Does anyone know what this notification (sys. tray) icon is?

[Peter]

Hi all,

This icon:
http://www.btinternet.com/~peter.ryan/20031004/xp-icon.png

appeared in my notification area (or whatever its called these days -
system tray!) after I had installed SP1.

I can't work out the icon is meant to depict at all - but what ever it
is, I think it must be switched off going by the big red X over it!!

When I hold the mouse over it, the Help text (tool tip thing) says
"ICON".... so it doesn't really tell me anything!

In case its related, this is XP Home running on a Packard Bell iGo 4450
laptop.

Thanks in advance!!

Peter.

 

[Jim Macklin]

You can right click the icon and select properties to see
what the program is and where it is located.

I can't see the details, but it looks like Gator or some
such. I would run SpyBot Search and Destroy from
www.security.kolla.de and see what it reports.


| Hi all,
|
| This icon:
| http://www.btinternet.com/~peter.ryan/20031004/xp-icon.png
|
| appeared in my notification area (or whatever its called
these days -
| system tray!) after I had installed SP1.
|
| I can't work out the icon is meant to depict at all - but
what ever it
| is, I think it must be switched off going by the big red X
over it!!
|
| When I hold the mouse over it, the Help text (tool tip
thing) says
| "ICON".... so it doesn't really tell me anything!
|
| In case its related, this is XP Home running on a Packard
Bell iGo 4450
| laptop.
|
| Thanks in advance!!
|
| Peter.
|

 

[Peter]

You can right click the icon and select properties to see
what the program is and where it is located.

I can't see the details, but it looks like Gator or some
such. I would run SpyBot Search and Destroy from
www.security.kolla.de and see what it reports.

Right or left clicking does nothing at all!

Not that I'm ruling it out, but it is unlikely to spyware as the machine
is only recently reloaded and has hardly been connected to the internet.
I've always had the XP Firewall running when it has been connected, I've
never had any email account set up on that machine at all and I've
visitied probably about 3 web site using that machine ever!! And those
will have been microsoft.com, news.bbc.co.uk and generally trust worthy
sites.

Then again, I am at a loss to explain what it is. Is there anything in
particularly that suggests it may be Gator/somesuch ?

 

[GSV Three Minds in a Can]

Hi all,

This icon:
http://www.btinternet.com/~peter.ryan/20031004/xp-icon.png

appeared in my notification area (or whatever its called these days -
system tray!) after I had installed SP1.

I can't work out the icon is meant to depict at all - but what ever it
is, I think it must be switched off going by the big red X over it!!

When I hold the mouse over it, the Help text (tool tip thing) says
"ICON".... so it doesn't really tell me anything!

In case its related, this is XP Home running on a Packard Bell iGo 4450
laptop.

Don't recognise it as any or the 'normal' XP icons, so maybe it's a PB
special. Obviously trying to tell you that something isn't connected, or
isn't working right. You could try looking in start, run, msconfig
startup tab to see what is being started at boot time, &/or looking at
the services tab, turning off the list of MS Services and seeing what
weird services are being loaded .. it'll probably be one or other of
those places.

 

[rory]

Spybot is safe, free, and will tell you if there is any malware on your
system, regardless of how it might have got there.

 

[Bill James]

You can investigate what is currently running in Task Manager and perhaps figure out which one it is, and/or look at msconfig to see what is loading at startup. Totally off the top of my head, but the icon looks a little like a stylized dinosaur -- have you installed Mozilla browser?

--

Bill James
Microsoft MVP - Shell/User

Win9x VBScript Utilities » www.billsway.com/vbspage/
Windows Tweaks & Tips » www.billsway.com/notes_public/

 

[Peter]

Don't recognise it as any or the 'normal' XP icons, so maybe it's a PB
special. Obviously trying to tell you that something isn't connected, or
isn't working right. You could try looking in start, run, msconfig
startup tab to see what is being started at boot time, &/or looking at
the services tab, turning off the list of MS Services and seeing what
weird services are being loaded .. it'll probably be one or other of
those places.

Using the scientific method of running task manager and killing
processes I don't like to the look of, I believe the icon is related to
"WL.exe"... whatever that is!

WL.exe itself lives in C:\WINDOWS\system32 as is date stamped:
08-May-2003 15:04, but the machine has only recently been reloaded so
the date may not be relevant.

I'm googling for information about WL.exe at the moment, but I haven't
found much yet.

 

[GSV Three Minds in a Can]

Bitstring <[email protected]>, from the wonderful person

Using the scientific method of running task manager and killing
processes I don't like to the look of, I believe the icon is related to
"WL.exe"... whatever that is!

WL.exe itself lives in C:\WINDOWS\system32 as is date stamped:
08-May-2003 15:04, but the machine has only recently been reloaded so
the date may not be relevant.

I'm googling for information about WL.exe at the moment, but I haven't
found much yet.

Assuming it's not the game 'wasteland' (which wouldn't be in that
directory) I'd guess it's List Server software of some kind. Maybe PB
install it as standard, maybe it installed itself (does right click,
properties, on the .exe give you any hints?).

I'd probably turn it off. Permanently. (But then, I'm paranoid).

You might want to run your system through Spybot (www.security.kolla.de)
or AdAware (www.lavasoftusa.com) and see what they think of it.

 

[Peter]

Bitstring <[email protected]>, from the wonderful person
Peter <[email protected]> said



Assuming it's not the game 'wasteland' (which wouldn't be in that
directory) I'd guess it's List Server software of some kind. Maybe PB
install it as standard, maybe it installed itself (does right click,
properties, on the .exe give you any hints?).

I'd probably turn it off. Permanently. (But then, I'm paranoid).

You might want to run your system through Spybot (www.security.kolla.de)
or AdAware (www.lavasoftusa.com) and see what they think of it.

I ran Ad-Aware first and it found "Alexa" which I asked it to remove.
Then I uninstalled Ad-Aware and installed SpyBot, ran that and it found
"Alexa"(!) 5 "DSO Exploit"s and 2 "MS Works" items!! I didn't ask
SpyBot to do anything with those however.

All very odd. Checking my Internet Explorer history, I think the only
site I had visited was in fact the MS Windows Update site!

I've loaded a few things including ClearTweak, ClearType (I like a
variety!), and I think everything else was bundled (e.g. MS Works 2002,
inc. Encarta & Autoroute).

So my feeling is that the icon is probably completely innocent... but
I've never seen it before and I have loaded this machine a number of
times (as in fdisk'ed and re-installed).

Oh, properties on WL.exe turned up nothing of any use!

File version: 1.0.0.1
Description: Icon MFC Application
Copyright: Copyright (C) 2003

Other version information:
Company:
File Verson: 1.0.0.1
Internal Name: Icon
Language: Chinese (Taiwan)
Legal Trademarks:
Original File Name: Icon.EXE
Product Name: Icon Application
Product Version: 1.0.0.1

And Windows Explorer just shows a generic MFC icon for it.

If I try getting help info at a command prompt it just executes and
sticks an icon in the system tray, e.g. typing "wl /?" or "wl whatever"
doesn't cause it to say anything.

The "Copyright 2003" bit in properties is slightly interesting in that
the machine was purchased in Jan 2003 so all the bundled software is
going to be dated prior to 2003.

 

[GSV Three Minds in a Can]

I ran Ad-Aware first and it found "Alexa" which I asked it to remove.
Then I uninstalled Ad-Aware and installed SpyBot, ran that and it found
"Alexa"(!) 5 "DSO Exploit"s and 2 "MS Works" items!! I didn't ask
SpyBot to do anything with those however.

Alexa (and the others) are only nominally spyware (are bits of WinXP),
and can be ignored, or deleted, whichever you fancy. I deleted them all.

All very odd. Checking my Internet Explorer history, I think the only
site I had visited was in fact the MS Windows Update site!

I've loaded a few things including ClearTweak, ClearType (I like a
variety!), and I think everything else was bundled (e.g. MS Works 2002,
inc. Encarta & Autoroute).

So my feeling is that the icon is probably completely innocent... but
I've never seen it before and I have loaded this machine a number of
times (as in fdisk'ed and re-installed).

Oh, properties on WL.exe turned up nothing of any use!

File version: 1.0.0.1
Description: Icon MFC Application
Copyright: Copyright (C) 2003

Other version information:
Company:
File Verson: 1.0.0.1
Internal Name: Icon
Language: Chinese (Taiwan)
Legal Trademarks:
Original File Name: Icon.EXE
Product Name: Icon Application
Product Version: 1.0.0.1

And Windows Explorer just shows a generic MFC icon for it.

If I try getting help info at a command prompt it just executes and
sticks an icon in the system tray, e.g. typing "wl /?" or "wl whatever"
doesn't cause it to say anything.

The "Copyright 2003" bit in properties is slightly interesting in that
the machine was purchased in Jan 2003 so all the bundled software is
going to be dated prior to 2003.

Hmm, maybe PB know something about it? I'd just disable it and see if
anything breaks. Anything saying Chinese(Taiwan) gets my paranoia filter
running full steam, given the cr&p that originates from there (but
probably most of the PC came from there too).

 

[Bill Drake]

Hi, Peter. WL.EXE shows up on Google as WinLink, which is a
piece of remote-access-sharing software.

If the above is not something you recognize, I suspect WL was
used by PB to do the factory diskload of your Software Packages
onto the Hard Disk.

You can learn more here:

http://www.faqs.org/faqs/pc-hardware-faq/laptops/compaq-aero/section-144.html



Hope this helps.


Best I can do for now. <tm>


Bill

 

[Peter]

Alexa (and the others) are only nominally spyware (are bits of WinXP),
and can be ignored, or deleted, whichever you fancy. I deleted them all.



Hmm, maybe PB know something about it? I'd just disable it and see if
anything breaks. Anything saying Chinese(Taiwan) gets my paranoia filter
running full steam, given the cr&p that originates from there (but
probably most of the PC came from there too).

I posted the query on a Packard Bell forum and the people there say its
a Windows Messenger icon! This makes sense as prior to installing XP
SP1, I ran a command (that I found on some web site) to un-install
Windows Messenger... I didn't realise that SP1 provides the option to
uninstall Messenger via Control Panel->Add/Remove Programs->Add/Remove
Windows Components.

Doh!

Anyway I've not removed WL.exe and everything appears to be working fine.

Thanks absolutely loads to everyone who has helped!!!

Best regards,

Peter.