Unexpected file and application deletions

[John Earle]

Can anyone throw any light on this bizarre problem? In fact I have 2
problems which may or may not be related. When I power up my computer it has
started going directly into the BIOS setup - not always but about 80% of the
time. I exit from this without saving changes and it then boots up in the
normal way.

The second problem is that when I double click on a desktop icon to start a
program, the application opens but I also get a dialogue box headed 'confirm
file delete' which sits on top of everything else stopping me from any
further clicks until I chose one option inside the box. If I press any of
the buttons (yes/no) or even click the cross in the top right corner, the
application starts to be deleted and I have to rush for the power off button.
If I am opening Outlook Express, clicking anything in this box starts the
permanent deletion of all my emails. It is now happening if I right click on
the icon and select 'open' or even access it through the start menu.

My computer has AMI BIOS v5.7, Win XP SP2, P4 2.4 GHz processor, 1Gb RAM.
Has anyone seen either of these problems before? I am more than happy to do
a repair re-install of Windows but that won't solve the BIOS problem - or
will it?

All comments would be most appreciated.

John

 

[Jerry]

Your system is infected - start all you security/protection programs - if
you can.

 

[Terry R.]

The date and time was 2/23/2008 12:46 PM, and on a whim, John Earle
pounded out on the keyboard:

Can anyone throw any light on this bizarre problem? In fact I have 2
problems which may or may not be related. When I power up my computer it has
started going directly into the BIOS setup - not always but about 80% of the
time. I exit from this without saving changes and it then boots up in the
normal way.

The second problem is that when I double click on a desktop icon to start a
program, the application opens but I also get a dialogue box headed 'confirm
file delete' which sits on top of everything else stopping me from any
further clicks until I chose one option inside the box. If I press any of
the buttons (yes/no) or even click the cross in the top right corner, the
application starts to be deleted and I have to rush for the power off button.
If I am opening Outlook Express, clicking anything in this box starts the
permanent deletion of all my emails. It is now happening if I right click on
the icon and select 'open' or even access it through the start menu.

My computer has AMI BIOS v5.7, Win XP SP2, P4 2.4 GHz processor, 1Gb RAM.
Has anyone seen either of these problems before? I am more than happy to do
a repair re-install of Windows but that won't solve the BIOS problem - or
will it?

All comments would be most appreciated.

John

Hi John,

Did you swap out the mouse and keyboard to eliminate them from the
troubleshooting first?

Does the same thing happen when you're in Windows Safe Mode?



--
Terry R.

***Reply Note***
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Delete NOSPAM from the email address after clicking Reply.

 

[Pegasus \(MVP\)]

Can anyone throw any light on this bizarre problem? In fact I have 2
problems which may or may not be related. When I power up my computer it
has
started going directly into the BIOS setup - not always but about 80% of
the
time. I exit from this without saving changes and it then boots up in the
normal way.

The second problem is that when I double click on a desktop icon to start
a
program, the application opens but I also get a dialogue box headed
'confirm
file delete' which sits on top of everything else stopping me from any
further clicks until I chose one option inside the box. If I press any of
the buttons (yes/no) or even click the cross in the top right corner, the
application starts to be deleted and I have to rush for the power off
button.
If I am opening Outlook Express, clicking anything in this box starts the
permanent deletion of all my emails. It is now happening if I right click
on
the icon and select 'open' or even access it through the start menu.

My computer has AMI BIOS v5.7, Win XP SP2, P4 2.4 GHz processor, 1Gb RAM.
Has anyone seen either of these problems before? I am more than happy to
do
a repair re-install of Windows but that won't solve the BIOS problem - or
will it?

All comments would be most appreciated.

John

Your first problem is hardware related - best to post in
a hardware group.

Your second problem is probably caused by malware or
by a virus, as Jerry suggests. At the very least you should
run msconfig.exe and examine the startup tasks in detail.
Better to scan your machine for viruses, e.g. here:
www.trendmicro.com. Look for "House Call".

 

[John Earle]

Thank you all for your very helpful comments.

I apologise because I should have said in my original post that I have
Norton Internet Security always running, Norton Firewall instead of Windows
Firewall and virus definitions fully updated. I do a full system scan
regularly which reveals nothing worse than tracking cookies so how anything
could have got onto my system is a mystery.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

John

 

[Elmo]

Can anyone throw any light on this bizarre problem? In fact I have 2
problems which may or may not be related. When I power up my computer it has
started going directly into the BIOS setup - not always but about 80% of the
time. I exit from this without saving changes and it then boots up in the
normal way.

The second problem is that when I double click on a desktop icon to start a
program, the application opens but I also get a dialogue box headed 'confirm
file delete' which sits on top of everything else stopping me from any
further clicks until I chose one option inside the box. If I press any of
the buttons (yes/no) or even click the cross in the top right corner, the
application starts to be deleted and I have to rush for the power off button.
If I am opening Outlook Express, clicking anything in this box starts the
permanent deletion of all my emails. It is now happening if I right click on
the icon and select 'open' or even access it through the start menu.

My computer has AMI BIOS v5.7, Win XP SP2, P4 2.4 GHz processor, 1Gb RAM.
Has anyone seen either of these problems before? I am more than happy to do
a repair re-install of Windows but that won't solve the BIOS problem - or
will it?

All comments would be most appreciated.

John

Try the LNK association repair here:

Fix File Associations.
http://dougknox.com/xp/file_assoc.htm

 

[Terry R.]

The date and time was 2/23/2008 6:29 PM, and on a whim, John Earle
pounded out on the keyboard:

Thank you all for your very helpful comments.

I apologise because I should have said in my original post that I have
Norton Internet Security always running, Norton Firewall instead of Windows
Firewall and virus definitions fully updated. I do a full system scan
regularly which reveals nothing worse than tracking cookies so how anything
could have got onto my system is a mystery.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

John

John,

You didn't mention if you have swapped out your keyboard and mouse like
I suggested.

--
Terry R.

***Reply Note***
Anti-spam measures are included in my email address.
Delete NOSPAM from the email address after clicking Reply.

 

[Bob I]

My money is on the keyboards DEL key is sticking down. Nothing to do
with Windows, as it is only responding to the DEL key, same reason "DEL"
opens the BIOS during powerup.