How do I delete an entry from screensaver listbox?

[DTracy]

How do I delete an entry from the screensaver listbox?

I kind of googled around some this morning and didn't really find an answer for XP.

Any ideas are very welcome.

Thanks,
David.

 

[vacunita]

You need to delete and or move the *.src file that refers to that Screen Saver from the Windows\system32 folder.

If its a Windows Screen Saver you'll need to delete it from \Windows\System32, from \windows\system32\dllcache and from ServicePack\i386
Otherwise Windows File protection will just replace it when you move or delete it.

Windows will then issue a notice about a protected file being removed or altered you just have to ignore it. and the Screen Saver will be removed and will no longer appear in the list.



----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[linney]

If it is a third party screensaver perhaps it has an uninstall option in Add or Remove?



When you eventually remove it, see what is available via Group Policy.

Location: User Configuration\Control Panel\Display\

Description:
Enables desktop screen savers.

If you disable this setting, screen savers do not run. Also, this setting disables the Screen Saver section of the Screen Saver tab in Display in Control Panel. As a result, users cannot change the screen saver options.

If you do not configure it, this setting has no effect on the system.

If you enable it, a screen saver runs, provided the following two conditions hold: First, a valid screensaver on the client is specified through the "Screensaver executable name" setting or through Control Panel on the client computer. Second, the screensaver timeout is set to a nonzero value through the setting or Control Panel.

Also, see the "Hide Screen Saver tab" setting.

 

[DTracy]

Thanks guys for the info. Virus/Spam/etc. have placed screensavers on that list. I've cleaned up the virus problems but I'm afraid someone may click on one of those dudes and start the whole process over again.

I knew about the *.scr files but not those in the i386 folder.

I'll give this a try.

Thanks again, good information.

David.

 

[BadBigBen]

I've cleaned up the virus problems but I'm afraid someone may click on one of those dudes and start the whole process over again.

if that happens, then you did not do your job correctly... meaning that the malware is still on the PC!!!

if the job was handled correctly, then clicking any of those should not do anything at all...

as mentioned before, check those locations and remove all screensavers except one or two, that you know are good... or set the monitor to BLANK after a certain time, and get rid of all the screensavers...

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[DTracy]

Hey Ben,

If I take out all the screensavers including the third party ones, then will the OS put the OEM ones back?

The thing is that this young lady has installed several screensavers on her own. I found one that was part of a virus and I suspect that others may also be involved-sooner or later. I should do as linney suggested and control them through group policy, or just disable the function, they're lcd screens anyway. But some of the women like to have family photos and such, so...

Thanks again,
David.

 

[BadBigBen]

If I take out all the screensavers including the third party ones, then will the OS put the OEM ones back?

Not if you wipe them from all locations...

you would have to add them from a XP CD, and copy them (using the EXPAND command) to the correct locations on the installed OS, or copy them from a CLEAN installed OS over to the one(s) that where cleaned out before...

Ben

"If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer..."

 

[cmeagan656]

But some of the women like to have family photos and such, so...

Control the screensavers through Group Policy as suggested by linney and specify C:\WINDOWS\system32\ssmypics.scr for the screensaver. This way the users who want to have family photos can put them in they're "my pictures" folder and they will show up as a screensaver. If there are no pics in the folder then the screensaver will simply be a blank screen.

Cheers.

 

[DTracy]

I guess I misunderstood Vacunita, somehow I had the impression that if I removed the screensaver files from \Windows\... and not the i386 folder then Windows would automatically put them back.

What happened was that we had an outbreak of Antivirus 2008/2009, eight workstations at once. I managed to repair six of those using the MalwareBytes program (Good Program!), but the other two were really screwed up. I manually removed the virus files, registry entries, and such, but I didn't understand the screensaver thing. There are still entries in there that I think could be linked to malware. So, that's the story.

Thanks for the help, I have 110 workstations and 14 servers to administer, as well as my other work. Sometimes it can get a little busy.

Regards,
David.

 

[vacunita]

I guess I misunderstood Vacunita, somehow I had the impression that if I removed the screensaver files from \Windows\... and not the i386 folder then Windows would automatically put them back.

If you don't remove them from all 3 locations I mentioned, then Windows will recreate the files.

You should remove them dllcache first as that's the place where Windows looks for them to recreate them in other places.

But Windows will only recreate them if they are the normal ones that come with the OS. Not the Virus ones. those would be recreated by the Virus, or the installer, that put them there originally.

Add-on Screen Savers will not be recreated by Windows itself.

You should remove them from system32, or wherever else they may be located. Sometimes they'll just add a shortcut there (System32) but the real executable is somewhere else like Program Files.




----------------------------------
Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.

 

[LilBob]

if you can find it in Add/Remove Programs in Control Panel, you may want to install & run Revo Uninstaller. It does a better job of removing the app than M$'s Add/Remove.

http://www.revouninstaller.com/revo_uninstaller_free_download.html

Also, shut down System Restore, boot in safe mode & delete the file in system32 (or wherever it's trying to hide). This will cancel all restore points but won't allow old bugs from re-infesting your PC.

You can also download:

http://www.superantispyware.com/

Reboot with Safeboot option & scan. Once your sure you're virus free, re-enable Sytem Restore.

LilBob