti-virus may have been good at one time, but their current programs run like malware themselves! Have you ever tired to delete their 360 or security suite trial version from a computer, and not have it suddenly, surreptitiously jump out and bite you again? Over the years, when Symantec has gobbled up their superior competition, they have proceeded to ruin the software, starting with PC Tools then the Powerquest products etc!

Fred, have been an avid fan of your newsletter for years. Thanks! I am one to always go for the new thing, upgrade my BIOS or firmware when there is a new version. That has not always paid off, but makes me feel like I am up do date. So much for the, “If it ain’t broke…..
Asus now has a bios program integrated into the CMOS setup on their new motherboards. Very slick, not having to have anything but the new bios file, which it reads from a flash drive or the hard drive on the computer.
I am also not aware of having to pay for a bios, unless the CMOS chip has become defective and a new, programmed one has to be installed.

A company that has a lot of top quality audio, video and photo tools is Magix. Their free, Extreme Photo Designer 6 is comparable to PhotoShop Elements.
http://www.magix.com/us/free-downloads/free-software/xtreme-photo-designer/
Not to mention them is missing a quality option.
Harald