how do i disable a program

gregrocker · 15 Nov 2011

Next time tell us what program up front and you'd have your answer in a post or two.

You can mark this thread Solved at top.

seavixen32 · 15 Nov 2011

+1 Agreed.

MilesAhead · 15 Nov 2011

dgudgel said:

Thanks

My bet is the only way to absolutely guarantee IE doesn't run is to uninstall.
Any option that's reflected in a Registry setting can be set by a program with privilege(such as during installation.)

Next best thing is an auto kill utility to kill it every time it tries to pop up.

theskyeye · 15 Nov 2011

Hello,

Running Windows 7 Home Premium, 64 bit.

For what it’s worth, an observation:

I turned IE Explorer 8 “off” (start / control panel / programs and features / Turn Windows Features On or Off / Uncheck Internet Explorer 8) as I use Firefox and thought turning off IE would reduce background memory usage and close any vulnerabilities. However, even when turned “off”, it still seems run in the background. I say this because when running CCleaner, items from IE still show up as having been cleaned, such as History, index.dat and temp. files.

I tried an experiment by blocking IE with Zone Alarm firewall while IE was “off” but found some sites would not function properly. Unblocking restored full function. So it seems that some sites/software needs IE to function.

gregrocker · 15 Nov 2011

IE won't use any resources while left enabled but not used. It isn't an issue.

What can be an issue is using a 3rd party firewall on Win7 which works best using it's own firewall with a lightweight AV like Microsoft Security Essentials or Avast 6, not old-school bloatware AV's and firewalls.

MilesAhead · 15 Nov 2011

To my knowledge index.dat files are created on reboot no matter what you do. You can delete them but the zombies keep coming back. :)

I never run IE but I just searched with Everything Search and I have dozens of index.dat files. I have it set in CCleaner to remove them. I run CCleaner several times a day. But there are plenty of non-empty index.dat files on my system.

In fact I'm starting to wonder if CCleaner works. I just ran it and immediately checked with Everything Search after rescanning the drives. All kinds of index.dat with stuff in them. Weird!!

gregrocker · 15 Nov 2011

I wouldn't run CCleaner more than once monthly, followed by a defrag done in boot mode with Puran Defragger.

MilesAhead · 15 Nov 2011

gregrocker said:

I wouldn't run CCleaner more than once monthly, followed by a defrag done in boot mode with Puran Defragger.

Why not? What's the good of leaving all those index.dat scattered around?

Come to find out it only marks them for deletion at the next boot. That's really bogus.

I use chromium and firefox. I save those cookies and history. It doesn't hamper me since I don't use IE.

gregrocker · 15 Nov 2011

I set my browsers to delete temporary internet files when closed.

Nothing else bothers me there. Should it?

I've been advised for years by those I respect not to overdo it on CCleaner and have found monthly is what works best for me. Others have their own rhythms.

MilesAhead · 15 Nov 2011

You can't delete index.dat while Windows is running except in safe mode. All these cleaners mark for deletion on boot. Doesn't sound like privacy to me.

I just tried killing them with Privacy Mantra. Refused to delete 2 index.dat files. This crap has been going on since Win98 if not earlier. I never even open IE and I get this crap. Must be built into the networking.