How do I disable Content Advisor

March 10, 2005 9:04 PM

Everytime I try to use Internet Explorer a content Advisor box pops up asking for a password. The problem is I've never set a password and I have no idea why this has started popping up. It also pops up when I try to use solitaire or the Windows calculator. Does anyone know of a master password or some other way to circumvent this?
posted by berek to computers & internet (9 comments total)

Just a guess, but have you tried AdAware, Spybot Search & Destroy and a decent antivirus program?

If none of that helps, these guys think you should delete this entry from the registry, and these folks seem to agree:

HKLM/Software/Microsoft/Windows/Current Version/Policies/Ratings/Key
posted by box at 9:19 PM on March 10, 2005

Certainly sounds like a hijack of one form or another.

And a f/u question.......do registry changes have to be done manually or is there some program around into which you can simply plug in the offensive data for eradication??
posted by peacay at 10:12 PM on March 10, 2005

There's regedit, of course, though I don't think that's what you mean. And there are .reg files, which can be used to make changes to the registry. And programs like X-Setup, Tweakall and Microsoft's own TweakUI all work mainly by changing obscure settings, many of them in the registry.
posted by box at 10:47 PM on March 10, 2005

peacay writes "And a f/u question.......do registry changes have to be done manually or is there some program around into which you can simply plug in the offensive data for eradication??"

Spy-cleansing software will generally know how to update the registry correctly.

Or, if you name a file something.reg, and it contains the correct syntax, windows will run that file, and alter the registry as it instructs. (Tip: make editing that file in your favorite text editor, not changing the registry, the default action for .reg files.)

Now, to be completely self-referential, the remainder of this comment is the complete text of a .reg file that will make editing, not running, the default action for a .reg file.

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\regfile\shell]
@="edit"
posted by orthogonality at 10:48 PM on March 10, 2005

If I recall correctly, orthogonality's .reg file will work with Win2k and XP, but 9x requires slightly different syntax. I might be wrong about that, though.
posted by box at 10:56 PM on March 10, 2005

These are the instructions I used when I needed to disable the Content Advisor. Obviously you will want to run Ad-Aware, SpyBot, and Microsoft Anti-Spyware (not great but it does grab some things the others don't).

If you want a handy tool for editing the registry (and a lot more user friendy than the default Registry Editor), try Registrar Lite.

Since this is possibly a browser hi-jack, definitely try CWShredder as well, which works really fast and catches things most anti-spywares and anti-virus software do not, because its just focused on CoolWebSearch hi-jacks which come in dozens of flavors.

Grisoft has AVG free which is a decent anti-virus, and I like using the PandaScan free online scan. These two programs don't always fix everything, but will usually pinpoint the infected file.

Good luck!
posted by tweak at 12:04 AM on March 11, 2005

The link above for CWShredder is actually a duplicate of the one for Registrar Lite. Try this one: CWShredder
posted by Kirth Gerson at 3:56 AM on March 11, 2005

Did you enter any passwords into these prompts? Were they the same as any passwords you use to access sensitive information? Methinks it may be time to change your passwords.
posted by squidlarkin at 8:15 AM on March 11, 2005

I used Tweak's directions and they seem to have worked!
I also downloaded CWShredder and SpySubtract. So now I have those two plus AVG, SpyBot, Ad-Aware, SpywareBlaster, AntiVir XP, Hijack This.

Thanks for all your help guys!
I owe you cheap sordid sloppy sex or watered down drinks!
Your Choice!
posted by berek at 10:55 AM on March 11, 2005