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The original was posted on /r/talesfromtechsupport by /u/yukitokuroya on 2025-01-22 02:26:48+00:00.
This is a tale from the Windows 8 era:
My family and I were in the capital for a gaming convention, and my mom had taken her laptop with us.
I came back from the convention(to my aunts home) and my mom called me, telling me that her laptop was way slower than before. I asked her what happened and she said that my cousin installed an IPTV software(wasnt against them back then, but, keep reading). As soon as I saw the desktop and opened Explorer, I knew exactly where my cousin got the app from, a software aggregator site.
Before I continue, that specific software aggregator site was famous for bundling undesired software in their installers. I think you guys here at TFTS know a lot of them.
Why I knew? Because the browser was full of toolbars, and the desktop had a lot of undesired software shortcuts, and the home page had been modified by those apps.
So, what I did to solve that:
- Went to the program uninstaller feature in Windows(can't remember how it was called back then) and removed those apps and toolbars one by one;
- Removed that IPTV app and reinstalled from a source I trusted(the developer's own website), including its online radio feature(it was missing in the previous install I removed);
- Set up an administrator account with a password and lowered my mother's privileges;
- Enabled UAC(somehow, it was disabled) and installed an AV I trusted(MSE);
- Told my mom the password(it was her laptop) and logged on the client account(no install privilege), and told her to come to me if someone needed a program to be installed in that laptop.