Two problems; one cause?

[tcbartlett]

My Windows XP with SP3 system has apparently crashed twice in the last
two days, when I wasn't watching the monitor. I think so because in
one case a subsequent error message told me of a blue screen crisis
and said the system was rebooted. In the other case I saw it
rebooting, and the same serious error message then appeared. I've
found that the drive was apparently in need of defragmenting, so I'm
doing that now (while I write this from another computer; I assume
that I should not operate the fragmented computer while it's being
defragged, right?).

Another weird thing recently is the frequent reappearance of a strange
error message in a small box titled simply 'Msg', saying 'No update
has be (sic) found'. I'm not sure why this might be. I did install
some software from the disc which accompanied my computer's
motherboard, but then uninstalled it when it didn't open. It's very
disconcerting, and seems to indicate an unfinished process that is
stalled.

Could these two matters be related?

 

[Leonard Grey]

Your computer is almost certainly infected with malware. The misspelled
error message gives it away.

 

[xuesheng]

have an active anti-virus program, Trend Micro, which is said to be
reliable. So I don't know how it could have overlooked this Msg thing
if it's malware. I'll attach a copy of a screen capture taken when it
last popped up during the upgrade of my anti-virus.

 

[xuesheng]

have an active anti-virus program, Trend Micro, which is said to be
reliable. So I don't know how it could have overlooked this Msg thing
if it's malware. I tried to attach a PDF file showing a screen
capture taken when the Msg error message last popped up during the
upgrade of my anti-virus, but my posting was rejected, apparently
because of the attachment. So I'm replying without the attachment.

 

[Thomas Bartlett]

I have an active anti-virus program, Trend Micro, which is said to be
reliable. So I don't know how it could have overlooked this Msg thing if
it's malware. I tried to send an attached PDF file showing a screen capture
of the Msg error message the last time it occurred, during the upgrade of my
anti-virus program. But the newsgroup rejected my message with the
attachment, so I'm resending the message w/o the attachment.


--------------------------------------------------
From: "Leonard Grey" <[email protected]>
Sent: Wednesday, October 14, 2009 6:22 PM
Newsgroups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.perform_maintain
Subject: Re: Two problems; one cause?

 

[Thomas Bartlett]

The error message has ceased. It turns out that it was from a utility that
I installed off the CD that came with my Gigabyte motherboard. The utility
as an automated updater which for some reason was activated. I de-activated
the updater and the messages (which weren't really errors) ceased. It has
nothing to do with malware, and the faulty English grammar is irrelevant to
this problem.

 

[Leonard Grey]

In fact, poor English on a phished web page, a phony e-mail or an error
message is often a tip-off to malware.

In addition, you described other occurrences typically associated with
malware: frequent, unexplained crashes; and unusual error messages. And
you didn't mention anything about a utility that you installed, which no
one could guess. So my diagnosis of malware was justified. And I'm glad
you're not infected.