Phantom task running in background (Win XP Pro)

[smeechie]

I've recently noticed some type of task (or app) running on my system.
It makes itself visible by showing an unidentified task on my task bar
(every 15 minutes or so for about one second) ... then it disappears??
I've checked my event viewer and can find no record of it anywhere.
I've run my Ad-Aware and Symantec anti-virus and the system appears to
be clean. Has anyone experienced this ... or ... have any idea how I
can further proceed to eliminate this??

Thanks in advance for any help...

Don-

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I've recently noticed some type of task (or app) running on my system.
It makes itself visible by showing an unidentified task on my task bar
(every 15 minutes or so for about one second) ... then it disappears??
I've checked my event viewer and can find no record of it anywhere.
I've run my Ad-Aware and Symantec anti-virus and the system appears to
be clean. Has anyone experienced this ... or ... have any idea how I
can further proceed to eliminate this??

I'd suspect spyware. You say you run Adaware. That's good, but Spyware
threats are varied enough that running a single anti-spyware product isn't
enough. I would also add Spybot Search and Destroy and the beta Microsoft
Anti-Spyware. Also Spyware Blaster is a good product to use to keep spyware
from being installed.

And of course, make sure you update all these products regularly--at least
once a week or so.

 

[PA Bear]

Checking for/Help with Hijackware
http://aumha.org/a/parasite.htm
http://aumha.org/a/quickfix.htm
http://aumha.net/viewtopic.php?t=5878
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm
http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/data/prevention.htm
http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/archive/tshoot.html
http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k/Malware_Defence.htm
http://defendingyourmachine.blogspot.com/

When all else fails, HijackThis v1.99.1
(http://aumha.net/downloads/hijackthis.zip) is the preferred tool to use.
It will help you to both identify and remove any hijackware/spyware. **Post
your log to http://forums.spywareinfo.com/,
http://castlecops.com/forum67.html or http://aumha.net/viewforum.php?f=30
for expert analysis, not here.**

 

[Nightowl]

I've recently noticed some type of task (or app) running on my system.
It makes itself visible by showing an unidentified task on my task bar
(every 15 minutes or so for about one second) ... then it disappears??
I've checked my event viewer and can find no record of it anywhere.
I've run my Ad-Aware and Symantec anti-virus and the system appears to
be clean. Has anyone experienced this ... or ... have any idea how I
can further proceed to eliminate this??

Thanks in advance for any help...

Don-

Hi Don

A couple of times people who've had this problem reported back that it
turned out to be HP printer software of some kind -- don't know if this
is relevant to you?

To help you find out what is causing it, you could try Sysinternals'
Process Explorer, available from here:
http://www.sysinternals.com/ProcessesAndThreadsUtilities.html

Hope this helps.