safe mode

On my Presario 7922 with Windows 98, AdAware may stall when deleting
malware. Presumably, that's because the malware is loaded. AdAware
will delete this stuff in the safe mode, but I have trouble starting in
the safe mode. I've tried each of the control keys and F8. What could
be wrong?

Specifically what do you mean by "I have trouble starting in
the safe mode." What happens????
HH


"Ned Protter" wrote in message
...
On my Presario 7922 with Windows 98, AdAware may stall when deleting
malware. Presumably, that's because the malware is loaded. AdAware
will delete this stuff in the safe mode, but I have trouble starting in
the safe mode. I've tried each of the control keys and F8. What could
be wrong?

In the past, I've never been able to get into the safe mode except when
the computer crashed several times in a row.

This time, it worked only once. The time it worked, the computer had
been sitting two hours with the power switched off at the surge
suppressor. I turned on the power and pressed the button on the box
while holding down a CTRL key, and the selection for safe mode came up
before the machine even checked memory.

I deleted spyware and malware with Adaware. Then I restarted so I could
dial in to check for updates for Adaware. There was an update and
Adaware showed more malware, but I was unable to get back into the safe
mode.

(Actually I have a Mac. The Compaq belongs to nieghbors who know even
less about PCs than I do. The owners have often found that when the
computer keeps crashing on startup, leaving it off overnight will cure
it.)

In article ,
"HH" wrote:

Specifically what do you mean by "I have trouble starting in
the safe mode." What happens????
HH


"Ned Protter" wrote in message
...
On my Presario 7922 with Windows 98, AdAware may stall when deleting
malware. Presumably, that's because the malware is loaded. AdAware
will delete this stuff in the safe mode, but I have trouble starting in
the safe mode. I've tried each of the control keys and F8. What could
be wrong?

First, I'd suggest trying SpyBot Search & Destroy. It does a pretty good job
of getting rid of spyware that already has loaded into memory. Did you try
F5?
HH

"Ned Protter" wrote in message
...
In the past, I've never been able to get into the safe mode except when
the computer crashed several times in a row.

This time, it worked only once. The time it worked, the computer had
been sitting two hours with the power switched off at the surge
suppressor. I turned on the power and pressed the button on the box
while holding down a CTRL key, and the selection for safe mode came up
before the machine even checked memory.

I deleted spyware and malware with Adaware. Then I restarted so I could
dial in to check for updates for Adaware. There was an update and
Adaware showed more malware, but I was unable to get back into the safe
mode.

(Actually I have a Mac. The Compaq belongs to nieghbors who know even
less about PCs than I do. The owners have often found that when the
computer keeps crashing on startup, leaving it off overnight will cure
it.)

In article ,
"HH" wrote:

Specifically what do you mean by "I have trouble starting in
the safe mode." What happens????
HH


"Ned Protter" wrote in message
...
On my Presario 7922 with Windows 98, AdAware may stall when deleting
malware. Presumably, that's because the malware is loaded. AdAware
will delete this stuff in the safe mode, but I have trouble starting in
the safe mode. I've tried each of the control keys and F8. What could
be wrong?

F5 didn't work. I checked the operation of each CTRL key by selecting
multiple icons on the desktop. Both worked. I restarted, this time
pressing a CTRL key six times a second. I got the menu for the safe
mode, and I saw that it said F5 was the way to do it.

Then I tried several more starts. I couldn't get the safe mode menu
again using the CTRL key or F5.

As for the malware, Spybot Search & Destroy didn't find much, and
AdAware would still hang up when I tried to delete. I was using Smart
Scan. I tried Custom Scan and told it not to bother with a couple of
categories associated with IE. This time it deleted what it found. It
found very little when I tried it again in Smart Scan and nothing more
when I tried Full Scan.



In article ,
"HH" wrote:

First, I'd suggest trying SpyBot Search & Destroy. It does a pretty good job
of getting rid of spyware that already has loaded into memory. Did you try
F5?
HH

"Ned Protter" wrote in message
...
In the past, I've never been able to get into the safe mode except when
the computer crashed several times in a row.

This time, it worked only once. The time it worked, the computer had
been sitting two hours with the power switched off at the surge
suppressor. I turned on the power and pressed the button on the box
while holding down a CTRL key, and the selection for safe mode came up
before the machine even checked memory.

I deleted spyware and malware with Adaware. Then I restarted so I could
dial in to check for updates for Adaware. There was an update and
Adaware showed more malware, but I was unable to get back into the safe
mode.

(Actually I have a Mac. The Compaq belongs to nieghbors who know even
less about PCs than I do. The owners have often found that when the
computer keeps crashing on startup, leaving it off overnight will cure
it.)

In article ,
"HH" wrote:

Specifically what do you mean by "I have trouble starting in
the safe mode." What happens????
HH


"Ned Protter" wrote in message
...
On my Presario 7922 with Windows 98, AdAware may stall when deleting
malware. Presumably, that's because the malware is loaded. AdAware
will delete this stuff in the safe mode, but I have trouble starting in
the safe mode. I've tried each of the control keys and F8. What could
be wrong?