UnInstalled and now computer is not working right

[codelady]

I uninstalled Spybot 1.4 by going through the add/remove in the control panel so I could download a newer version. Now my computer is running really slow and nothing is working right. It takes forever to even open a webpage or a program. I assume something got corrupted but I have no idea how to fix it. I did a system restore but that didn't seem to help much. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[drragostea]

Hello, codelady. What Windows OS are you using? Is it patched (fully updated)? Please download a fresh copy of Spybot-SD 1.5.2.20 and download all the updates and remove all the "old" copies of Spybot-SD via Add/Remove Programs window.

Link to download is below, you may download it from Spybot's servers:

http://www.safer-networking.org/en/mirrors/index.html

Edit: Was your computer "fine" prior to installing Spybot-SD 1.5.2? Have you attempted to clean the cache, cookies, and temp. files in your browsers (browser trackage)?

[codelady]

I'm using Windows XP and yes it is fully patched. I did remove the old version via add/remove programs, that's where the problem started. I'm on my husbands computer now. I can't download anything on mine, can't do much of anything. I did finally manage to do a very slow system restore and am now trying to do a diskcheck and defrag to see if that will help.

[codelady]

Computer was running fine until I uninstalled it. I hadn't downloaded version 1.5 yet, only did the uninstall via the add/remove programs in the control panel, after I did that, it's been downhill ever since.

[drragostea]

Are you aware that Windows XP SP3 was released on May 6th? But, I do not think it may help your problem. Can you do a System Restore back the period prior to when you uninstalled v.1.4?

[codelady]

Yes I'm aware of that, and I hadn't updated that yet. I did do a system restore to a few days ago, and I ran diskcheck. But it's still running very very slow. I am now running ad-aware to see if that finds anything. But everything is running slow, even when I click on my start menu and try to go to the control panel or anywhere it takes forever to get there.

[sandybeach]

steps before using add/delete programs to remove it. Most depend on what features you had active before un-install.

Running from memory (perhaps someone here has link to actual suggestion list) plus a bit from my files....
these included:
Disabling Tea Timer (all desktops)
Undoing Immunization Feature

If using Advanced mode or remove by entering advanced mode:
* Go into Spybot > Mode > Advanced Mode > Tools > Resident.
o Uncheck (if checked) the following:
+ Resident "SDHelper" (Internet Explorer bad download blocker) active.
+ Resident "TeaTimer" (Protection of over-all system settings) active.
* Go into Spybot > Mode > Advanced Mode > Tools > IE Tweaks.
Uncheck (if checked) any of the following "Miscellaneous locks":
+ Lock Hosts file read-only as protection against hijackers.
+ Lock IE start page setting against user changes (current user).
+ Lock IE control panel against opening from within IE (current
user).
* Go into Spybot > Mode > Advanced Mode > Tools > Hosts file
o Click the "Remove Spybot S&D hosts list" button (at the top)
* Exit Spybot-S&D

There is also a registry clean-up tool available called: sbsdreguninst.reg
that can be run after doing unlocks & un-install. This removes basically anything in registry left over.

Just my opinion but from where you are now, in your position, I would:

Re-install S&D 1.4 if you can (always a good idea to keep a back-up copy of orig. install program in My Docs) from existing copy, then re-do un-install by following above method of unlocking/un-installing/ reg cleaning (try "search " above for the reg file to download & use.

I would then run System File Checker (SFC) to correct any system files that are a little shook up by all & sundry.

I'm no expert so anyone feel free to correct this with better info! I would hold off on SP3 for now as you don't want to add more possible complications before running well again. Hope this helps!!:snorkle:

[Greyfox]

codelady

The link to download the remove spybot settings file is http://www.safer-networking.org/files/remove-spybotsd-settings.reg

[Yodama]

It takes forever to even open a webpage or a program..

Did you by any chance install an updated version of your antivirus or other security software?
New antivirus solutions may have additional features that also could cause such issues. If you have several security software installed, make sure that only one has an active protection running, otherwise conflicts are very likely.

I encountered massive slowdowns after upgrading to AVG8. The AVG Linkchecker slows down browsing by several seconds on current versions of Firefox and Opera (I did not test IE yet, not at home XD ). The tested computer is a dual core clocked at 2GHz and with 1GB of RAM running a Windows XP with classical interface without optical gadgets, a setup that should not have such slowdowns on usual tasks. Depending on your hardware setup, such slowdowns could be worse.

[codelady]

When I did the system restore it did put Spybot 1.4 back in, so shouldn't that have corrected any problem with that? Seems like the main problems I'm having is accessing the internet. I was able to do the system restore, ran disk check, defrag, ad-aware and my CA virus scan with no problem. Thats what I'm finding so odd that I could run all of those but getting to any websites is slow as molasses running up hill. Can't do windows update though either, but again that's on the web.

[drragostea]

This... could this be a "application" problem is Yodama said? When I installed AVG 8.0 Free, it was fine. I just had to remove version 7.5.524. However, I just find it bothersome that AVG 8 is consuming so much memory. If I left the computer on for an hour, avgrsx.exe, would have consumed around 50MB of memory.

The only solution I might think of is get a flashdrive, download the latest version of Spybot-SD 1.5.2.20 on the flashdrive from his computer and receive it on your computer. If this might not solve the problem... you may have caught a baddie. This may be likely. But for now, I'm sticking to the application problem. Many of the people I know, removed Spybot-SD 1.4 with now problems.

[drragostea]

I would hold off on SP3 for now as you don't want to add more possible complications before running well again.

I agree. I should not have brought that up. Wait until the problem is solved then upgrade. SP3 is not critical... well to me it is not. Lols. Just a performance boost and some upgrades.