Uninstall/Reinstall Spybot S&D 1.4

[gestan1]

My Syybot S&D 1.4 updated 21 Nov 2007 seems to be working OK, but on computer WinXPHome system startup each time two alert messages as follows briefly flag up and then disappear:

1) about the web start page which previously had been hijacked, but now is working OK, and
2) showing I have a new icon in the system tray after upgrading my Comodo firewall.


a) Maybe there is a way to stop these alerts, can you help please?
b) Secondly it may be unnecessary but I thought that it may be best to uninstall/reinstall Spybot for a clean Spybot install, but I am wondering:

i) does the uninstall delete all Spybot files/folders or if it retains my previous Spybot settings to be used on reinstall, and
ii) if my hyjacked web start page problem will recur in IE6 and Firefox and be detected again by Spybot after reinstall and my previous Spybot settings have to be repeated, or
iii) if the Spybot uninstall/reinstall causes the program to accept the first startup as a clean status as a reference before any changes occur.

Your early comments on each item will be appreciated. Thanks.

[Zenobia]

That was a problem with Spybot 1.4,and the solution used to be to refresh Teatimer's snapshot files.Please see here:
http://forums.spybot.info/showpost.php?p=191&postcount=2

Spybot 1.5 doesn't have that problem,so it would be best for you to install Spybot 1.5.It says here if you don't want to uninstall Spybot 1.4 before installing 1.5,it's not necessary,but you will end up with two entries in the uninstall list:
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/paragraphs/spybotsdbeta_qna.html
If you do install Spybot 1.5 final,there are bugfixes for it:
http://forums.spybot.info/project.php?do=issuelist&projectid=1
http://forums.spybot.info/showthread.php?t=17886
Or,better yet,you might just want to install one of the betas instead.I know there is a new one out,but I haven't had chance to get it yet,so I can't tell you much about it.I do have the Helloween edition,and that one fixes most of the bugs with 1.5 final all together.Helloween edition:
http://forums.spybot.info/showthread.php?t=18788
Or,Spybot 1.5.1.18 Beta 2,if you'd like to try it:
http://forums.spybot.info/showthread.php?t=20316

I can't remember what settings are kept if you uninstall Spybot 1.4 and then install 1.5,it's been awhile.I know it shouldn't remove the directory in application data,as you can see here:
http://www.safer-networking.org/en/howto/uninstall.html
If everything in the application data folder isn't removed when uninstalling Spybot 1.4,I think it would keep most of your settings,since configuration.ini is in there,but I'm not 100% sure on that,though,so don't quote me on that.

So,if you were getting those two pop-ups on start-up because of the problem with the snapshot files with 1.4,and your startpage(s) is/are no longer hijacked,then refreshing your snapshot files or installing Spybot 1.5 should fix getting the pop-ups from teatimer on startup,whichever you choose,so long as your startpage is no longer actually being hijacked.