registryOptimizer highjacked my computer

[walter4h]

A while ago I downloaded a registry cleaner by www.registryOptimizer.com v.1.0.2.446

That far I was using another reg cleaner and so I did not have time to try this one out till a few days ago.
It looked like a higher-end reg cleaner, with plenty of features.
Evaluation version has a limit of fixing 20 errors.
Naturally, I wanted to find out the price, it turned out to be $50.
I thought it is a bit too much, after all, you can buy an entire Symantec suite, with AV, antispy, FW, full set of utilities (including reg management) for some $70-80.
And so I went to look for some other products. It turned out there are great many reg cleaners, those at the top of the list were $30.
Surprisingly, I found no reviews about this reg cleaner on any review site.
I downloaded another reg cleaner and tried to uninstall the one from registryOptimizer.com
Message came up expressing regret that I want to uninstall and offered $5 rebate. I clicked "NO".
It proceeded to the Uninstall screen and gave me a msg "please wait while Registry cleaner is removed from your system", it opened the browser and went to
http://adserver.sharewareonline.com/adserver/uninstallregclean
There it gave me an offer of $20 rebate.
Interestingly enough, there were no way to decline the offer.
You either accept or the whole thing just hangs. All controls on the Uninstall screen are dimmed and unless you accept the rebate offer, the only way to remove this screen is to reboot or to terminate the process.

I then unplugged Internet connection, but it did not help, as the Uninstall screen hung, with all the controls dimmed.

I found it a rather "strange" way to drum up business. There could be dozens of reasons why I want to uninstall this or that program; and if a developer thinks he can highjack my computer, then is his program any better than a virus?

I guess at this point my option is to either use some third-party clean sweep utility or to reinstall Windows, as this reg cleaner keeps reminding me on every system start-up that evaluation version can only fix 20 problems.
It does offer an option NOT to display this reminder, but it has no effect.

I already had to reinstall Windows after visiting www.sensei.com, it gave me some nasty applet, which screwed up many things on my system.

Hopefully this info might save someone some potential aggravation
Regards: walter

[deckard8]

Welcome to the world of spyware.

Download 30 day trial of Ewido and zap the Ba*st*rd.

http://www.ewido.net/en/

[offline]

walter4h, it is more than likely that you have infected yourself with some nasty malware or spyware.

Download a copy of HiJackThis:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=3155

and run the program. Post a copy of the log here:

http://forums.maddoktor2.com/index.php?showforum=17

The above forum will check your log for known issues and help you delete any malware or spyware. Do not delete anything without advice unless you have some expertise.

Welcome to the world of spyware.

Download 30 day trial of Ewido and zap the Ba*st*rd.

http://www.ewido.net/en/

Ewido is great, but it does not remove everything, nor is it set up so you can compare embedded malware and bad services.

[walter4h]

Many thanks for the feedback:
I visited http://www.majorgeeks, it is the most complete source of downloadable software I have ever seen!
I read on http://www.dnjournal.com that two misspellings of the domain "download.com" have been sold for $60K each (dwonload.com and dawnload.com)
But majorGeeks would probably beat them by the sheer number of downloadable apps on their site.

thx:walter

[CilyPudi]

Hi walter4h. Before you spend any money on a registry cleaner, read the very eye opening review at this link http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml;?articleID=171203805&pgno=2. CilyPudi found it to be quite accurate. Basically, the guy compares the results of 10 cleaners ran on the same system to compare their findings. What I found more revealing, he ran each cleaner twice, back to back scan and repairs, and the cleaners kept reporting errors, even after supposedly having repaired or removed them.

The guys final conclusion: jv16 PowerTools (last freeware version, google it) was the best of the bunch. I agree and have used it religiously a long time, along with RegSeeker, Windows XP ATF-cleaner and CCleaner (all freeware).

I also once was smitten with the "registry cleaning bug" and sprang to purchase the overly advertised Registry Mechanic. It is worthless. I have also tried some 15 'premium reg cleaners' downloaded from the Usenet and had the same results as the guy in the article. These high priced cleaners are a ripoff.

So once more, just as if you were my first born, I tell you from my long experience. Google and find the following FREEWARE utilities and I guarantee a regular, fast, safe and effective cleansing of your Registry:
1. jv16 PowerTools (just google "last freeware version" to find it)
2. Windows XP ATF-cleaner (awesome)
3. RegSeeker (to remove registry entries of the malware you installed)
4. CCleaner (mandatory)

I still have those 15 expensive programs on my system, but I never use them, never. The above four mentioned work truly optimally for regular SAFE cleaning of your registry.

FYI, if you must buy a program in this related area, get "Your Uninstaller". It performs alot of very useful things and I swear by it. I'm not sure what it cost, but I love it. Farewell, and Brett Kitchens hopes this is a helpful guide for you.

[Wile_E]

Stop using Internet Explorer and use Firefox as your browser. Download the "No Script", "Adblock" and "flashblock" plugins, and this will take care of nasty scripts on pages. Use Thunderbird for your email and select the option to view all email as "text". No scripts can execute. Get a good firewall and antivirus that also have script blocking and other features. (Outpost Pro Firewall, Kerio Firewall, Avast Anti-virus, AVG)

Spybot
http://www.safer-networking.org/

Ad-Aware
http://www.lavasoftusa.com/

Spywareblaster
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html

ccleaner (good FREE registry cleaner)
http://www.ccleaner.com/

[kochese]

I have used Registry Mechanic's free download without registering it to search and replace registry entries with great success. It allows you to make wholesale changes and removals very easily.

I have also found RegistryOptimizer on my Win2K system by running freeware Spybot and when I told it to fix problems went ahead and removed the registry entries for RegistryOptimizer.

[kochese]

I have used Registry Mechanic's free download without registering it to search and replace registry entries with great success. It allows you to make wholesale changes and removals very easily.

I have also found RegistryOptimizer on my Win2K system by running freeware Spybot and when I told it to fix problems went ahead and removed the registry entries for RegistryOptimizer.

I made a mistake. The registry editor I've used so successfully is NOT Registry Mechanic, it is Registry Toolkit from http://www.funduc.com/.

[walter4h]

Thanks for the tip, I'll try it.
(I sure didn't expect to see this post more than a year from the original entry date)
regards)
walter

[hech54]

walter4h, it is more than likely that you have infected yourself with some nasty malware or spyware.

Download a copy of HiJackThis:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=3155

and run the program. Post a copy of the log here:

http://forums.maddoktor2.com/index.php?showforum=17

The above forum will check your log for known issues and help you delete any malware or spyware. Do not delete anything without advice unless you have some expertise.

There is also an automated site for HiJackThis logs.
http://www.hijackthis.de/