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Hi James,
I have three suggestions; two are simple and the last one, a little
more adventurous.
1. Presuming you're running a PC and not a Mac; look in your Program
Files directory for something called Screen Saver (or it's possible it may
be under the company name). You can use Find to locate Screen Saver and
it will tell if there has been a folder put on your computer and where it
is located. Once you find it, use the unistaller, if one is provided to
remove it from your system.
It sounds as though your browser may have inadvertently downloaded the
file while browsing the internet and installed it on your system. It's
probably junk or spam but may also be malicious spyware. In any account,
you should remove it, if you can. Also run a virus checker and a program
such as Ad-Aware or SpyBot to cleanse your system of any possible malware.
These programs have free versions so you don't need to buy the full
versions.
This is also a big reason why we here at Chebucto suggest users move to
Firefox, if they're using other browsers, as Firefox has a lot of add-ons
available; one really good on is called NoScript and prevents things like
this from happening as it informs you of any possibly malicious scripts
running on webpages and if any programs want to download without your
knowledge. Other browsers are too allowing in this respect and, nowadays,
you need to be a little more aware of junk on the internet trying to get
into your computer without your knowledge.
2. If the program doesn't have an uninstaller visible, check your Start
menu (press Start and then look under your Program Files menu for a Start
folder and see what is in there. These are programs that will autostart
each and every time your computer boots. If there is nothing in your
Start menu, take a deep breath and proceed to option 3: editing the
registry.
3. To remove any program that is starting up automatically but is not
in the Start menu, you just need to stop it from auto-running when your
computer starts up. This may require the 'dreaded registry fix'. The
registry is really not that daunting, provided you're careful and follow
instructions to a tee. The thing that scares people about the registry
is that it's 'live'.
What that means is that, unlike other programs that allow you to edit
and then save your changes, any changes to the registry occur at the time
you do it, so you can't simply back out and say 'discard the changes' if
you're already made the changes. The changes you make work instantly so
you just need to know what to touch and what to leave alone.
Navigating the registry is actually very logical as you will see by
following the instructions. It really makes a lot of sense and is
actually very simple. You're just going to remove the instruction line
from the registry that tells the Screen Saver nag to load and that's all.
Print out (or write out) the exact path you need to follow to get to
where the line is that you need to delete. Once you have deleted the
particular line that tells that program to load, you simply exit via the
upper right hand corner [X] exit box and all will be well.
This is the path to follow:
Go into your C:\Windows directory and find 'regedit.exe' and run it.
This will open a split window with registry directory names on the left.
Click on:
HKEY_LOCAL MACHINE\ and then click on:
Software\ and then click on:
Microsoft\ and then click on:
Windows\ and then click on:
CurrentVersion\ and then click:
Run\
Look for Screen Saver (or something to that effect) in the right hand
window and highlight it. Use the right mouse button to bring up the
delete option and confirm 'yes' delete it. Delete only that line. You
may be tempted to delete other stuff too, especially if you have a lot of
junk starting up but you can do that at a later date to streamline your
startup. Once that line is deleted, exit immediately via the upper right
hand corner [X] exit box and all will be well.
Now reboot your computer and the Screen Saver Product nag should no
longer auto-run. It's still there in your system but it will just not
auto-run and consume your valuable resources. Now you can go look in your
Program Files directory to see if you can find it. If you can, just
delete it as your computer now won't be trying to run it upon boot.
Hope this helps...
CCN Help
-------------------------
On Sat, 27 Aug 2011, Shotokai Society wrote:
> Hi, Every day I get an Icon on my desktop called Screen Saver Product
> alerter. Every day I delete it and every day it's back again. Any
> suggestions on how to get rid of it permanently.
> Sincerely, James Wood.
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