Strange icon rises above system tray

[Rebel1]

A day or two ago, the image shown here as ScreenShot002 started appearing:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/90278919@N00/5128586810/#/

It takes about two seconds to rise, pauses about two seconds, then
retracts. I haven't timed how often it pops up, but about every 15
minutes. Any idea as to what it is?

I thought it might be a newly added indication that Alvira was updating
its files, so I removed Alvira. Still appears.

Then I thought it might be part of Microsoft Security Essentials, since
I just started using that for the first time ever several days ago. I
haven't disabled MSE, so it may be associated with MSE.

Scanned with MSE and it found four problems, but even after cleaning
them out, the problem remains.

Thanks,

Rebel1

 

[David H. Lipman]

From: "Rebel1" <[email protected]>

| A day or two ago, the image shown here as ScreenShot002 started appearing:
| http://www.flickr.com/photos/90278919@N00/5128586810/#/

| It takes about two seconds to rise, pauses about two seconds, then
| retracts. I haven't timed how often it pops up, but about every 15
| minutes. Any idea as to what it is?

| I thought it might be a newly added indication that Alvira was updating
| its files, so I removed Alvira. Still appears.

| Then I thought it might be part of Microsoft Security Essentials, since
| I just started using that for the first time ever several days ago. I
| haven't disabled MSE, so it may be associated with MSE.

| Scanned with MSE and it found four problems, but even after cleaning
| them out, the problem remains.

What is Alvira ?

Is this a laptop/notebook computer and maybe your battery is going bad ?

 

[Rebel1]

From: "Rebel1" <[email protected]>

| A day or two ago, the image shown here as ScreenShot002 started appearing:
| http://www.flickr.com/photos/90278919@N00/5128586810/#/

| It takes about two seconds to rise, pauses about two seconds, then
| retracts. I haven't timed how often it pops up, but about every 15
| minutes. Any idea as to what it is?

| I thought it might be a newly added indication that Alvira was updating
| its files, so I removed Alvira. Still appears.

| Then I thought it might be part of Microsoft Security Essentials, since
| I just started using that for the first time ever several days ago. I
| haven't disabled MSE, so it may be associated with MSE.

| Scanned with MSE and it found four problems, but even after cleaning
| them out, the problem remains.

What is Alvira ?

Is this a laptop/notebook computer and maybe your battery is going bad ?

Alvira is a free AV program. The icon certainly does suggest a low
battery, but the problem is on my desktop computer, powered directly
from a wall outlet.

 

[David H. Lipman]

From: "Rebel1" <[email protected]>


| Alvira is a free AV program. The icon certainly does suggest a low
| battery, but the problem is on my desktop computer, powered directly
| from a wall outlet.

Avira AntiVir is a free AV program and if you had suspicions abou software it was a BAD
idea to REMOVE the anti virus application (in this cas Avira).

It certainly looks like a battery with very low charge and cautionary pop-up.

Maybe a CMOS battery indicator ?

Who is the manufacturer of the system and/or motherboard ?

What OS is this ?

Execute/Run; MSCONFIG.EXE

Go to the Startup tab

Capture the screen(s) and then post the URLs of the screeshots of what is loading at
startup.

 

[Rebel1]

From: "Rebel1" <[email protected]>



| Alvira is a free AV program. The icon certainly does suggest a low
| battery, but the problem is on my desktop computer, powered directly
| from a wall outlet.

Avira AntiVir is a free AV program and if you had suspicions abou software it was a BAD
idea to REMOVE the anti virus application (in this cas Avira).

It certainly looks like a battery with very low charge and cautionary pop-up.

Maybe a CMOS battery indicator ?

Who is the manufacturer of the system and/or motherboard ?

The mobo is an Asus M3A76-CM, installed 8/2009 when I built the
computer. So the battery is only 14 months old.

What OS is this ?

XP, Home Edition

Execute/Run; MSCONFIG.EXE

Go to the Startup tab

Capture the screen(s) and then post the URLs of the screeshots of what is loading at
startup.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/90278919@N00/5128388477/

Item 1 has to do with mobo drivers
Item 2 is sound mixer for mobo sound circuitry.
Item 3 is for wireless mouse.
Item 7, Kcast, deals with getting current prices of precious metals
Quick gamma is for the mobo video driver
I don't know what the blank item is. The path is
HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run


Three items are not shown, because I can't stretch the box. They are
merely startups to Firefox, Thunderbird, and Windows Explorer.

Maybe Microsoft Security Essentials really did find the problem. It
hasn't occurred in over 30 minutes.

Thanks.

 

[Beauregard T. Shagnasty]

It certainly looks like a battery with very low charge and cautionary
pop-up.

It looks exactly like a battery ... ;-) just like on my mobile phone,
and both my digital cameras. And since he says it's a desktop PC, likely
the CMOS battery. How many batteries do desktop PCs have?

Oh wait, a UPS unit???

 

[David H. Lipman]

From: "Rebel1" <[email protected]>


| The mobo is an Asus M3A76-CM, installed 8/2009 when I built the
| computer. So the battery is only 14 months old.

| XP, Home Edition

| http://www.flickr.com/photos/90278919@N00/5128388477/

| Item 1 has to do with mobo drivers
| Item 2 is sound mixer for mobo sound circuitry.
| Item 3 is for wireless mouse.
| Item 7, Kcast, deals with getting current prices of precious metals
| Quick gamma is for the mobo video driver
| I don't know what the blank item is. The path is
| HKCU\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run


| Three items are not shown, because I can't stretch the box. They are
| merely startups to Firefox, Thunderbird, and Windows Explorer.

| Maybe Microsoft Security Essentials really did find the problem. It
| hasn't occurred in over 30 minutes.

If MSE found a problem, you woul have been arted to by the software.

Those MOBO Drivers *may* be they key (other than sound drivers or video drivers).

Are you using ASUS software ?

 

[David H. Lipman]

From: "Beauregard T. Shagnasty" <[email protected]>


| It looks exactly like a battery ... ;-) just like on my mobile phone,
| and both my digital cameras. And since he says it's a desktop PC, likely
| the CMOS battery. How many batteries do desktop PCs have?

| Oh wait, a UPS unit???

Yes...

Does this PC have a UPS attached ?

 

[Rebel1]

It looks exactly like a battery ... ;-) just like on my mobile phone,
and both my digital cameras. And since he says it's a desktop PC, likely
the CMOS battery. How many batteries do desktop PCs have?

Oh wait, a UPS unit???

There is no UPS. It's easy enough to change the one and only CMOS
battery, so I'll try that.

 

[David H. Lipman]

From: "Rebel1" <[email protected]>


| There is no UPS. It's easy enough to change the one and only CMOS
| battery, so I'll try that.


Nickel sized CR2032 (or something like that).

 

[Rebel1]

From: "Rebel1" <[email protected]>



| There is no UPS. It's easy enough to change the one and only CMOS
| battery, so I'll try that.


Nickel sized CR2032 (or something like that).

That's exactly what's in my mobo. Just changed it, restarted, and as
soon as I screwed the side panel back on and looked at the screen, the
icon was appearing again.

I'm going to post over at alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt.

And I'll take Fred's advice and use just Avira and stop using MSE.

Thanks everyone.

Rebel1

 

[VanguardLH]

A day or two ago, the image shown here as ScreenShot002 started appearing:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/90278919@N00/5128586810/#/

It takes about two seconds to rise, pauses about two seconds, then
retracts. I haven't timed how often it pops up, but about every 15
minutes. Any idea as to what it is?

I thought it might be a newly added indication that Alvira was updating
its files, so I removed Alvira. Still appears.

Then I thought it might be part of Microsoft Security Essentials, since
I just started using that for the first time ever several days ago. I
haven't disabled MSE, so it may be associated with MSE.

Scanned with MSE and it found four problems, but even after cleaning
them out, the problem remains.

Thanks,

Rebel1

Besides the other suggestions already, maybe you installed or enabled
battery monitoring software. Since it can't find a battery, it reports
that it is low/bad.

The msconfig screenshot you provided in another subthread is incomplete.
It wasn't expanded to show the full command line and some items at the
bottom were cut off. Also, battery or UPS software may not run as a
startup item but as an NT service.

Also, despite not having a UPS, make sure Windows isn't configured to
find one (assuming you don't have UPS monitoring software installed).
Go to Control Panel -> Power Options -> UPS tab. If you don't have a
UPS, one shouldn't be selected plus the UPS service should be stopped.

It it doesn't look like battery or UPS monitoring going on, get
SysInternals' Process Explorer. On its toolbar is a sniper scope
looking button. Click on it and then click on the suspicious popup
window when it appears. Process Explorer will tell you which process
opened the handle for that window (highlighted as black text on gray
background). You won't have much time (2 seconds you said) so leave PE
loaded and ready for you to click the toolbar icon and quickly click on
the popup "battery" window.

 

[David H. Lipman]

| That's exactly what's in my mobo. Just changed it, restarted, and as
| soon as I screwed the side panel back on and looked at the screen, the
| icon was appearing again.

| I'm going to post over at alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt.

| And I'll take Fred's advice and use just Avira and stop using MSE.

| Thanks everyone.

If you come to a conclusiuon, please post back in this thread with the results/outcome.

 

[Rebel1]

This is embarrassing. One of the guys from
alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt got it right. The batteries in my
wireless mouse were low. The flashing red light on the top of it, about
one flash per second, should have be the tipoff.

How do we manage to miss the obvious, sometimes? It would have been nice
if there were words displayed with the icon, but then again it would
have to be tailored to various languages around the world.

Thanks, everyone. At least I'll stop using two AV programs, and dump MSE
in favor of Alvira.

Rebel1

 

[David H. Lipman]

From: "Rebel1" <[email protected]>

| This is embarrassing. One of the guys from
| alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt got it right. The batteries in my
| wireless mouse were low. The flashing red light on the top of it, about
| one flash per second, should have be the tipoff.

| How do we manage to miss the obvious, sometimes? It would have been nice
| if there were words displayed with the icon, but then again it would
| have to be tailored to various languages around the world.

| Thanks, everyone. At least I'll stop using two AV programs, and dump MSE
| in favor of Alvira.

Notebook battery and UPS are the most obvious.

I have to admit that I didn't think of a wireless mouse related battery.

Thanx for the update.

 

[Beauregard T. Shagnasty]

From: "Rebel1"

| This is embarrassing. One of the guys from
| alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt got it right. The batteries in my
| wireless mouse were low. The flashing red light on the top of it,
| about one flash per second, should have be the tipoff.

Yup. We couldn't see that, though.

Notebook battery and UPS are the most obvious.

I have to admit that I didn't think of a wireless mouse related
battery.

"My equipment includes ... and a wireless mouse."

Thanx for the update.

That, too. I wonder if he has a wireless keyboard? "Next!"

 

[VanguardLH]

The batteries in my wireless mouse were low. ... How do we manage to
miss the obvious, sometimes? ...

/Obviously/ others can't guess at what hardware you have that you don't
mention. If you had used SysInternals Process Explorer (there are other
utilities) to find out which process owned that popup window then it
might've been obvious that it was the mouse software creating the popup.

The low-battery popup was very non-descript. Perhaps you should
complain to the wireless mouse manufacturer to provide some identifying
information within the popup. Right inside the icon of the battery they
could've put "mouse". Popups that don't identify themselves are often
useless, especially since it could be months apart between when the user
read the manual (ahem, yeah, like that happens frequently) assuming it
even showed a pic of the popup alert and when they happen to see the
popup. Tis a problem when the developers of software think they can
properly QA their own code.

 

[Rebel1]

/Obviously/ others can't guess at what hardware you have that you don't
mention. If you had used SysInternals Process Explorer (there are other
utilities) to find out which process owned that popup window then it
might've been obvious that it was the mouse software creating the popup.

The low-battery popup was very non-descript. Perhaps you should
complain to the wireless mouse manufacturer to provide some identifying
information within the popup. Right inside the icon of the battery they
could've put "mouse". Popups that don't identify themselves are often
useless, especially since it could be months apart between when the user
read the manual (ahem, yeah, like that happens frequently) assuming it
even showed a pic of the popup alert and when they happen to see the
popup. Tis a problem when the developers of software think they can
properly QA their own code.

Usually when the batteries become weak, the mouse pointer movement
becomes jerky or freezes, without the popup ever appearing. I don't know
why the popup appeared this time, without jerky pointer movement as
another clue to weak batteries.

(Recently I had to reinstall XP to fix a virus. Maybe I used to have a
popup blocker that blocked the battery icon, and now needs to be
reinstalled.)

Probably the reason there are no words in the icon is that the product
is sold worldwide, so which language do you use? Of course an outline of
a mouse would be universal.

The mouse is an HP MORFD6UO. The worse thing about it is the four "feet"
that contact the table (or mousepad) aren't thick enough, so the belly
of the mouse actually touches the table and gets scratched. I stuck
little pads of paper over each foot to elevate it a few thousands of an
inch above the table.

 

[VanguardLH]

Usually when the batteries become weak, the mouse pointer movement
becomes jerky or freezes, without the popup ever appearing. I don't know
why the popup appeared this time, without jerky pointer movement as
another clue to weak batteries.

If you are using rechargeable batteries (so you aren't spending lots of
money on replaceables), maybe they're too old and need to be replaced.
They do degrade over time.

Probably the reason there are no words in the icon is that the product
is sold worldwide, so which language do you use? Of course an outline of
a mouse would be universal.

The language configured in Windows for its regional settings. If a
product is distributed worldwide than it should provide multi-language
support. They can detect the language settings and decide whether to
show mouse, miš, la souris, ποντίκι, mus, мыши, mysz or whatever fits
for the configured language. Hell, they could use an icon showing a
mouse device (http://www.projectlemur.org/images/mouse_icon.gif). They
obviously knew how to add the warning icon to the popup.

The mouse is an HP MORFD6UO. The worse thing about it is the four "feet"
that contact the table (or mousepad) aren't thick enough, so the belly
of the mouse actually touches the table and gets scratched. I stuck
little pads of paper over each foot to elevate it a few thousands of an
inch above the table.

I've seen where you can buy new mouse skates to replace your old worn
ones (or when you had to remove them to get at screws underneath to
dismantle the mouse to clean out the cat hair or lint that you can't get
out with tweezers around the LED), like at:

http://www.dualchip.pt/index.php/mode/item/products_id/1814
http://store.razerzone.com/store/razerusa/en_US/pd/productID.173851300/categoryId.35096200
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...14179&cm_re=mouse_feet-_-17-114-179-_-Product

A table probably more friction than a mouse pad (although I've seen some
"micro" positioning mouse pads that actually have MORE friction so there
is increased drag on the mouse). Your pads probably got worn down and
you need new ones. You could call HP to see if they have replacements,
too. I'm assuming this mouse actually has skates (teflon pads) rather
than just bumps in the underside of the case.