Background Apps

[Ross]

I was working with several windows open and then suddenly every background
application loaded. 50 different windows opened like Zune Launcher and
several Word support apps opened. My toolbar was overflowing and I couldn’t
tell what was what. I was able to sort it out and save my work. After a
restart everything seemed fine and it hasn’t happened again. What could make
this happen? I was thinking malware or virus, but what would be the
advantage of doing this? Any insight would be appreciated.

 

[Jose]

I was working with several windows open and then suddenly every background
application loaded.  50 different windows opened like Zune Launcher and
several Word support apps opened.  My toolbar was overflowing and I couldn’t
tell what was what.  I was able to sort it out and save my work.  After a
restart everything seemed fine and it hasn’t happened again.  What could make
this happen?  I was thinking malware or virus, but what would be the
advantage of doing this?  Any insight would be appreciated.

Perform some scans for malicious software first, then fix any
remaining issues:

Download, install, update and do a full scan with these free malware
detection programs:

Malwarebytes (MBAM): http://malwarebytes.org/
SUPERAntiSpyware: (SAS): http://www.superantispyware.com/

They can be uninstalled later if desired.

 

[Elmo]

I was working with several windows open and then suddenly every background
application loaded. 50 different windows opened like Zune Launcher and
several Word support apps opened. My toolbar was overflowing and I couldn’t
tell what was what. I was able to sort it out and save my work. Aftera
restart everything seemed fine and it hasn’t happened again. What could make
this happen? I was thinking malware or virus, but what would be the
advantage of doing this? Any insight would be appreciated.

In many locations, Ctrl/A selects all. A click/swipe across a group of
icons also selects many shortcuts in its path. Either of these innocent
actions, followed by the Enter key, will open all the highlighted
shortcuts, or files/programs within a folder. Could you have
accidentally performed one of those combinations? If so, don't do that
again. ;o)