Hello community,

Let me tell you what happened today and then hopefully you will be warned and fully prepared to do what must be done!

The story:
Just 20 minuets ago, I booted up my laptop and logged in, blah, blah, blah.
I get on the desktop and then proceed to opening Firefox.

"Firefox is in offline mode..."
Oh, it's just the laptop being slow and all, I tell myself.
I wait a couple of seconds so that the "networking" would take care of itself.

Couple of seconds over, I run Firefox again and find that it is still in offline mode.
By now, the computer should have recognized that it is connected to the internet, but somehow it didn't.

Now I am worried and decide to check the taskbar (NOTE: I have my taskbar automatically set to hide itself). The taskbar jumps out of its hiding space and I see that there's a big "X" on the network icon.

Maybe something is wrong with the router?
I go downstairs and find that it is functioning properly (light is on and the desktop can go on the internet).
Hmm... Let me try another computer.

I get out my other laptop and find that it too had the same problem; it just wouldn't connect to the internet.
What to do... It is 12:20 AM (EST) and I can not just stay on the desktop.

So, I decide to consult Spybot and see what the problem was.

Whoa, the start-up list has gotten down...
Significantly.
I originally had at least five to six more plus the scroll (this meaning I could scroll down six more entries before coming to a halt).

In fact, I went to Spybot on the desktop and the other laptop and found out that they both had a lot of entries missing.

I did not know what to do so I:
Went to the services in Windows.
Found the appropriate service, "C:\Windows\System32\svchost.exe -k netsvcs".
Added it in through Spybot.
Went to "Resident" and stopped TeaTimer (since this was apparently the software that deleted my internet access).

Who knows how this has happened.
I know that I did not delete the start-up entry (I have not used the Spybot startup tool for a long time).

You have now been warned of the dangers of TeaTimer.
I suggest you turn it off before this happens to you.
Luckily, you have the right steps to take if necessary!

Thanks for reading,
-Supervisor