can't personalise my desktop

[Guest]

I let my son use my laptop, to email a friend. He accessed some website for
gamers and, now, all kind of wierd things are going on with my comp. All of
a sudden, the background I had loaded, an old X flies wallpapaer, won't show
up when I open my desktop. When I try to go back and select the pic again to
personalise it, it won't even let me pick a picture. It allows me to select
a color for the background, but not a picture. Any ideas? I've got a
anti-virus system called BullGuard which, I was told by the person installing
it, that he's never had any problems with it. I seem to have all kinds of
problems with it. When I scan, sometimes, I end up with eleven or twelve
missed viruses...I have to do this all the time, besides having to scan for
my spyware... Seems that since I stopped paying for my AOL, all kinds of
pop-ups and downloads have been messing up my computer, requiring almost
daily scans...and now, this? Got any ideas? please, help...

 

[Terry R.]

On 6/6/2007 2:25 PM On a whim, Tracee L pounded out on the keyboard

I let my son use my laptop, to email a friend. He accessed some website for
gamers and, now, all kind of wierd things are going on with my comp. All of
a sudden, the background I had loaded, an old X flies wallpapaer, won't show
up when I open my desktop. When I try to go back and select the pic again to
personalise it, it won't even let me pick a picture. It allows me to select
a color for the background, but not a picture. Any ideas? I've got a
anti-virus system called BullGuard which, I was told by the person installing
it, that he's never had any problems with it. I seem to have all kinds of
problems with it. When I scan, sometimes, I end up with eleven or twelve
missed viruses...I have to do this all the time, besides having to scan for
my spyware... Seems that since I stopped paying for my AOL, all kinds of
pop-ups and downloads have been messing up my computer, requiring almost
daily scans...and now, this? Got any ideas? please, help...

Hi Tracee,

Sounds more like adware/malware than a virus. If your son went to a
game site, he probably downloaded a bunch of stuff that carried a
payload (if one reads the agreement before clicking "I Agree) they would
probably see the list of items that were installed along with the game)

Here are some suggestions (by Shenan Stanley):

Open ONE copy of Internet Explorer.
Select TOOLS -> Internet Options.
Under the General tab in the "Temporary Internet Files" section, do the
following:

Click on "Delete Cookies" (click OK)
Click on "Settings" and change the "Amount of disk space to use:" to
something between 128MB and 512MB. (Betting it is MUCH larger right
now.)
Click OK.
Click on "Delete Files" and select to "Delete all offline contents"
(the checkbox) and click OK. (If you had a LOT, this could take 2-10
minutes or more.)
Once it is done, click OK, close Internet Explorer, re-open Internet
Explorer.


Turn off System Restore.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310405
Reboot the Computer

Install the first five of these: (Install, Run, Update, Scan with..)
(If you already have one or more - uninstall them and download the
LATEST version from the page given!)

Lavasoft AdAware (Free and up)
http://www.lavasoft.de/products/ad-aware_se_personal.php
(How-to: http://snipurl.com/atdn )

Spybot Search and Destroy (Free!)
http://www.safer-networking.net/en/download/
(How-to: http://snipurl.com/atdk )

SpywareBlaster (Free!)
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/sbdownload.html
(How-to: http://snipurl.com/ate6 )

IE-SPYAD2 (Free!)
http://www.spywarewarrior.com/uiuc/resource.htm#IESPYAD
(How-to: http://snipurl.com/ate7 )

SuperAntiSpyware (Free and up)
http://www.superantispyware.com/

CWShredder Stand-Alone (Free!)
http://www.trendmicro.com/cwshredder/

Hijack This! (Free!)
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html
(Log Analyzer: http://hjt.networktechs.com/ )

Bazooka Adware and Spyware Scanner (Free!)
http://www.kephyr.com/spywarescanner/
(How-to: http://snipurl.com/ate3 )

ToolbarCop (Free!)
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/toolbarcop.htm

Ccleaner (Free!)
http://www.ccleaner.com/

Browser Security Tests (Free Tester)
http://www.jasons-toolbox.com/BrowserSecurity/

Popup Tester (Free Tester)
http://www.popuptest.com/

The Cleaner (~$49.95 and up)
http://www.moosoft.com/

Sometimes you need to install the application and reboot into SAFE MODE
in order to thoroughly clean your computer. Many applications also have
(or are) immunization applications. Spybot Search and Destroy and
SpywareBlaster are two that currently do the best job at passively
protecting your system from malware. None of these programs (in these
editions) run in the background unless you TELL them to. The space they
take up and how easy they are to use greatly makes up for any
inconvenience you may be feeling.

After everything is clean, turn System Restore back on and reboot.

Another option is to use an alternative Web browser. I suggest
'Mozilla Firefox', as it has some great features and is very easy to
use: http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/


Some alternative anti-virus programs:
AntiVir http://www.free-av.com/
avast! http://www.avast.com/
AVG Anti-Virus System http://free.grisoft.com/

Report back,

--
Terry R.

***Reply Note***
Anti-spam measures are included in my email address.
Delete NOSPAM from the email address after clicking Reply.

 

[Rock]

I let my son use my laptop, to email a friend. He accessed some website
for
gamers and, now, all kind of wierd things are going on with my comp. All
of
a sudden, the background I had loaded, an old X flies wallpapaer, won't
show
up when I open my desktop. When I try to go back and select the pic again
to
personalise it, it won't even let me pick a picture. It allows me to
select
a color for the background, but not a picture. Any ideas? I've got a
anti-virus system called BullGuard which, I was told by the person
installing
it, that he's never had any problems with it. I seem to have all kinds of
problems with it. When I scan, sometimes, I end up with eleven or twelve
missed viruses...I have to do this all the time, besides having to scan
for
my spyware... Seems that since I stopped paying for my AOL, all kinds of
pop-ups and downloads have been messing up my computer, requiring almost
daily scans...and now, this? Got any ideas? please, help...

Here are some links on cleaning up malware:

Malware Removal
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

THE PARASITE FIGHT
Finding, Removing & Protecting Yourself From Scumware
http://aumha.org/a/parasite.htm

Richard Harper’s Guide to Cleaning Pests
http://rgharper.mvps.org/cleanit.htm

I don't know anything about BullGuard for anti-virus, but it does take more
than one program to catch all the non viral malware.
http://www.claymania.com/safe-hex.html
http://www.cert.org/tech_tips/before_you_plug_in.html#III

Is a firewall running?

 

[Rock]

On 6/6/2007 2:25 PM On a whim, Tracee L pounded out on the keyboard


Hi Tracee,

Sounds more like adware/malware than a virus. If your son went to a game
site, he probably downloaded a bunch of stuff that carried a payload (if
one reads the agreement before clicking "I Agree) they would probably see
the list of items that were installed along with the game)

Here are some suggestions (by Shenan Stanley):

Open ONE copy of Internet Explorer.
Select TOOLS -> Internet Options.
Under the General tab in the "Temporary Internet Files" section, do the
following:

Click on "Delete Cookies" (click OK)
Click on "Settings" and change the "Amount of disk space to use:" to
something between 128MB and 512MB. (Betting it is MUCH larger right
now.)
Click OK.
Click on "Delete Files" and select to "Delete all offline contents"
(the checkbox) and click OK. (If you had a LOT, this could take 2-10
minutes or more.)
Once it is done, click OK, close Internet Explorer, re-open Internet
Explorer.


Turn off System Restore.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310405
Reboot the Computer

Install the first five of these: (Install, Run, Update, Scan with..)
(If you already have one or more - uninstall them and download the
LATEST version from the page given!)

Lavasoft AdAware (Free and up)
http://www.lavasoft.de/products/ad-aware_se_personal.php
(How-to: http://snipurl.com/atdn )

Spybot Search and Destroy (Free!)
http://www.safer-networking.net/en/download/
(How-to: http://snipurl.com/atdk )

SpywareBlaster (Free!)
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/sbdownload.html
(How-to: http://snipurl.com/ate6 )

IE-SPYAD2 (Free!)
http://www.spywarewarrior.com/uiuc/resource.htm#IESPYAD
(How-to: http://snipurl.com/ate7 )

SuperAntiSpyware (Free and up)
http://www.superantispyware.com/

CWShredder Stand-Alone (Free!)
http://www.trendmicro.com/cwshredder/

Hijack This! (Free!)
http://www.spywareinfo.com/~merijn/downloads.html
(Log Analyzer: http://hjt.networktechs.com/ )

Bazooka Adware and Spyware Scanner (Free!)
http://www.kephyr.com/spywarescanner/
(How-to: http://snipurl.com/ate3 )

ToolbarCop (Free!)
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/toolbarcop.htm

Ccleaner (Free!)
http://www.ccleaner.com/

Browser Security Tests (Free Tester)
http://www.jasons-toolbox.com/BrowserSecurity/

Popup Tester (Free Tester)
http://www.popuptest.com/

The Cleaner (~$49.95 and up)
http://www.moosoft.com/

Sometimes you need to install the application and reboot into SAFE MODE in
order to thoroughly clean your computer. Many applications also have
(or are) immunization applications. Spybot Search and Destroy and
SpywareBlaster are two that currently do the best job at passively
protecting your system from malware. None of these programs (in these
editions) run in the background unless you TELL them to. The space they
take up and how easy they are to use greatly makes up for any
inconvenience you may be feeling.

After everything is clean, turn System Restore back on and reboot.

Another option is to use an alternative Web browser. I suggest
'Mozilla Firefox', as it has some great features and is very easy to use:
http://www.mozilla.com/firefox/


Some alternative anti-virus programs:
AntiVir http://www.free-av.com/
avast! http://www.avast.com/
AVG Anti-Virus System http://free.grisoft.com/

It's wiser not to turn off system restore prior to cleaning malware. If
something goes wrong in the process that may be one way you have to restore
to a running system. Yes the malware will be back if it's in the restore
point the system is restored to, but at least the system is running so you
can try other things.

Malware in a restore point is not a problem in and of itself. After the
system is cleaned, then turn off system restore to flush all restore points,
turn it back on, then create a new one.

 

[Terry R.]

On 6/6/2007 2:55 PM On a whim, Rock pounded out on the keyboard

It's wiser not to turn off system restore prior to cleaning malware. If
something goes wrong in the process that may be one way you have to restore
to a running system. Yes the malware will be back if it's in the restore
point the system is restored to, but at least the system is running so you
can try other things.

Malware in a restore point is not a problem in and of itself. After the
system is cleaned, then turn off system restore to flush all restore points,
turn it back on, then create a new one.

The reason I started turning it off before cleaning systems is that
there are some malware out there that use the SR folders as reference
points. If you try to clean it, it will immediately re-load itself, so
without turning SR off, you can't even begin to start cleaning. Maybe
you haven't run into it, but they're out there and they're buggers to
get rid of.

I did forget to mention that I use ERUNT prior to a clean also, so at
least there is a good registry backup.

--
Terry R.

***Reply Note***
Anti-spam measures are included in my email address.
Delete NOSPAM from the email address after clicking Reply.

 

[Rock]

On 6/6/2007 2:55 PM On a whim, Rock pounded out on the keyboard


The reason I started turning it off before cleaning systems is that there
are some malware out there that use the SR folders as reference points. If
you try to clean it, it will immediately re-load itself, so without
turning SR off, you can't even begin to start cleaning. Maybe you haven't
run into it, but they're out there and they're buggers to get rid of.

Thanks for the explanation Terry, I hadn't seen that.

I did forget to mention that I use ERUNT prior to a clean also, so at
least there is a good registry backup.

Yes I use ERUNT to backup the registry daily. It's another useful tool in
the problem recovery arsenal.