The General "Computer Issues" Thread

[Yojimbo]

Apparently, in my father's quest for free antivirus software (none of my doing), he acquired something called Delta Search. What it is, I have no idea, but it's hijacked Firefox and pops open every time I open a new tab, and even uninstalling it doesn't seem to have gotten rid of it. Any advice?

1) Did you already go to your Control Panel and uninstalled the following - Delta Chrome Toolbar, Delta toolbar, Yontoo, BrowserProtect, Mixi.DJ, and anything whose publisher is listed as Delta?

2) If yes, since you are a Firefox user, click the orange Firefox button in the upper left corner of the screen, click on Add-ons, go to Extensions, remove Delta Toolbar, Mixi.DJ and Yontoo extensions, and restart Firefox.

3) You likely have to also need an extension to reset your search engine properly. SearchReset should do the trick.

 

[Hanshotfirst1138]

Did you already go to your Control Panel and uninstalled the following - Delta Chrome Toolbar, Delta toolbar, Yontoo, BrowserProtect, Mixi.DJ, and anything whose publisher is listed as Delta?

As nearly as I can tell, yes. But even when I reset my homepage, it still come back to the stupid Delta page.

If yes, since you are a Firefox user, click the orange Firefox button in the upper left corner of the screen, click on Add-ons, go to Extensions, remove Delta Toolbar, Mixi.DJ and Yontoo extensions, and restart Firefox. You likely have to also had an extension to reset your search engine. SearchReset should do the trick.

The Firefox button didn't work, but I went to Tools in Chrome and Firefox, and don't see the Delta extension anywhere.

EDIT: And when I click on things, a random tab now opens trying to get me to install iLivid, whatever that is. I don't want it, and it annoys me.
EDIT 2: That's not the only one, it's opening lots of random adds in new tabs when I click on things. It's irritating.

 

[defunctzombie]

Sounds like a spyware infection. I use lavasoft for my free option, but as far as paid goes, webroot's spy sweeper worked pretty well when someone infected my PC from downloading stuff. I think a year license was around 25 dollars.

 

[Shawn Hopkins]

Malware Bytes is free and really effective. Try that first before paying for one.


Oh, and if your father wants free antivirus, get him Avast.

 

[MDawg]

For free antivirus software I prefer Microsoft Security Essentials myself. It does the trick without hogging resources like some other options.

 

[Hanshotfirst1138]

Sounds like a spyware infection. I use lavasoft for my free option, but as far as paid goes, webroot's spy sweeper worked pretty well when someone infected my PC from downloading stuff. I think a year license was around 25 dollars.

My dad bought something called "Mcafee."

 

[defunctzombie]

Sounds like he bought a fake.

I never liked McAfee to begin with, but then they started bundling it with Adobe updates...

 

[Shawn Hopkins]

McAfee is awful even if you get a real one.

 

[Yojimbo]

The Firefox button didn't work, but I went to Tools in Chrome and Firefox, and don't see the Delta extension anywhere.

EDIT: And when I click on things, a random tab now opens trying to get me to install iLivid, whatever that is. I don't want it, and it annoys me.
EDIT 2: That's not the only one, it's opening lots of random adds in new tabs when I click on things. It's irritating.

Try the Control+Shift+A combo to get to Add-Ons.

 

[Hanshotfirst1138]

Try the Control+Shift+A combo to get to Add-Ons.

It popped open, but it says I don't have any add-ons. I think be gotten rid of it from IE and Chrome, but it still opens with each new Firefox tab.

EDIT: I seem to have solved that problem. However, while I've changed my default search back to Google, even with about.config and an add-on to change it to I'm Feeling Lucky, it still functions as a regular search rather than I'm Feeling Lucky. Not hugely problematic, but annoying and I can't seem to figure out how to fix it.

EDIT: And for some reason, a lot of things I open online aren't playing with audio. It's not the speakers, since I can play my iTunes music fine. Maybe it has to do with the individual websites.

 

[Yojimbo]

It popped open, but it says I don't have any add-ons. I think be gotten rid of it from IE and Chrome, but it still opens with each new Firefox tab.

EDIT: I seem to have solved that problem. However, while I've changed my default search back to Google, even with about.config and an add-on to change it to I'm Feeling Lucky, it still functions as a regular search rather than I'm Feeling Lucky. Not hugely problematic, but annoying and I can't seem to figure out how to fix it.

Like I said, there's a 95% chance you'll have to install an extension like Search Reset to fix the search engine.

EDIT: And for some reason, a lot of things I open online aren't playing with audio. It's not the speakers, since I can play my iTunes music fine. Maybe it has to do with the individual websites.

You got me. Could a number of things - something in Control Panel-Audio got changed, are these frequently used sites of yours the audio won't work, make sure plug-ins are up to date, etc.

 

[Nickle98499]

This isn't as much an issue as it is a general computer question, but hopefully this is the right place to bring this up:

I have an HP Windows 8 laptop that I got in early August from Best Buy as part of a bundle; I write a lot of fan fics and stuff, so I use Microsoft Word, or a similar program quite a bit as well. I also run Kapersky Anti Virus, which was included in the bundle.

All that said, basically my question is I have Libre Office installed(which is a free Microsoft Word alternative), and i'm curious if anybody that runs Kapersky Anti Virus and has Libre Office has encountered any vriuses in Libreoffice; so far i've run anti virus scans regularly and I haven't had any problems, but I just wanted to check to see if anyone who has Libre Office and Kapersky Anti Virus has encountered any problems.

Also, I was thinking about installing either AVG's free anti virus or Avast free Anti Virus when my Kapersky subscription(it's for 6 months) expires and i'm curious if anyone who has LibreOffice and runs either of those anti virus programs has run into any problems with Libre Office.

 

[PunkPhantom]

Certain Video Players Won't Work

Youtube, Crunchyroll, and Twitch work, but the Tumblr video player, Instagram video player, and Vine video player don't work. What happens is that the sound will work, but it will only show a black screen. They used to play just fine, but now they don't. I installed the Flash and Java to try to fix it, but it didn't. Also flash games seem to work (at least cookie clicker does). I am using Google Chrome.

 

[Shawn Hopkins]

Youtube, Crunchyroll, and Twitch work, but the Tumblr video player, Instagram video player, and Vine video player don't work. What happens is that the sound will work, but it will only show a black screen. They used to play just fine, but now they don't. I installed the Flash and Java to try to fix it, but it didn't. Also flash games seem to work (at least cookie clicker does). I am using Google Chrome.

Read this thread and try the suggested fixes. Also, if you are using Adblock, you may have to make some exceptions.

http://productforums.google.com/forum/m/#!topic/chrome/DrLRUK6g0wU

 

[PunkPhantom]

Read this thread and try the suggested fixes. Also, if you are using Adblock, you may have to make some exceptions.

Google Groups

Ah-ha. The problem is that I needed to update Google Chrome -_- Thanks anyways!

 

[Hanshotfirst1138]

Like I said, there's a 95% chance you'll have to install an extension like Search Reset to fix the search engine.

I guess I'll have to try that.

Apparently installing the new version of iTunes transformed all of my podcasts into cloud files because Apple does not understand that I want to own things. I told it to re-download all of the files from the could. While I was at work, someone from my family did the one thing I told him not to do and closed iTunes. I came home to find that they are all gone. I'm having it download all previous episodes again, presumably from the archive, but some don't go back as far as the one I used to have. Are they just gone for good?

Both of these podcasts are free downloads, so if there is any other place to acquire them, I can't imagine it's in violation of any rules or laws. I've checked the folders on the hard drive, but they appear to be empty, I don't understand how reinstalling iTunes could have gotten rid of them all, but there you go. The whole setup of them appears to have changed.

ALSO:
There are weird overlays which make it impossible to properly see my ATT mail, and they are starting to creep into Google as well as overlaid ads, making me accidentally click on them and open tabs. It also happens in Chrome as well as Firefox. I'm beginning to think that these tabs popping open have to do with something else too since they seem to happen whenever I try to click on things.

 

[Shawn Hopkins]

The second thing certainly sounds like your browser is hijacked. Did you ever run malwarebytes? Honestly, you have so many computer problems you'd be better off backing up your files and doing a full reinstall.

 

[Hanshotfirst1138]

My father recently installed an antivirus program. I bought an external hard drive for the purpose of reformatting, but, I can't find the blasted startup disc.

 

[Shawn Hopkins]

My father recently installed an antivirus program. I bought an external hard drive for the purpose of reformatting, but, I can't find the blasted startup disc.

Run Malwarebytes, then. It's not an antivirus program, it's an anti-malware program that will tell you if there is any nasty stuff hiding out on your computer.

 

[Hanshotfirst1138]

Run Malwarebytes, then. It's not an antivirus program, it's an anti-malware program that will tell you if there is any nasty stuff hiding out on your computer.

I'm going to try this, my computer is getting unmanageable with all of the endless adds, it runs slowly, and now I can't get my iPhone to sync with iTunes for some reason, the whole computer is now a mess for some reason. Is this program free?

PS: Is there any way to zoom out on photos in the new iOS? I want to set one up as my wallpaper, but every time I zoom out, it tightens back up.