Good day fellow AnandTechers!
My uncle has an old laptop running Windows 98SE with all the updates and Internet Explorer 6.
He had something called 20/20 Search toolbar installed on his computer which I had him remove through the Control Panel. I also had him run Ad-Aware with the latest update installed to remove all kinds of malicious files.
What is affected on his computer is that certain sites have affixed themselves on to the Favorites list and his home page keeps coming back to a less than reputable site after each reboot. He can change his home page and favorites and the settings will stay applied until he reboots, in which all the junk will return.
Even after all the scrubbing, the problem is still there with the addition of a new one. Windows now prompts him that a file called "svc.pak.exe" can no longer be found, and asks to check the win.ini file for the path. I suspect that the file was from that 3rd party 20/20 search toolbar.
A similar thing happened when my sister used our computer, malicious third party software was installed with the home page and favorites messed up. I was able to fix the problem going through the same steps as with my uncle. However my attempts with my uncle proved to be fruitless.
I am looking for other suggestions as to how we can go about this to get rid of whatever is causing his favorites and homepage settings to change after reboots.
Please keep in mind that my uncle is not a computer literate person, I have to guide him through this through talking on the phone. I am not comfortable with him editing the registry or win.ini file if it necessary.
Thanks all!
Also, if and when this problem is fixed, how could I go about to prevent such a problem from happening again? Remember I cannot physically get to the computer, I would have to guide my uncle through it.
My uncle has an old laptop running Windows 98SE with all the updates and Internet Explorer 6.
He had something called 20/20 Search toolbar installed on his computer which I had him remove through the Control Panel. I also had him run Ad-Aware with the latest update installed to remove all kinds of malicious files.
What is affected on his computer is that certain sites have affixed themselves on to the Favorites list and his home page keeps coming back to a less than reputable site after each reboot. He can change his home page and favorites and the settings will stay applied until he reboots, in which all the junk will return.
Even after all the scrubbing, the problem is still there with the addition of a new one. Windows now prompts him that a file called "svc.pak.exe" can no longer be found, and asks to check the win.ini file for the path. I suspect that the file was from that 3rd party 20/20 search toolbar.
A similar thing happened when my sister used our computer, malicious third party software was installed with the home page and favorites messed up. I was able to fix the problem going through the same steps as with my uncle. However my attempts with my uncle proved to be fruitless.
I am looking for other suggestions as to how we can go about this to get rid of whatever is causing his favorites and homepage settings to change after reboots.
Please keep in mind that my uncle is not a computer literate person, I have to guide him through this through talking on the phone. I am not comfortable with him editing the registry or win.ini file if it necessary.
Thanks all!
Also, if and when this problem is fixed, how could I go about to prevent such a problem from happening again? Remember I cannot physically get to the computer, I would have to guide my uncle through it.