Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

control panel - down arrow - can't remove a listed site

  • 7 replies
  • 3 have this problem
  • 13 views
  • Last reply by 720tosa

more options

Purchased a 2nd hand computer and in the C drive, under control panel and also under the downloads folder, there is a down arrow with some listings. There are 3 listings for porn sites that I cannot delete out of the list. The original listing may be a shortcut that got imbedded, but since I tried to get it out of there, it is now in there 3 times. If I try to highlight and delete, I cannot highlight - instead, it takes me right to the porn site. If I right click, nothing happens at all. I want these things out of there and out of my computer. I do not look at porn and this disturbs me because my grandson goes on my computer when he is here. I need help as I am not computer savvy. Thank you.

Purchased a 2nd hand computer and in the C drive, under control panel and also under the downloads folder, there is a down arrow with some listings. There are 3 listings for porn sites that I cannot delete out of the list. The original listing may be a shortcut that got imbedded, but since I tried to get it out of there, it is now in there 3 times. If I try to highlight and delete, I cannot highlight - instead, it takes me right to the porn site. If I right click, nothing happens at all. I want these things out of there and out of my computer. I do not look at porn and this disturbs me because my grandson goes on my computer when he is here. I need help as I am not computer savvy. Thank you.

Chosen solution

Make sure that you have the Windows product key at hand if you decide to reinstall Windows.

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (7)

more options

If that showing up in Firefox or in a list from Windows?

Can you attach a screenshot?

Use a compressed image type like PNG or JPG to save the screenshot and make sure that you do not exceed the maximum file size (1 MB).

more options

If you can see the white box that overlays the control panel box, you can see the drop down list that contains these porn site links - I have tried highlighting to delete, but left click and dragging just took me right to the porn site instead of going to a drop down that included "delete". I tried right clicking, but that does nothing. This seems to be something that was on the computer when I bought it second hand, and then it comes up again if I try to delete it or explore ways to delete them.

more options

hello, probably you can delete them by selecting them with the down arrow keys and pressing the del key

more options

Try;

You may have to use the registry editor (regedit.exe) to remove the two listed registry keys.

Navigate to:

  • HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\ComDlg32

Delete the subkeys: LastVisitedPidlMRU and OpenSavePidlMRU

more options

If you got the original Windows disks, you might consider reinstalling it from scratch. Who knows what kind of craziness might be found on a used computer. (Especially with some of the URLs mentioned in that image!)

Edit: If you have been using this PC for a while, make sure to back up your data before rebuilding.

Modified by jscher2000 - Support Volunteer

more options

Chosen Solution

Make sure that you have the Windows product key at hand if you decide to reinstall Windows.

more options

Problem solved - thank you!