Strange Windows 7 anomaly

A couple days ago I decided to update the GOM Player that I use
sometimes to play videos that the Windows Media Player has problems
with. During the update I was careful not to agree to the installation
of additional junkware that many third-party packages want to install.
Well, after the update was done, I noticed two new icons on my desktop
for programs that I was not even notified about during the install. One
was some kind of anti-malware program and the other an alternate web
browser Chromium that made yahoo my default search engine. So I
immediately went to the Uninstall function to get rid of both and
rebooted. Unfortunately after that I just could not access Internet with
either IE or Google's Chrome. I even uninstalled Chrome and reinstalled
it via a transferred install exe file from my other laptop, but to no
avail. So I went back to the most recent restore point and that fixed
the Internet access issue.

One strange anomaly still remains though. Bringing up a web page by
klicking on its link is really slow or does not even happen even though
it used to be pretty fast before this incident. It is now faster if I
just copy & paste the web address into the browser's address field.
Anybody has an idea why this is happening and how to fix it?

cameo wrote:
A couple days ago I decided to update the GOM Player

And the update was full of adware.

The people who do that, get $1 for every copy of
Chrome they manage to insert on a PC. It is "good
business" to harass consumers with this crap.

They have likely compromised your web browser too.
Like installing a proxy to provide their own web
advertising. Which can make a tidy profit as well,
for the miscreants.

*******

For Chrome, look in Programs and Features, and remove it there.
Otherwise...

To remove Chrome, the trick is to find the setup.exe
that belongs to the program. It is right next to
the "chrome.7z" file, which is around 150MB, and
contains everything needed for an install (or uninstall)
operation.

By Googling around, I was able to find these suggestions.

if a chromium installation:

cd /d C:\path\to\chromium\7Z\file\
setup.exe --uninstall

if a chrome installation:

cd /d C:\path\to\chrome\7Z\file\
setup.exe --uninstall --multi-install --chrome --system-level

Chrome is the Google version. Chromium is the open-source
version, supported by presumably independent developers.

*******

For the other adware, try adwcleaner. It has a scan button,
and you should scan first, to see what needs to be cleaned.
It can find entries in prefs.js that are used to redirect the
browser where you don't want it to go.

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/adwcleaner/

That tool is developed and maintained by one person,
so it cannot possibly remove everything.

Paul

On Fri, 06 Nov 2015 19:29:26 -0500, Paul wrote:

cameo wrote:
A couple days ago I decided to update the GOM Player

And the update was full of adware.

The people who do that, get $1 for every copy of
Chrome they manage to insert on a PC. It is "good
business" to harass consumers with this crap.

I got tired of removing Chrome, and as I've got enough disk space I
just let it sit there. I remove the icon so I don't see it.


--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://khanya.wordpress.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk

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On 11/6/2015 9:19 PM, Steve Hayes wrote:
On Fri, 06 Nov 2015 19:29:26 -0500, Paul wrote:

cameo wrote:
A couple days ago I decided to update the GOM Player

And the update was full of adware.

The people who do that, get $1 for every copy of
Chrome they manage to insert on a PC. It is "good
business" to harass consumers with this crap.

I got tired of removing Chrome, and as I've got enough disk space I
just let it sit there. I remove the icon so I don't see it.

I don't think the Chrome itself was at fault. That's what happened in my
case, too.
It was due to all that adware that I cleaned out with AdwCleaner. The
remaining issue with Chrome was cleared up after I discovered that
despite the reinstall, the old copy was still there. Probly because that
was installed for my use only, while the new one was installed for all
users. After uninstalling the old one, everyhing is fine again.