[AmberBabyMwah]

That's right i'm back with another fun filled adventure of "annoying computer problems"

So lately i've been noticing that my internet explorer is closing out for no reason what-so-ever...and occasionally i'll get an error message something about the memory usage..so i press ctrl, alt, del..and check the processes and there's one in there called webrebates.exe..using about 30,000+ So i ended the process and it magically reappears..so i searched it on the computer and found it in WINDOWS/Prefetch...deleted the files and it also found some under PROGRAMFILES/WEBREBATESblah blah blah..so i went in there and tried to delete everything..but some of the files and folders wont go away because it says its in use elsewhere..not exacly sure where..and i'm not sure how to rid the computer of it..i had this problem a few years ago..and highjackthis seemed to take care of the problem quite beautifully..not the case this time around though..

Not sure if this has anything to do with what webrebates is doing also under my processes i have a total of 12 iexplore.exe with very high memory usage..i'm alright with computers..but i'm not amazing..so if this is something so simple that i should know its not a problem..then i'm sorry..lol..I know that obviously some of them run for internet explorer...but i didn't know if they were the iexplore.exe processes..or if they were the explorer.exe..can anyone explain it to me? Maybe if let me know what things i should be looking out for in the processes..that may be causing problems? like this svchost..is that supposed to be in there...because there's quite a bit of those in there too..

If anyone can help me out..it would be greatly appreciated..

-Amber <3

[Curlyben]

Sounds like you have a serious spyware problem.
This little lot will help you remove this issue:

Install Anti spyware, update and scan (A couple of good removal tools are Spybot and Adaware) DELETE EVERYTHING THEY FIND
FULLY patch it with Windows Update
Install Anti Virus, update and scan (AVG is good and free)
(You may need to run the removal tools in safe mode to ensure complete cleaning)
Defrag.

ALso an on line virus and spyware scanner is Trend Housecall..

Separate Anti virus and firewall is a must, if you are using a broadband than a Gateway/router setup would work well as they have in built hardware firewalls (loads better than software ones)

[AmberBabyMwah]

Okay... I have spybot in my computer and went to run it like I do quite often.. but anyway.. read the reply (curlyben) clicked my spybot, and got this error message *The application failed to initialize properly (0xc0000142). Click on OK to terminate the application* And within the last 5 minutes... all my programs under the start menu are gone... there's nothing there.. just a huge blank space where all my programs used to be... looks like this problem is getting a little more complicated every minute.. so since my spybot won't work... should I try another program.. or am I going to get stuck with this error message with anyone I try?

[AmberBabyMwah]

Tried clicking spybot again... and this is what I get now *Zu wenig Arbeitsspeicher*

[Curlyben]

You really need to boot into Safe mode and run your scanners, this makes sure only minimum apps and drivers are loaded.
Just boot up your computer and straight after the splash screen press F8 repeatedly, you should then get to a very wordy screen that has various options for boot up.
Choose Safe Mode and go from there.

[AmberBabyMwah]

Okay so I'm in safe mode now because my internet explorer won't work at all... lets hope I have some luck in here..

[AmberBabyMwah]

Okay went through safe mode.. deleted everything from webrebates.. tried to get a restore point... but everyone I chose wouldn't work.. but things seem to be running fine now.. going to run my spybot now.. so hopefully that will clear things up for the time being.. thats for the help curlyben

[Curlyben]

Make sure that you follow what I advised.
UPDATE, then scan and use more than one scanner for this job.