John wrote:
> Elmo
>
> I did as instructed. I'll just have to wait to see if it worked.
>
> An unplesant side effect: I was going to uninstall one of those free
> utilities but when I clicked Add or Remove Programs, I get a pop-up saying
> "Add or Remove programs has been restricted. Please check with your
> administrator"
>
> I am the administrator and sole user of this PC and this registry tweak
> seems to have locked me out of Add/Remove and maybe other things I haven't
> discovered yet.
>
>
> "Elmo" wrote:
>
>> John wrote:
>>> Elmo,
>>>
>>> I tried both the programs. Malwarebytes removed some scraps of a program I
>>> uninstalled a a couple of weeks ago- not malicious. SuperAntiSpyware found
>>> nothing.
>>> I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with " Line 142. (r-h column) Allow
>>> Wallpaper/Background Changes - Disable". Go into regedit and make a lot of
>>> register changes? Very scary!
>>>
>>> "Elmo" wrote:
>>>
>>>> John wrote:
>>>>> Earlier this week while I was working on my computer, the screen image
>>>>> flickered and the desktop background photo I've been using for weeks
>>>>> disappeared to be replaced by Santa Fe Stucco(looks like sunburned wrinkled
>>>>> skin).
>>>>>
>>>>> I changed the background back to my regular picture(clicking Apply)and
>>>>> carried on. When I signed into the computer the new day, SFS was back again.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> I selected another photo of mine as a desktop background and it, too, was
>>>>> replaced by SFS in about an hour. My selection typically lasted 1-2 hours.
>>>>>
>>>>> I posted my problem on Dell Forums but have gottEn nothing from them.
>>>>> Yesterday I ran all my utilities (Norton SystemWorks, Registry Mechanic,
>>>>> CCleaner, Ad-Aware- all of which I've used for a long time) twice. Now the
>>>>> selected desktop photo last 6-8 hours.
>>>>>
>>>>> When it goes away, I always get Santa Fe Stucco. Why? It's not the first
>>>>> or the last choice on the menu.
>>>> Set the wallpaper, then try this registry tweak to lock in the background:
>>>>
>>>> http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm
>>>> Line 142. (r-h column) Allow Wallpaper/Background Changes - Disable
>>>>
>>>> Still, you need to find what software, or malware is changing the
>>>> background.. Try these:
>>>>
>>>> Malwarebytes© Corporation
>>>> http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam/program/mbam-setup.exe
>>>>
>>>> SuperAntispyware
>>>> http://www.superantispyware.com/supe...freevspro.html
>> Right-click the link to the .reg file, click Save and save to the
>> Desktop. Then double-click the file, or right-click, click Merge. The
>> changes will be made and you can try setting the wallpaper again.
You're still infected. Try some other removal tools, possibly rootkit
removal tools, like "gmer".
You can look at the registry entries and see that none would lock you
out of Add/Remove Programs.
The one entry, "NoDeletingComponents"=dword:00000001 should only block
removal of desktop components, but you could edit the .reg file, and
change that value to "NoDeletingComponents"=dword:00000000, then apply
wallpaperdisable.reg again. That way you won't need to use regedit to
make that change.
--
Joe =o)
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