Help me to not be reminded, please

September 30, 2008 11:07 AM

For windows xp , I have an annoying reminder about a web page being unable to display but no exit box to click onto. I also cannot right click it in the open tabs bar at the bottom to close it manually. It just reads "Reminder Tuesday Sept. 30th 2008 1:07:01 A.M." The date changes as the day does and I dunno how to remove it. I can move it off screen but still.... Any ideas?
posted by thaworldhaswarpedme to computers & internet (6 comments total)

Can you post a screenshot of this? Doesnt sound like something XP or a browser would do. Do you have any calendaring or appointment software installed? Outlook?
posted by damn dirty ape at 11:46 AM on September 30, 2008

If I read your question correctly, there is an application running which displays a warning about a web page being unable to display. When you try to close it from the task bar nothing happens. Do you have any idea if this is some valid program you have installed or if it might be malicious? Is there anything beyond "Reminder Tuesday Sept. 30th..."? Can you post, word for word, the full text of that message and anything else the program displays? Do you know what the program is called?

Could it be Outlook? There is an open issue with Outlook not closing some of its processes. See this thread.

Have you tried Alt-Ctrl-Del and seeing if the application shows up in that list? Or, try Start -> Run -> Control Panel -> Add/Remove Programs and uninstall it. If that doesn't work or you can't find it, try Start -> Run -> then type "msconfig" into the box. This should bring up a multi-tabbed box and one of the tabs should be called "Startup". This tab determines most of the things that start up with Windows, and you might be able to disable it from there. All this assumes it is some valid software you installed and has gone haywire.

This sounds like it might be some kind of malware/spyware though, so try running updated Spybot / AdAware software on your disk. At least figure out what the name of the program that is running is, by looking at Process Explorer, or try Hijack This.
posted by sophist at 12:01 PM on September 30, 2008

If you can't close it and you can't remove it, it sounds like spyware. Have you tried any spyware removal programs?
posted by wongcorgi at 12:48 PM on September 30, 2008

I've run anti-spyware and virus w/ avg and it turns up nothing, however, the date did not change today.

It is just a standard message stating that

The page cannot be displayed

The page you are looking for is currently unavailable. the web site might be experiencing technical difficulties, or you may need to adjust your browser settings.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Please try the following

*Click the refresh button, or try again later

* If you type the address in the address bar, make sure you spelled it correctly.

* To check your connection settings, click the tools menu, and then click internet options.....................................



and yada yada yada..
You have seen this before if you ever tried to access the internet w/ a less than true connection but i cannot remove this one this time. Aaaarrggghhhh!!!
posted by thaworldhaswarpedme at 10:46 AM on October 1, 2008

Sounds like a javascript pop-up generate from your browser. What sites do you have open in your browser when this happens? Any webmail? Perhaps they are doing this but the link is messed up for some reason.
posted by damn dirty ape at 10:49 AM on October 1, 2008

I can go under Windows task manager and turn it off but it returns in 5 minutes approx. It is named 'Reminder (Date and time the reminder popped up)' I can always go thru task manager but it always returns...
posted by thaworldhaswarpedme at 9:02 PM on October 1, 2008