Hi. I have downloaded the spybot to deal with the spyware/adaware. Two things spybot found, 1) "BackWeb lite" and 2) "WildTangent" I will try to explain as clearly as I can: 1) Spybot found "BackWeb lite" and many of them. I would like to know if this is necessary for the functioning of internet explorer and other applications. I have read on other messages that once it has been deleted, they cannot get internet explorer to work. On the taskmanager the BackWeb which appears is: BackWeb-137903.exe So I'm afraid to do anything to it. a)Is this the same "BackWeb lite" that spybot found? b)If it can be removed or turned off somehow, how do I do it safely without affecting anything else on Windows XP Home 2002? 2)"WildTangent": My deal with this is that the title says "WildTangent GameChannel" on the "About GameChannel Menu" I've tried turning if Off- the option it gives me- but it will not turn off. "WildTangent" is one of the things spybot found. Is this "WildTangent" reffering to the "WildTangent GameChannel" or is it something else? a)Also, does anyone know how getting rid of the "Game Channel" program will affect any other games such as the standard ones that come with Windows like (solitaire, spider, minesweeper, hearts, freecell...) b)Should I remove "WildTangent" from the Control Panel? or leave it to spybot to remove? Thank you very much for anyone who can help. I hope that I have explained myself well. I greatly appreciate all the advice I get. Thanks andromeda1

andromeda1: Unless you play online games, you do not need Wild Tangent. Resident games which come with XP will work fine without it. BackWeb (lite, or any other version) is spyware. Delete it. As for the deletions themselves, I'd perform them through Add/Remove, then run Spybot to make sure all the pieces were cleaned up. With the uninstallation of any program, old and useless registry keys are always left behind. By the way, you explained yourself very well. 8-) Solarian

PS If you decide to make the deletions, do it in Safe Mode for best results.

while solarian is right about backweb..some programs and hardware manufacturers use it to update their products. So if you delete them and then find that some things fail to perform properly uninstall and then reinstall the programs. Some of the manufacturers that use backweb are :western digital HDD utillites, Logitech for keyboards and web cameras and kodak cameras. Self-reverence Self-knowledge Self-control These three alone LEAD to SUCCESS -Alfred Lord Tennyson