These are the symptoms, what is the virus?

[TX2]

On starting Windows XP ....

Right clicking desktop results in no menu appearing.

Hovering mouse over Start Menu icons either starts the program
associated with that icon, or has put computer into Standby mode.

Starting MS Word 2002 results in several instances of Word starting,
and/or uncontrolled scrolling of page.

Now here's the interesting bit ....

Pressing CTRL-ALT-DEL then allows PC to be used normally as if no virus
exists (does this action 'turn off' the virus?) Any action prior to
running task manager display the virus like symptoms.

in addition ....

Browsing to sites such as Google, Altavista etc fails (DNS error) yet
other web sites work perfectly. Symantec site is also affected.

AVG and NIS are installed on the system, both up-to-date, yet a full
scan on each detects no virus.

Have tried running F-Prot DOS based scanner, but of course, due to this
being XP, the scanner says files are in use and won't scan much beyond
pagefile.sys

Please help ... i think it may be qhost related, but what of the other
virus like activity?

 

[Gabriele Neukam]

On that special day, TX2, ([email protected])
said...

Right clicking desktop results in no menu appearing.

Hovering mouse over Start Menu icons either starts the program
associated with that icon, or has put computer into Standby mode.

Starting MS Word 2002 results in several instances of Word starting,
and/or uncontrolled scrolling of page.

Did you already try another mouse or keyboard? Maybe the mouse problems
and the homepage problems are related, but they need not.

Especially with regard to your "fixing" by hitting the Ctrl- and Alt-
keys, I remember that it once was a solution recommended even by
Microsoft (some Windows versions had a strong tendency towards weird
keyboard behaviour).

For the latter problem, try
Hijackthis,
http://www.tomcoyote.org/hjt/


Gabriele Neukam

(e-mail address removed)

 

[Ka Khiong Kwok]

I think you've got a screwed mouse driver. I've seen this problem before,
abet with a touch screen/mouse combo. Older versions of touch drivers will
do roughly the same thing as described with your mouse, so it's quite
possible that this may be the case, especially if you've loaded on OEM mouse
drivers.

Furthermore, have you got user defined functions programmed into your mouse
or keyboard, in which case, that might be causing problems.

Then there's the classic jelly donut conundrum. My former clients have a
tendency to eat sticky jelly donuts while operating their POS. This plays
merry hell with everything they touch, resulting in problems with touch
screens, keys stuck in keyboards and mouse so clogged up with junk, that
said junk has evolved new forms of life.

So in short: swap out the keyboard and mouse. See how you go. If that
doesn't work, the next step is to remove any OEM drivers and see if that
resolve the problem.

Another problem might be a bit of feedback being sent back to your
motherboard. Sometimes, an easy solution is just to unplug and replug the
keyboard/mouse back in. This clears up the port. Trust me, I've seen this
happen out in the field a fair bit too.

The last thing you might want to try is to check for any physical damage to
the cable.

Unless you're connected 24/7, then I'm doubting that it's a highjacker. But
if you are, then it is very likely that someone's taken over your system. If
you feel you are being hijacked (but you're on a slow line), disconnect from
your modem and use your system, does it provide a repeat performance? If it
doesn't, dial up again and do what you normally do. Take note if weird
things starts to happen. You have to be patient, cause a lot the time, they
are.

Kind regards,

Ka.

 

[PropertyGuy]

Browsing to sites such as Google, Altavista etc fails (DNS error) yet
other web sites work perfectly. Symantec site is also affected.

That sounds like the QHost virus to me!

http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/trojan.qhosts.remova
l.tool.html

 

[Ka Khiong Kwok]

One other thing I've forgotten to mention, it is also highly likely that
you're hard disk might be on the way out or it's filled up to the max, both
might be due to viruses or just a dud disk.
It may well be that due to disk problems, the system is taking longer then
usual to paint the GUI (hence the lack of response). I have seen a instance
of this happening in the field as well. The hard disk in question only had
about 100megs left. Not good if you're running Win NT or 2000.

Good luck.

Regards,

Ka.