2 little problems with laptop

Frith

Hello there.

I have just been deleted downloaded games and other odd programs from my laptop. (Put on by sons).

There are 2 I can't get rid of! One is called Program Starter 2.0.6. The other is, when I type something in the search bar, it sort of defaults to a delta search, instead of Google?

Thanks for any help.

waddler_8

Use AdwCleaner for any browser crapware.

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/adwcleaner/

What's the problem with the other?

Look in the %programfiles%\Program Starter folder for an uninstall.exe to run.

waddler_8

The program files folder is:

C:\Program Files\AB-Tools.com\Program starter\unins000.exe

Run that file (right click "run as admin" if vista/win7)

There may be other crapware installed that came along with that too.

MSE detected this aswell: http://www.microsoft.com/security/portal/threat/encyclopedia/Entry.aspx?Name=Adware%3AWin32%2FAddLyrics

EDIT: There's more: https://www.virustotal.com/en/file/0771d4c8ba81d26be6da83fd6a43f954236a3b6e33867ed4fe72d3ee85d4d6de/analysis/
https://www.virustotal.com/en/file/d2350f1d09bc1d5c97aa6e46b950ecbc8157fb1b251b5117c09a5a74c36cbc58/analysis/

Frith

I downloaded the cleaner so now I am getting lots of messages from that as it keeps trying to automatically clean everything. In fact, it's just prompted me to restart again as I type.

I went through the usual options with the cleaner but the program starter thing is still there. Will follow your second message advice in a mo.

The delta search thing still comes up and I also keep getting a pop up from a games site that I deleted from programs!

Frith

Have found Program Starter and the uninstall option but I get the same error message as when I've tried to uninstall it other times - that the program is still running and needs to be shut down first! Aaargh.

Frith

OK, how to get rid of ProgrammeStarter!

I deleted the AVG thing as it was throwing up popups all the time.

I installed CCleaner (hadn't used it for years). Then ticked the option to disable ProgrammeStarter so it didn't work automatically on startup.

Restarted the laptop, back to CCleaner and deleted the programme.

Phew!

Lifeforms

Frith wrote: »

I deleted the AVG thing as it was throwing up popups all the time.

Deleted the whole antivirus, or..? because you probably want to keep antivirus running (and regularly scan, and update)

waddler_8

Frith wrote: »

Have found Program Starter and the uninstall option but I get the same error message as when I've tried to uninstall it other times - that the program is still running and needs to be shut down first! Aaargh.

You do usually need to exit the program first before uninstalling. There will have been a system tray icon (bottom right of your screen) - simply right click that and choose Exit. That will have stooped the program to enable you to uninstall it.

I downloaded the cleaner so now I am getting lots of messages from that as it keeps trying to automatically clean everything. In fact, it's just prompted me to restart again as I type.

I deleted the AVG thing as it was throwing up popups all the time.

AVG?

AdwCleaner was to get rid of Delta search. You do need to let it reboot to finish the deletion process.