Movieland - Mediapipe - Digital Enterprises - Cinema Online - Theatres Online ripoff dishonest fraudulent billing, inability to remove popup from computer West Hills California

Dear Donna:

We regret that you are having such trouble with programs being downloaded on your computer. As an initial matter we are not associated with either Cinemas Online or Theatres Online in the UK.

But contrary to what you believe, our software must be manually installed. Somebody in your household had to go through a detailed installation process. This is not a "trick pop-up ad." In fact, the ad states, in 12 point font: "By clicking on this ad and installing the Software, I affirm that I wish to participate in the Movieland three day trial. I understand that if I do not cancel within the trial period I will be legall obligated to purchase the Software for $81.36. I understand that if I do not either cancel or pay within the trial period that I will receive payment reminders until such time that I satisfy my financial obligation. Uninstalling the software will not cancel you out of the trial offer. You must cancel your trial via the customer service link on the website."

Movieland.com offers a wide array of content includting: sports, news, finance, SciTech, and shopping. It is not spyware or malware. You had to actively click "I agree" or "Run" repeatedly to install the software. Each installation screen is default set to "Cancel" thus, if you had merely pressed "Enter" or clicked the "X" box, this would have halted installation and you would not have received the software or any billing reminders. We fully comply with all applicable federal and state laws. The contract you entered is legally binding. Please contact members.movieland.com/customerservice to resolve this matter.

You are so correct that this is a bad company. Below you will find the information I'm giving out to victims of Movieland and quite a few ways to get rid of it, depending on your level of computer skills. If you didn't get rid of it all, one of these should help you. Good luck.
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We at first were telling people to get AdAware, AVG and Zone Alarm, all free for download online and that was helping some people, but not all. While you should still be running programs like those while you are online to protect your computer, I've done more searching and here is what I've found. Please feel free to copy this report and use it to help others.

Movieland is one nasty bit of code that you have picked up while online. After seeing report after report filed on this annoying popup and request for monies for a product you never requested, I started searching the web. I will post below the different methods people have found to rid themself of this, but I will warn you, some of it is for more advanced computer users.

I've come to the conclusion that most people have probably picked it up when they, or someone that was using their computer, downloaded a freebie online. Something such as a screensaver, smilie faces, those type of things offered that are known to come loaded down with malicious code such as adware, spyware, trojan horses or viruses. Most don't seem to be getting it from the Movieland website itself.

Please print out these instructions before you start, as you won't have internet access as you do all of it!

The easiest method I have found so far is if you know the approx. day the movieland popup started on your computer. If you know this, then you should use system restore. If you haven't used it before, it will reset your computer to an earlier date and rid you of what movieland put on it. It will also get rid of any programs you have put on your computer yourself after the day you reset to, so this method is not for everyone if you have done a lot of program installs you don't want to lose and have to reinstall.

You find system install here: Start | Programs | Accessories | System Tools | System Restore

You will want to have the 'set my computer to an earlier time' box clicked in the System Restore Wizard. Then click 'next'. You then see the calendar and set it to a date earlier than the day the movieland popup started on your computer by clicking on the date you want. You can tell the dates with a restore point as they are darker in color. Then click 'next'. Do not have any other programs running as you do this! Now system restore will take you back to the earlier date and reboot your computer. When that is done it will ask you if you are sure and tell it yes.

Now you shouldn't have the popup any longer. If you do, you may want to try doing another system restore to yet a few days or a week earlier to the date you just got done setting it back to. If that doesn't work, then you will have to use one of the more extreme methods to rid yourself of this awful code. If it did work, there is just one more thing you should do to ensure it doesn't come back:

Turn off System Restore:

On the Desktop, right-click My Computer.
Click Properties.
Click the System Restore tab.
Check Turn off System Restore.
Click Apply, and then click OK.

Restart your computer, turn System Restore back on and create a restore point.

To create a restore point:

Start | Programs | Accessories | System Tools | System Restore

In the System Restore wizard, select the box next to "Create a restore point" and click 'next'.
Type a description for your newly made restore point. Something like "After my Movieland cleanup" or "After my trojan/spyware cleanup". Click 'Create' and you're done.

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Another method a few have used that didn't want to do a system restore would be to try this:

They have a "cancel link" at their home website. For those that don't know:

1) task manager, end program (to get it off your screen)
2) enter homesite: www.movieland.com
3) bottom right of page, "click here"
4) "general customer support issues"
** at this point you DO NOT have to fill anything in
5) "submit"
6) click "free instant cancel"

Your problems will be over and they will not have your e-mail address!!

The problem with this method is it will only rid you of their annoying popup on your screen. It does NOT remove the code they put into your computer like using System Restore or a manual removal of the code.

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For the computer geeks out there that are not scared of messing in their files, there is an advanced way to get rid of all the multi files that have been put on your computer.

I found this info on this website, so credit is given where it's due: http://www.vcn.com/knowledgebase/article.php?id=422

How to Remove Movieland

Problem:

Movieland has infected your computer. It takes over the whole screen and probably keeps telling you that you owe them money.

Solution:

First, don't pay them or give them any credit card or other info. You don't owe them any money. Movieland is spyware; in other words it's a bad program that you should get rid of.

Here's how to get rid of it:

Click the Start menu, and Control Panel should be in there (or Settings, then Control Panel). Then open Add/Remove Programs. It should open with a big list of things. Look through the list for:

AltPayments,
Media Pipe, or
P2Pnetworks.

Probably just P2PNetworks will be there, and so click on it so it's highlighted, and then click the Remove (or Change/Remove or Add/Remove) button. Tell it you do want to uninstall, and go through its process, then click close. Now it should be gone from the list. If either AltPayments or Media Pipe do happen to be there, do the same process to remove them.

Now close Add/Remove Programs and we're going to Program Files. Open My Computer, then open "Local Disk (C:)", then open Program Files (click on show contents if contents are hidden in either folder). The items we want to delete in there are:

AltPayments or altpayV2
MediaPipe

You also have something about MovieLand Hotmail Something (I don't remember exactly, sorry), possibly at the end of the list rather than under "M" where you'd expect. Delete that also. Anything with Movieland in the title, delete.

You probably don't have p2pnetworks in Program Files (since we just removed it in Add/Remove Programs), but if you do delete it too.


It Didn't Work:

You may get a message that says it cannot delete the file due to it is being used by another person or program and to close all programs. If you get this message, you've got to do more work. Do the following:

1) Download Pocket KillBox from: http://www.downloads.subratam.org/KillBox.zip .

2) Restart your computer into safe mode now. To go into safe mode, go into the Start menu, choose Restart just as you normally would, then start hitting the F8 key at the top of the keyboard. Just keep hitting F8 over and over every second or so until it brings you to a black screen giving you some choices. Using your arrow keys on the keyboard, choose Safe Mode, then hit Enter. Then wait a while and it will eventually bring you into Windows Safe Mode.

3) Try deleting the folders in safe mode. Quite possibly you will be able to successfully delete them now. If not, continue with the steps below to have Pocket KillBox force it to delete.

4) Double-click on Killbox.exe to run it.

5) Now put a tick by Standard File Kill.

6) In the "Full Path of File to Delete" box, copy and paste C:/Program Files/altpayv2 , C:/Program Files/MediaPipe , C:/Program Files/p2pnetworks , and any of the other folders you couldn't delete one at a time. Then click on the button that has the red circle with the X in the middle after you enter each file. It will ask for confirmation to delete the file. Click Yes. Continue with that same procedure until you have copied and pasted all of these in the "Paste Full Path of File to Delete" box.

Note: It is possible that Killbox will tell you that one or more files do not exist. If that happens, just continue on with all the files. Be sure you don't miss any.

So, to recap, paste these folders in and make sure Deltree is checked before hitting the red x:

C:/Program Files/altpayv2 (and/or AltPayments)
C:/Program Files/MediaPipe
C:/Program Files/p2pnetworks
C:/Program Files/[any folder with Movieland in the title]

Hopefully that does it!

In my experience, deleting these files has successfully cleaned Movieland. So, the hijacking and pop-ups should stop now. But, it's possible there's more than one version of Movieland, so if this doesn't work, you could get serious and do some of the more thorough and time-consuming steps here:

http://forums.techguy.org/security/421861-movieland-media-pipe-spyware-removal.html

or here:

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic36432.html

Also, if you had Movieland, chances are good you have other spyware infections as well. So if you have the time, you really should also do the steps in the Preventing Spyware Problems article here: http://home.vcn.com/knowledgebase/article.php?id=346 .

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Their address is:

Digital Enterprises (Movieland)
23705 Vanowen Street #119
West Hills, CA 91307
(866) 231-5359

Movieland Customer Service:
1-866-739-5517 Some have reported by calling this number the company can make the popup go away for good. This also means they have a connection into your computer in order to accomplish this I would think. If the other methods don't work or you don't feel comfortable with them, then try calling this toll free number and ask them to disable the popup, you did not order their service.

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Good luck everyone. I hope one of these methods works for you and you never again see that lady on your screen, asking you to pay her money in order to rid your life of her.