desktop background options greyed out

[Lenny]

Hi,
A computer had a spyware problem recently but that is now fixed however, one
of the ongoing problems that has occured since is the desktop background.
If I go into Display Properties - Desktop all the Background list is greyed
out and I can't click on anything to change the background. I can change the
colour but not the picture. Any thoughts?
Cheers
Lenny

 

[TaurArian [MS-MVP]]

Try:

Start>Run, and type:
regsvr32 /i shell32
regsvr32 themeui

Reboot the computer.

if that doesn't work -

See -

Options to change wallpaper may be missing or unavailable on a Windows
XP-based computer
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/921049/en-us

The Desktop tab does not appear in the Display Properties dialog box in
Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922370/en-us

Restore Desktop Display Properties:-
Line 285 Right hand side - restore display tabs.
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm



--

==================================
TaurArian [MS-MVP] 2005-2007 - Australia
==================================
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| Hi,
| A computer had a spyware problem recently but that is now fixed however,
one
| of the ongoing problems that has occured since is the desktop background.
| If I go into Display Properties - Desktop all the Background list is
greyed
| out and I can't click on anything to change the background. I can change
the
| colour but not the picture. Any thoughts?
| Cheers
| Lenny
|
|

 

[Detlev Dreyer]

A computer had a spyware problem recently but that is now fixed

Nope. Apparently, that is *not* fixed.

however, one of the ongoing problems that has occured since is the
desktop background. If I go into Display Properties - Desktop all the
Background list is greyed out and I can't click on anything to change
the background. I can change the colour but not the picture. Any
thoughts?

Malware needs administrator privileges in order to apply these
restrictions. In other words, you've been logged in with administrator
privileges when installing that particular malware and therefore, you've
lost the control of your system. You may want to read

"Cleaning a Compromised System"
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/community/columns/secmgmt/sm0504.mspx