CWS removal
Sarah Perez on October 2nd, 2004
I haven’t needed a Cool Web Search removal tool yet, mainly because I’m running the new Spybot Search and Destroy that has an app called “Tea-Timer” (why??) that warns me of any crap like that *before* it gets installed. Plus, I used the “immunize” feature to block against known spyware. However, there are those out there that occasionally come to be with their computer problems and this could be one. So, when I saw this link to a new CWS removal procedure, I figured I’d blog it in case I ever needed to find it again.
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Behold the story of TeaTimer.
Hi,
I thought you might lke to hear my solution for a CWS hijack.
I tried spybot, spysweeper, adaware, CWS shredder, hijack this.
All new and updated versions.
SpySweeper caught the problem but the removal was temporary, with each new reboot, the hijack would reappear. I read through a number of complicated fixes, one of which I used to repair my registry.
On the registry, there is an entry under Appt_dll that I deleted.
That was suggested by a bulletin board.
I then needed to find the program that kept reinstalling the hijack. I knew it occurred this new year so……………
I opened up the windows\system32 file and viewed details, adding “date created”. I displayed the list of files by “date created”. One pair of entries stood out as being the most recently created, a file with just the number “0″ and a dll file with a weird name. Windows would not allow me to delete them. I used the “incinerator” function on System Mechanic by IOlabs to delete them and that worked. My system is now clean.