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Getting-Along-With-Your-Computer

How to kill an app

I fix computers and clean up computers for a living, so I’m used to seeing popups from malicious software and infected web browsers.

But this last two weeks has been a wild ride, with rogue popups from legitimate programs.

Here’s how to kill the Amazon Assistant and tame the Office update window.

Amazon Assistant is less than helpful

Several customers reached out to me in the last couple of weeks about a Windows 10 app called Amazon Assistant. I don’t know who updated what -— Microsoft or Amazon — but something went haywire with this app, and it’s not easy to get rid of it.

As soon as Windows loaded, dozens of windows popped up all over the screen with error messages for the Amazon Assistant. People were alarmed, as this is exactly the kind of behaviour we see when a computer is infected.

Technically, this isn’t an infection. It’s just a huge annoyance made more annoying by the fact that you have to outwit the app to un-install it.

You should be able to open the Start Menu, right-click on the Amazon Assistant app, and then click Uninstall. But for some reason there’s often no Uninstall choice available.

If you have that choice, clicking on it takes you to the new Apps and Features area of Settings.

But even there, as my colleague at Bluebird Business Consulting pointed out, the Uninstall and Modify choices are greyed out. You can’t get rid of it here, either.

What we need is the good old-fashioned Control Panel, where we can still uninstall things they way we used to in the good old Windows XP days! But in Control Panel, there’s no Uninstall choice for this little devil.

The only choice we have is “Change.”

Select Amazon Assistant and click on Change. Follow the prompts and a couple screens in you will, finally, have a choice to Uninstall.

Do it!

Honestly, there’s no excuse for this. This thing acts like malicious software.

If you want to keep it from coming back:

  • Right-click on an empty spot on your Taskbar
  • Click on Task Manager | Startup
  • If you see the Amazon Assistant, select it, and click on Disable

Strange but true: I’ve only seen this problem on Acer computers, which were upgraded to Windows 10 Creators Update. That doesn’t mean the rest of us won’t have this problem at some point, but right now it seems to be hitting Acers hard.

Those May Office Updates were interesting

Last month’s Windows Updates for Office 2016 created a confusing problem. I have a fast computer, so I didn’t notice it right away, but after those updates, Office started opening a Command window in the background and quickly closing it. Every. Single. Hour.

What the heck?

Apparently, it’s checking for … what? More Updates?

Here’s how to stop that.

  • Click on Start | Windows Administrative Tools | Task Scheduler
  • In Task Scheduler click on Office
  • Select OfficeBackgroundTaskHandlerRegistration
  • In the right-hand pane, click on Disable

That will stop it, and you will still get your Office updates through Windows Update. What on earth were they thinking?

This might have been corrected in June. If you’re not seeing that black window open and close, you’re one of the lucky ones, and you don’t need to worry about this.

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.



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About the Author

The Technology Shaman, Cate Eales, has been helping people make online computing safe, accessible, and fun for over 30 years.

Cate lives in Kelowna with her husband, Eric. She owns and operates Computer Care Kelowna, a mobile computer business providing on-site service for home and small business customers.

Cate is here to help you and your home or business computer get along.

E-mail Cate at [email protected] with comments, suggestions, or questions.

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The views expressed are strictly those of the author and not necessarily those of Castanet. Castanet does not warrant the contents.

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