last seen 6 days 8 hours agoOkay.
So you've gone to IE and Firefox options and erased your tracks across the internet by deleting temporary internet files. For good measure, you also ran Spybot and AdAware. Now let's see if you actually got them all, because chances are, you didn't.
For Windows XP.
Right click Start
Click Explore
Click Tools
Click Folder Options
Click View
Check Show hidden files and folders
Uncheck Hide extension for known file types
Uncheck Hide protected Operating System Files (Recommended)
Answer yes to the "Are you sure" prompt.
Apply and close the box.
At this point Local Settings will show up under the username and your temporary internet files are located there. Open that and see if the folder is empty. A quick and handy way to delete everything is to press CTRL A and then press CTRL D and then Enter. You can also do the same for the proceeding Temp folder, but keep in mind that if you count on these folders to save your form field information and settings for various websites then you may not want to do this. Generally it's okay to delete everything and the extra space you get back on the hard drive is nice too.
If you receive an error stating that the process can't be deleted as it is currently being by another application, then make sure everything else is closed. Chances are it's your antivirus or another legitimate background process but it can actually be spyware or a virus. To move on just select the folder then go to to Edit and the select Invert Selection. It's usually okay to select Yes to All when you receive a pop up prompting the file as a read only file.
Windows Vista is a whole 'nother monster as you have to get to files and folders through the control panel. This will have to be another topic as I have yet to figure out how to hide the desktop.ini files that magically show up on the desktop (something about having to download a batch file...Vista...sigh).
Hope it helps. Cover your tracks!!!
-Ashton
(Edit: 09/13/07)
A couple more pointers.
Rather than right clicking on Start you can just simultaneously press the Windows logo key and E to open up Explorer (not the browser).
For Windows Vista, I just deleted the desktop.ini files (both of them) off the desktop and I really didn't see any problems.
Yes, ccleaner has been an invaluable tool for me and will perform clean up functions above and beyond anything else I have used. Download it for free:
http://www.ccleaner.com/download
open a text document and WRITE (so that you learn these things and don't just copy paste)
@echo offdel %temp%\*.* /q
save as "something.cmd"
whenever you want to delete your temp documents, just double click on "something.cmd" and pow, they are gone!
interesting isaac. thanks;)
And thats just cool.
Isaac is right. Take the time to write the script. There is no other way to learn command line - DOS or Linux.
Alas, my skills in this area is still sorely lacking...
I do not feel obliged to believe that same God who endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect had intended for us to forgo their use. -Galileo Galilei
And thats just cool.
Isaac is right. Take the time to write the script. There is no other way to learn command line - DOS or Linux.
...
oh, but it's not just the CLI; there is no other way to learn web markup, programing languages, forign langauges (Ich spreache nicht Deauthes gut... cookie for anyone who knows what lanague and what it says in that langauge; and I know there's supposed to an unlout over the "u" in "gut", but my keyboard doesn't have those... ), so on and so forth other then to write it out.
Yep Ashton - awesome. Thanks.
Once again, your smashing good looks are equalled by your utter genius.
>>> Once again, your smashing good looks are equalled by your utter genius.
SHeeeeooooot. >>>Blush<<<
Thanks. That pic was taken on a good hair day.
I do not feel obliged to believe that same God who endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect had intended for us to forgo their use. -Galileo Galilei
thanks ashton. How do i get a temp file to delete, eventhough it wont? i know you said make sure you dont have other programs running & so, i closed out of them, as well as, my security software....but is still cant get the file to delete.
thanks ashton. How do i get a temp file to delete, eventhough it wont? i know you said make sure you dont have other programs running & so, i closed out of them, as well as, my security software....but is still cant get the file to delete.
awesome! thank you.
Jleo.
Did you take care of the problem with the Unlocker?
In situations like that, I usually right click the file and select Properties. Copy the end part of the file path (filename + .exe, .dll, etc.) and then do some research to see if it's malicious.
My favorite place to go is:
http://www.processlibrary.com/
But simply throwing the filename into Google should do the trick.
I do not feel obliged to believe that same God who endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect had intended for us to forgo their use. -Galileo Galilei