As far as what I have used to scan for spyware, Spybot: Search and Destroy and Ad-Aware seem to work OK for me. They are both free for personal use. MS is supposed to have a Malicious Software Removal Tool for XP, but I haven't tried it yet.

When your are shutting down, does it seem to freeze when shutting down, or does it display the message that You can now turn off the computer?

Gretchen Summers wrote:
Thanks, Mike.  I am running XP.  I haven't installed anything, but my
daughters are the ones who use the Dell the most, and unfortunately,
there is probably some spyware on it (teenagers and spyware go
hand-in-hand).  Virus scan was done just a day or two ago, and I don't
have anything to scan for spyware. I'll give your attachments a try
and let you know what I find.


On Mon, 21 Mar 2005 19:25:44 -0500, MUGWump <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

Date sent:              Mon, 21 Mar 2005 07:23:18 -0500
From:                   Gretchen Summers <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>

For some reason our Dell, running XP, suddenly won't shut down.  I
have to hold in the power button to get it to do so.  I suspect some
application running in the background that won't quit might be the
culprit.  Can anyone suggest a way to resolve this?

If you were running an older version of Windows (9x/Me), I'd say give it the three-fingered salute (Ctrl-Alt-Del) which would open the Close Program window, select an item and hit End Task, then try again to shut down. Repeat as necessary until you get the right one. But I tried that on an XP machine once and couldn't figure out what to try. (I'm posting this for anyone who may have this kind of problem with 9x/Me.)

I presume that no one has installed anything in the last few days (which
would lead to a likely culprit) right? And have you done a virus scan and
spyware scan (with updated definitions)?

An alternate way of doing what I've described above is by using the "PC
Magazine" utility "End It All". I use it a lot to minimize memory use for
tasks such as CD burning. There are two versions of this program, and I
have 'em both--the original EndItAll is a lot more conservative as to
what it'll expose for shutting down, so I'd recommend you try that one
first instead of EndItAll2. Just select what you do and don't want it to
shut down, then hit the "end it all" button. It's a one-shot deal;
everything will reload next time you boot, so you don't lose anything. It
also gives you the flexibility to try different things so you can
identify what's causing the problem and then uninstall it.

I'll email you off-list with zip files of the two programs.

Later on,
Mike


--
Mac-N-DOS is sponsored by <http://lowendmac.com/> and...

   /      Buy books, CDs, videos, and more from Amazon.com     \
  / <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect-home/lowendmac> \

     Support Low End Mac <http://lowendmac.com/lists/support.html>

Mac-N-DOS list info:    <http://lowendmac.com/lists/mac-n-dos.shtml>
 --> AOL users, remove "mailto:";
Send list messages to:  <mailto:mac-n-dos@mail.maclaunch.com>
To unsubscribe, email:  <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
For digest mode, email: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subscription questions: <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Archive: <http://www.mail-archive.com/mac-n-dos%40mail.maclaunch.com/>

iPod Accessories for Less
at 1-800-iPOD.COM
Fast Delivery, Low Price, Good Deal
www.1800ipod.com

Reply via email to