Ollakal said:
I have this Dell laptop, and I cant set a background on the screen, when I
right click on the desktop properties and click on the Desktop tab everything
is grayed out, only the customize Desktip is the only on I can open. I cant
select a background picture. is there a way i can enable this, so I am able
to have some pictures on my laptop screen?
First make sure the computer is virus/malware-free because this is
symptomatic of various trojans.
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware
If you know that machine is clean, here are some suggestions:
A. Go to the Display applet in Control Panel and look on the Desktop
tab. Click on Customize Desktop, and then click on the Web tab. You will
see that there are checkmarks next to "My Current Home Page" and
probably "Lock Desktop Items". Uncheck these, Apply/OK out.
B. If you can't enable desktop backgrounds after a virus, 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".
C. Check to see if these Registry entries exist:
HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\GroupPolicyobject\{21A7BE9D-5027-49C1-B6F7-757B707E1C94}User\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System
If "GroupPolicyRefreshTime" and/or "GroupPolicyRefreshTimeOffset" are
there, then delete them.
HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System. If
"GroupPolicyRefreshTime" and/or "GroupPolicyRefreshTimeOffset" are
there, then delete them and then run the reg fix from Kelly's page.
A default wallpaper called wp.bmp may be set in
HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System created by the
smitfraud.c virus. Remove that and you will be able to choose different
wallpapers.
For inability to change wallpaper after malware, here is another key:
Hkey_Current_User/software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Policies/Explorer,
Bogus values will be set to 0. Delete or set to 1.
Malke
