I Have a virus - but it's not being detected

When I first booted up today my screen showed a pulsating full screen size
Windows logo with very ragged outlines and crude coloring. I rebooted and
my PC worked but seemed a little different. The splash screen that displays
when Outlook Express starts is not the right color - it is mostly white,
which is not usual. Also, the blue color in some of my icons seems a
different shade than usual.

I have had AVG Free running and it gets updated almost daily. I had AVG
Free scan my PC just now but it didn't find anything. So I decided I must
be OK inspite of the unusual color symptoms. Then when I opened Outlook
Express the OE window had some patches of green on it - like some moss or
seaweed.

So I did an online BitDefender scan of the PC, and BitDefender didn't find
anything either. I'm pretty sure I've got a virus. I never heard of one
that just changes colors on some graphics or puts patches of moss on
particular windows. But this stuff is really happening - though it seems to
be sporadic. Has anybody had symptoms like these ones I described here?

TIA Bill S.

"Bill Schaible" <mr.correct@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:EdOdnVVvJ8RohITZnZ2dnUVZ_v-dnZ2d@comcast.com...
> When I first booted up today my screen showed a pulsating full screen size
> Windows logo with very ragged outlines and crude coloring. I rebooted
> and
> my PC worked but seemed a little different. The splash screen that
> displays
> when Outlook Express starts is not the right color - it is mostly white,
> which is not usual. Also, the blue color in some of my icons seems a
> different shade than usual.
>
> I have had AVG Free running and it gets updated almost daily. I had AVG
> Free scan my PC just now but it didn't find anything. So I decided I must
> be OK inspite of the unusual color symptoms. Then when I opened Outlook
> Express the OE window had some patches of green on it - like some moss or
> seaweed.
>
> So I did an online BitDefender scan of the PC, and BitDefender didn't find
> anything either. I'm pretty sure I've got a virus. I never heard of one
> that just changes colors on some graphics or puts patches of moss on
> particular windows. But this stuff is really happening - though it seems
> to
> be sporadic. Has anybody had symptoms like these ones I described here?
>

This sounds to me more as if it's a hardware//driver problem than a virus
problem.
You don't mention your OS - so I'll assume that it's Win9x...
Reboot to Safe Mode
Open Device Manager
Remove ALL Display Adapters
Remove ALL Monitors
Reboot to Normal Mode - Windows will reinstall the required drivers -
hopefully curing your problem.

If that doesn't work, boot to DOS using a startup floppy, and type "edit" at
the a:\> prompt (without the quotes) - see what colour the screen is, and
leave it for a while - does the colour change? is it uniform?

report back
--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2006, Windows)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.crashfixpc.com/millsrpch.htm

http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's

> "Bill Schaible" <mr.correct@comcast.net> wrote in message
> news:EdOdnVVvJ8RohITZnZ2dnUVZ_v-dnZ2d@comcast.com...
> > When I first booted up today my screen showed a pulsating full screen size
> > Windows logo with very ragged outlines and crude coloring. I rebooted
> > and
> > my PC worked but seemed a little different. The splash screen that
> > displays
> > when Outlook Express starts is not the right color - it is mostly white,
> > which is not usual. Also, the blue color in some of my icons seems a
> > different shade than usual.
> >
> > I have had AVG Free running and it gets updated almost daily. I had AVG
> > Free scan my PC just now but it didn't find anything. So I decided I must
> > be OK inspite of the unusual color symptoms. Then when I opened Outlook
> > Express the OE window had some patches of green on it - like some moss or
> > seaweed.
> >
> > So I did an online BitDefender scan of the PC, and BitDefender didn't find
> > anything either. I'm pretty sure I've got a virus. I never heard of one
> > that just changes colors on some graphics or puts patches of moss on
> > particular windows. But this stuff is really happening - though it seems
> > to
> > be sporadic. Has anybody had symptoms like these ones I described here?

Our telly did stuff like that, just before the magic smoke
escaped. Got a spare monitor you can switch in, to check?
--
If you don't want the whelks don't muck 'em about
If you don't want them someone else may

The change to display is not general - only specific things particularly in
Outlook Express are different. It isn't the hardware. It isn't the
drivers.


"Noel Paton" <NoelDPspamless@crashfixpc.com> wrote in message
news:dvbct8$nrv$1@nwrdmz01.dmz.ncs.ea.ibs-infra.bt.com...
>
> "Bill Schaible" <mr.correct@comcast.net> wrote in message
> news:EdOdnVVvJ8RohITZnZ2dnUVZ_v-dnZ2d@comcast.com...
> > When I first booted up today my screen showed a pulsating full screen
size
> > Windows logo with very ragged outlines and crude coloring. I rebooted
> > and
> > my PC worked but seemed a little different. The splash screen that
> > displays
> > when Outlook Express starts is not the right color - it is mostly white,
> > which is not usual. Also, the blue color in some of my icons seems a
> > different shade than usual.
> >
> > I have had AVG Free running and it gets updated almost daily. I had AVG
> > Free scan my PC just now but it didn't find anything. So I decided I
must
> > be OK inspite of the unusual color symptoms. Then when I opened Outlook
> > Express the OE window had some patches of green on it - like some moss
or
> > seaweed.
> >
> > So I did an online BitDefender scan of the PC, and BitDefender didn't
find
> > anything either. I'm pretty sure I've got a virus. I never heard of
one
> > that just changes colors on some graphics or puts patches of moss on
> > particular windows. But this stuff is really happening - though it
seems
> > to
> > be sporadic. Has anybody had symptoms like these ones I described here?
> >
>
> This sounds to me more as if it's a hardware//driver problem than a virus
> problem.
> You don't mention your OS - so I'll assume that it's Win9x...
> Reboot to Safe Mode
> Open Device Manager
> Remove ALL Display Adapters
> Remove ALL Monitors
> Reboot to Normal Mode - Windows will reinstall the required drivers -
> hopefully curing your problem.
>
> If that doesn't work, boot to DOS using a startup floppy, and type "edit"
at
> the a:\> prompt (without the quotes) - see what colour the screen is, and
> leave it for a while - does the colour change? is it uniform?
>
> report back
> --
> Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2006, Windows)
>
> Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
> http://www.crashfixpc.com/millsrpch.htm
>
> http://tinyurl.com/6oztj
>
> Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's
>
>

"Bill Schaible" <mr.correct@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:_POdnXw2ss_fS4bZ4p2dnA@comcast.com...
> The change to display is not general - only specific things particularly
> in
> Outlook Express are different. It isn't the hardware. It isn't the
> drivers.
>

Ok - us refresh the drivers, as I suggested!

--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2006, Windows)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.crashfixpc.com/millsrpch.htm

http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's

OK. I'll give it a try.


"Noel Paton" <NoelDPspamless@crashfixpc.com> wrote in message
news:dvgmoc$eue$1@nwrdmz01.dmz.ncs.ea.ibs-infra.bt.com...
>
> "Bill Schaible" <mr.correct@comcast.net> wrote in message
> news:_POdnXw2ss_fS4bZ4p2dnA@comcast.com...
> > The change to display is not general - only specific things particularly
> > in
> > Outlook Express are different. It isn't the hardware. It isn't the
> > drivers.
> >
>
> Ok - us refresh the drivers, as I suggested!
>
> --
> Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2006, Windows)
>
> Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
> http://www.crashfixpc.com/millsrpch.htm
>
> http://tinyurl.com/6oztj
>
> Please read http://dts-l.org/goodpost.htm on how to post messages to NG's
>
>