Strange freeze

[Mart]

I've had a couple of strange freezes when about to click on a link or close
a window. A small pink square or rectangle appears under the pointer and I
get a complete freeze. Nothing happens when I CtrlAltDel, not that it would
help because the pointer is frozen anyway. I have to use the "forbidden"
power off to close down.
Is it an IE problem or does it lie elsewhere?
Mart

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP]

I've had a couple of strange freezes when about to click on a link or
close a window. A small pink square or rectangle appears under the
pointer and I get a complete freeze. Nothing happens when I
CtrlAltDel, not that it would help because the pointer is frozen
anyway. I have to use the "forbidden" power off to close down.
Is it an IE problem or does it lie elsewhere?
Mart

A. See
Dealing with Unwanted Spyware, Parasites, Toolbars and Search Engines
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm

B. You may need new video drivers. Check the site for your video board
manufacturer. Meanwhile you can do the following:
1. Use the default mouse pointers.
2. Turn down your color depth. (Right click the desktop and choose
Properties | Appearance | Settings) Some people find that increasing color
depth helps.
3. Turn down your graphics hardware acceleration. (For Win 98, Start |
Settings | Control Panel | System | Performance | Graphics button) You will
see little, if any, performance degradation.
4. Turn off your desktop wallpaper.

If these make the problem go away you need new video drivers.

If you have an ATI video board, try adding these lines to System.ini

[display]
DevBMP=0 <--- That's a zero

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP, IE/OE
Please respond in Newsgroup. Do not send email
http://www.fjsmjs.com
Protect your PC
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

 

[Mart]

Thanks for the advice. It hasn't happened again but I will try your
suggestions if it does.
Excuse my ignorance but what do you mean by the default mouse pointers? I'm
on a laptop using the touch-pad not a mouse.
Incidentally, I don't think its spyware becos I regularly screen.
Mart

 

[Frank Saunders, MS-MVP]

Thanks for the advice. It hasn't happened again but I will try your
suggestions if it does.
Excuse my ignorance but what do you mean by the default mouse
pointers? I'm on a laptop using the touch-pad not a mouse.
Incidentally, I don't think its spyware becos I regularly screen.
Mart

If you haven't done anything to change them you are probably using the
default mouse pointers (even if you're using a touchpad).
With a laptop it is MUCH more apt to be spyware that video drivers.
How often do you update Ad-Aware and Spybot S & D?
Have you ever posted your HijackThis log?
**Post your HijackThis log to
http://forums.spywareinfo.com/ or the Spyware forum at
http://forum.aumha.org/ for expert analysis, not here.**

--
Frank Saunders, MS-MVP, IE/OE
Please respond in Newsgroup. Do not send email
http://www.fjsmjs.com
Protect your PC
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/