Mystery program runs periodically, interrupting screensaver, etc.

[Guest]

Every half hour or so, a new button appears on my taskbar and then
disappears. It interrupts my screen saver if my computer has been idle.
There is no text on the button. If I am working in a program, the mystery
program takes the focus. Has anyone else experienced this, and if so can
something be done about it?

 

[T. Waters]

Always run Task Manager (ctrl-alt-del) and click the Applications tab. If
the mystery program shows for 10 seconds, you should be able to get its name
with a quick scan of your Task Manager's listing.

 

[Guest]

Thank you for your reply. Unfortunately, the button disappears too quickly.
I would say it comes and goes within the space of a second, if that.

 

[Li'l Roberto]

Every half hour or so, a new button appears on my taskbar and then
disappears. It interrupts my screen saver if my computer has been
idle.
There is no text on the button. If I am working in a program, the
mystery
program takes the focus. Has anyone else experienced this, and if so
can
something be done about it?

When the button appears on the Taskbar open Task Manager with
Ctr+alt+Del and see if you can work out what it is.
Make sure your system isn't infected with malware/virus's, run the
following items from safe mode
Ad-Aware SE
Search & Destroy
Sysclean

rgds
Li'l Roberto

 

[T. Waters]

This could be one of your applications just doing its job, What are you
running?

 

[Keith Miller]

Have you checked scheduled tasks?

Keith

 

[Guest]

Also, Virus Scan and Microsoft Anti-Spyware show no infections.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for your reply, unfortunately the program appears and disappears too
quickly to be identified. I only know that it seems to run at regular
intervals. It also doesn't seem to be running completely in the background,
as it takes the computer out of screen saver mode.

 

[Guest]

There are no tasks scheduled.

Have you checked scheduled tasks?

Keith

 

[Kelly]

Suggestions and checkpoints:

Disable everything that reads 'Wake up' in the BIOS settings.

Without knowing more:

Right click My Network Places/Properties/Advanced (top toolbar)/Dial-Up
Preferences/Enable Auto-Dial by Location/Uncheck all locations and check off
always ask me before auto dialing. Also, Disable autodial while I am logged
on.

In the Enable Auto-Dial By Location dialog box, select each location for
which you want the automatic dialing feature to operate. Reboot.

Disable or Enable AutoDial (Line 91)
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

And lastly, read the startup log from here:

Windows XP Startup Programs Tracker
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_u.htm#xp_util

--

All the Best,
Kelly (MS-MVP)

Troubleshooting Windows XP
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com

 

[Robert Lazarus]

Hi.

What printer do you have? I have exactly the same problem. It all started
when I installed the driver for my HP Officejet 7310 printer. I am sure the
program that is popping up is an element of the HP driver (it is a massive
set of applications, applets and drivers; adds loads of startup commands to
windows; and is full of bugs).

HP use the same driver package for all their all-in-one printers. If you
have one of those printers then I think we at least know who to blame.

 

[Robert Lazarus]

Hi.

What printer do you have? I have exactly the same problem. It all started
when I installed the driver for my HP Officejet 7310 printer. I am sure the
program that is popping up is an element of the HP driver (it is a massive
set of applications, applets and drivers; adds loads of startup commands to
windows; and is full of bugs).

HP use the same driver package for all their all-in-one printers. If you
have one of those printers then I think we at least know who to blame.

 

[Guest]

Oh my god. I have an HP Photosmart 7960, for which I just updated the driver
around time the problem started. I will check later on to see if this is the
culprit. Thanks.

 

[Robert Lazarus]

The problem is caused by hpcmpmgr.exe. Disabling this will solve the
problem. (Start --> Run --> type "msconfig" and enter --> select the
"Startup" tab --> remove the check next to hpcmpmgr --> OK. When you restart
windows you will get a neg screen which you can disable).

According to other people who have the problem, disabling hpcmpmgr doesn't
seem to cause problems.

Also have a look here
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericSoftwareDownloadIndex?lc=en&cc=us&softwareitem=oj-22424-5.
This provides an update for hpcmpmgr which solves another problem (stalled
shutdowns). I have applied this update to see whether it solves our problem
(rather than completely disabling hpcmpmgr). I'll let you know.

Take care

 

[Robert Lazarus]

Yes, running the update does seem to solve the problem.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for your reply. I tried installing the update. It did not, however
correct the problem. It seems that the program pops up every 15 minutes.
It's more of an annoyance than anything else. I'm going to leave my task
manager open to try and "catch" the offending program. Since the button has
no label, I wonder if there will be anything showing in the task manager when
it pops up, though.

 

[Robert Lazarus]

You're right, the update does not correct the problem. Sorry about that.
However, disabling hpcmpmgr does solve the problem.

Try temporarily disabling hpcmpmgr from the processes tab of Task Manager
(it will restart next time you reboot).

I have done that and it does seem to fix the problem. I am going to try
permanently disabling it using msconfig and I will let you know the outcome.