This might happen if you enable all of the Program automation settings. Since version 1.5 Spybot-S&D should not allow you to lock yourself out this way, but here are instructions on how to revert this for older versions:
- You can delete the configuration file (which is named
Configuration.ini). Where it is located depends on your Windows version.
- For Windows 95/98, the file is located in C:\Windows\Application Data\Spybot - Search & Destroy\.
- For Windows ME, the file is located in C:\Windows\All Users\Application Data\Spybot - Search & Destroy\.
- For Windows NT/2000/XP, the file is located in C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Spybot - Search & Destroy\.
- For Windows Vista, the file is located in C:\ProgramData\Spybot - Search & Destroy\.
Either delete that file, or edit it (for example in notepad), and set
all the Automation values in it to zero.
- You can download a small tool that will do those changes for you: click here.
If this does not fix the problem, your system is possibly infected by the CoolWWWSearch.SmartKiller (v1 and v2). This is a new, really ugly variant of CoolWWWSearch. When running, it will close every browser window visiting an anti-spyware-site. It will even close Spybot-S&D and some other anti-spyware applications as well.
So if your copy of Spybot-S&D (or the anti-spyware application of your choice) closes a few seconds after starting, or your browser closes whenever you try to visit an anti-spyware site, check our CWS.SmartKiller removal utility. |