background will not change

[Guest]

last night i was running powerdvd. i use this to play dvd's on my pc. i
installed it for the first time last night and was watching a dvd and
captured a frame as a wallpaper. powerdvd has this feature so you capture
frames from the dvd your watching as a desktop wallpaper. well, after all of
this, i tried to go into display properties to put my previous wallpaper on,
but its like all of it is nonfunctional, greyed out. i also noticed a small
red circle with an "x" in it in the tray beside the time. when i positioned
the mouse pointer over it, it read "your system is infected. i have not seen
it since that 1 time. i have rebooted my pc quite a few times since and it
hasnt reappered. i cannot change my background from the blue screen. anyone
with a fix or suggestions will be greatly appreciated. thanks, raymond.

 

[Malke]

last night i was running powerdvd. i use this to play dvd's on my pc.
i installed it for the first time last night and was watching a dvd
and captured a frame as a wallpaper. powerdvd has this feature so you
capture frames from the dvd your watching as a desktop wallpaper.
well, after all of this, i tried to go into display properties to put
my previous wallpaper on, but its like all of it is nonfunctional,
greyed out. i also noticed a small red circle with an "x" in it in the
tray beside the time. when i positioned the mouse pointer over it, it
read "your system is infected. i have not seen it since that 1 time. i
have rebooted my pc quite a few times since and it hasnt reappered. i
cannot change my background from the blue screen. anyone with a fix or
suggestions will be greatly appreciated. thanks, raymond.

Since PowerDVD did something weird, first do the easiest thing and do a
System Restore to before you tried to capture the images.

Start>Programs>Accessories>System Tools>System Restore
"Restore my computer to an earlier time"

If that doesn't work, try:

MVP Kelly Theriot has a fix. Look under Wallpaper-Desktop-Disable
Changing here:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_w.htm

If Display tabs are missing, run Kelly's registry edit on line 285,
right-hand side "Restore all display tabs".

Obviously PowerDVD doesn't do image capturing very well. If it is
important to you, find a different program that does (and I don't know
that answer, sorry).

Malke

 

[Guest]

malke, thanks for the link. i followed the instructions on the page and my
registry value was set to "0", which means it allows wallpapers to be
changed. is there anything else? thanks for your help.

 

[Malke]

malke, thanks for the link. i followed the instructions on the page
and my registry value was set to "0", which means it allows wallpapers
to be changed. is there anything else? thanks for your help.

What happened when you did the System Restore?

Malke

 

[Guest]

i have had system restore off, i didnt know it. its on now, but i know it
will only backup as far as when its turned on, which will do me no good.
thanks.

 

[Malke]

i have had system restore off, i didnt know it. its on now, but i know
it will only backup as far as when its turned on, which will do me no
good. thanks.

Re-reading your first post, I see that you have a little message saying
"your system is infected". This is indicative of the Smitfraud trojan.

Go through the preparatory steps here:
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

Then do the specific removal steps here:
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Smitfraud_Trojan

Finish up with the rest of the malware removal steps from the first
link.

If the procedures seem too complex - not your cup of tea - take the
machine to a professional computer repair shop (not your local version
of BigStoreUSA). There is no shame in doing this.

Malke

 

[Guest]

the smitfraud deal worked. it was an easy process to. thank you so much. i
have another thing thats been bugging me for about a year. my pc runs
flawless, but when i boot it, it stays on the blue welcome screen for about a
minute or more. it didnt do this at first, it started later. what could cause
this. again, thanks so much for your help.

 

[Malke]

the smitfraud deal worked. it was an easy process to. thank you so
much. i have another thing thats been bugging me for about a year. my
pc runs flawless, but when i boot it, it stays on the blue welcome
screen for about a minute or more. it didnt do this at first, it
started later. what could cause this. again, thanks so much for your
help.

Glad that fixed it. Now stay safe:

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=27971 - So How Did I Get
Infected Anyway?
http://wiki.castlecops.com/Malware_Removal_and_Prevention:_Introduction
http://www.claymania.com/safe-hex.html
http://www.aumha.org/a/parasite.htm - The Parasite Fight
http://msmvps.com/blogs/harrywaldron/archive/2006/02/05/82584.aspx - MVP
Harry Waldron - The Family PC - How to stay safe on the Internet
http://www.spywarewarrior.com/rogue_anti-spyware.htm - Eric Howes on
Rogue Antispyware Programs

As far as slow starting, do clean-boot troubleshooting to see what is
causing the holdup.

Clean boot in Windows XP - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310353

Clean-boot advanced troubleshooting in Windows XP -
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/316434

and How to Troubleshoot By Using the Msconfig Utility in Windows XP -
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=310560

Here are some links where you can look up what you find with msconfig:

http://aumha.org/a/loads.htm - What loads at Startup?
http://castlecops.com/StartupList.html
http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_index.htm
http://www.theeldergeek.com/services_guide.htm
http://www.liutilities.com/products/wintaskspro/processlibrary/
http://www.windowsstartup.com/wso/search.php
http://www.processlibrary.com/results/

Malke