How can I delete Internet Explorer?

[The Double]

And Re-Install it? I let a friend use my lap top for two days, and wouldn't you know it, I start it up and my homepage is changed to hotbar.com or some ******** like that and I have porn pop-ups. Now the porn pop-ups I don't mind ( :D ), but changing the start page doesn't seem to do any good, and there's porn sites in my favorites. I use Firefox most of the time anyway, but I want to know if something like this is possible?

[skipshady]

Couldn't you just clear your cookies, favorites and cache and be done with it?

[sarabella]

What version of Windows are you running?

If you want to remove IE (on Windows XP), you go to Add/Remove Programs, Add/Remove Windows Components. Uncheck IE and it will uninstall.

[mcdiesel]

Whenever something spyware related like this happens to me, I usually head over to the counter-exploitation boards at http://boards.cexx.org. I'm pretty sure just re-installing explorer will work fine, but if not, search whatever keeps popping up (i.e. hotbar or whatever) and you should find that there's a fix for it. Good luck.

[Achtung]

Using Ad-Aware or Spybot should take care of a lot, if not all of that for you. I would try that first.

[spejic]

Just so you know, it is not possible to really uninstall Internet Explorer. I know that there is an option to remove it in the Windows Add/Remove Applications tab, but all that does is remove a tiny stub .exe (which is why you see the option takes 0.0MB) - all the real things that make up the Internet Explorer are in system files in the System32 directory (and other places) and cannot be removed without screwing up Windows.

I would certainly do a check for SpyWare first, but this sounds like something has already changed the settings of the browser. You will probably need to use a program called "Hijack This", which gives you low level information on what the browser loads up when it starts. It isn't really for beginners - read any information you can find about it. If it is too tricky and the anti-spyware stuff didn't work, go ahead and post the HijackThis log file here so I can take a look at it.

Try this site to learn about it:
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/index.php?showtutorial=42

[kerpow]

Just so you know, it is not possible to really uninstall Internet Explorer. I know that there is an option to remove it in the Windows Add/Remove Applications tab, but all that does is remove a tiny stub .exe (which is why you see the option takes 0.0MB) - all the real things that make up the Internet Explorer are in system files in the System32 directory (and other places) and cannot be removed without screwing up Windows.

I would certainly do a check for SpyWare first, but this sounds like something has already changed the settings of the browser. You will probably need to use a program called "Hijack This", which gives you low level information on what the browser loads up when it starts. It isn't really for beginners - read any information you can find about it. If it is too tricky and the anti-spyware stuff didn't work, go ahead and post the HijackThis log file here so I can take a look at it.

Try this site to learn about it:
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/index.php?showtutorial=42


Yup, run Hijack This in Safe Mode and manually delete any dll/exe file that is associated with items found. HT is more of a registry scanner but often picks up more than the commerical anti-spyware programs.

[The Double]

Recomended SpyWare remover?

[nasdaq]

Recomended SpyWare remover?

Ad-Aware Pro, the only one worth your time.

PM me if you want a free copy :D

http://www.spychecker.com/program/hijackthis.html

the one above works well too

[Shabs]

Recomended SpyWare remover?

With some spy-ware/IE hijackers, spy ware removers arent enough. I'd try googling whatever the bad start page is, and you should get a bunch of sites that will tell you about that hijacker, and the best way to remove it permanently.

[futbolfirefan]

Ad-Aware Pro, the only one worth your time.

PM me if you want a free copy :D

http://www.spychecker.com/program/hijackthis.html

the one above works well too
I wouldnt reccomend this to someone who doesnt know what the heck they are doing. you could really screw up you comp with hijack this.

Get adaware and spybot. get zone alarm security suite as well. pm me if you want a free copy of that too ;)

[afgrijselijkheid]

Ad-Aware Pro, the only one worth your time.

PM me if you want a free copy :D

http://www.spychecker.com/program/hijackthis.html

the one above works well too


i tried ad-aware pro and found that it blew, so i switched back to ad aware SE