desktop shortcuts cloning themselves ...

[John A Grandy]

has anyone encountered a situation where windows xp shortcuts start
"cloning" themselves ? i'm getting situations where (while i've got an app
open that covers the desktop) i'll look at the desktop and see

Explorer (1)
Explorer (2)
Explorer (3)
Explorer (4)
Explorer (5)
Explorer (6)

I delete them ... but they (or other) shortcuts come back ... quite soon in
fact ! It's a nightmare.

 

[Sharon F]

has anyone encountered a situation where windows xp shortcuts start
"cloning" themselves ? i'm getting situations where (while i've got an app
open that covers the desktop) i'll look at the desktop and see

Explorer (1)
Explorer (2)
Explorer (3)
Explorer (4)
Explorer (5)
Explorer (6)

I delete them ... but they (or other) shortcuts come back ... quite soon in
fact ! It's a nightmare.

I've seen multiples being created due to inaccurate mousing but the
behavior you describe sounds more like the shortcuts are multiplying on
their own. In that case, I would check the system very thoroughly for a
virus. Use an antivirus program that has the current virus definitions
installed and perform a thorough scan (all files, all drives) or use one of
the online scanners:

http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/
http://security.symantec.com/default.asp?productid=symhome&langid=ie&venid=sym
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/
http://www.avp.ru/remoteviruschk.html
http://www.bitdefender.com/scan/licence.php

You might try a run of chkdsk if the system comes up clean on the virus
scan.

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP]

has anyone encountered a situation where windows xp shortcuts start
"cloning" themselves ? i'm getting situations where (while i've got
an app open that covers the desktop) i'll look at the desktop and see

Explorer (1)
Explorer (2)
Explorer (3)
Explorer (4)
Explorer (5)
Explorer (6)

I delete them ... but they (or other) shortcuts come back ... quite
soon in fact ! It's a nightmare.

Eliminate any spyware.
What You Should Know About Spyware
http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/devioussoftware.mspx

CAUTION!!!!! Before you try to remove spyware using any of these programs ,
download a copy of LSPFIX from any of the following sites:
http://www.cexx.org/lspfix.htm
http://www.spychecker.com/program/winsockxpfix.html
(if your OS is Win2k or XP) The process of removing certain malware may kill
your internet connection. If this should occur, this program, LSPFIX, will
enable you to regain your connection.

See
Dealing with Unwanted Malware, Parasites, Toolbars and Search Engines
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm

Note that AdAware and SpyBot S & D will each catch some things the other
won't. Also, each needs to be updated with the program's update function
before every use, even when just downloaded. There's also a lot more to do
than just those two programs. CWShredder is also available here:
http://www.intermute.com/products/cwshredder
**Post your HijackThis log to
http://www.spywareinfo.com/forums/
http://forums.tomcoyote.org/
http://castlecops.com/forum67.html
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/ or the Spyware forum at
http://forum.aumha.org/viewforum.php?f=30 for expert analysis, not here.**
Alternative download pages for Ad-Aware, Spybot, HijackThis and CWShredder
may be found on this page:
http://aumha.org/a/parasite.htm.

See also:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...a2-6a57-4c57-a8bd-dbf62eda9671&DisplayLang=en
for the new Microsoft program which was previously released by Giant
Software.

See this link for information about malware:
http://arstechnica.com/articles/paedia/malware.ars

If nothing there helps, please post back to this thread.

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP, IE/OE
Please respond in Newsgroup only. Do not send email
http://www.fjsmjs.com
Protect your PC
http://www.microsoft.com./athome/security/protect/default.aspx