Well, it was good . . .

[earthshoes]

while it lasted.

All of this talk about computers being possessed seems to have . . . well . . . possessed my computer.

I've had a year and a half of next to no computer problems, regularly error-check, defrag, up-date virus protection (two different kinds), run a firewall, Adaware, Spybot and so on. In short, I always look both ways before crossing the information highway--even though I'm fully armored and in a tank.


And Yet! Within the last week I seem to have succumbed to a strange problem which I can't seem to resolve by going down all the usual paths. It generally begins by causing my browser to shut down (there is no discernable pattern to this--it seems random), then the mouse seems to take on a life of its own, flickering around the screen, the startup menu appears, sometimes politely offering to delete word processing files (the only thing that really scares me) and finally pulls up the Windows Task Manager. I've learned to wait this out, because if I try to over-ride anything, the mouse locks up entirely. The keyboard remains normal.

Is there a brand new virus out there? Or is Microsoft's newest patch the cause? Help? Anybody?

mary

[Porter Doran]

May we have some information about the system please Mary? OS, RAM, CPU, make, age and condition, major (and unusual) applications installed, &c. Thanks.

[Rachel Lindley]

Also, does this happen when your internet connection is closed? If you have highspeed, that would mean unplugging your cable or DSL modem in many cases. I ask because what you described sounded a lot like what you can see if you have a user with remote access, such as with PC Anywhere software. Their mouse and keyboard have simultaneous control with the local computer, and I've occasionally had server fights with offsite technicians just for a lark. Heh.

The other possibility is, unbeknownst to you, you have some stuck keys on your keyboard and/or some electrical shorts on it. If you have a spare keyboard, replace it and see what happens. If a control key, arrow key, enter key, etc. fires up when it shouldn't, it could cause the problems you've described.

Rachel

[earthshoes]

oops. Of course.

OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Version 5.1.2600 Service Pack 1 Build 2600
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Manufacturer Emachines
System Model xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
System Type X86-based PC
Processor x86 Family 6 Model 11 Stepping 1 GenuineIntel ~1196 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date Phoenix 1.01, 12/13/2001
SMBIOS Version 2.3
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "5.1.2600.1106 (xpsp1.020828-1920)"
Time Zone Central Daylight Time
Total Physical Memory 256.00 MB
Available Physical Memory 51.45 MB
Total Virtual Memory 879.50 MB
Available Virtual Memory 431.99 MB
Page File Space 625.52 MB
Hard drive: 37.5 gig hard drive--14.2 used--22 free

Microsoft Office 2002
Star Office
System Mechanic
Spybot
Adaware
Nortons Firewall/Anti-virus protection
AVG (virus protection)
AOL IM
Yahoo Instant Messenger. . .
Pressplay (purchase and download music program)
a couple of games, screensavers, desktop themes . . .

Is that enough info?

Thanks for the help Porter.

[earthshoes]

Originally posted by Rachel Lindley
Also, does this happen when your internet connection is closed? If you have highspeed, that would mean unplugging your cable or DSL modem in many cases. I ask because what you described sounded a lot like what you can see if you have a user with remote access, such as with PC Anywhere software. Their mouse and keyboard have simultaneous control with the local computer, and I've occasionally had server fights with offsite technicians just for a lark. Heh.

The other possibility is, unbeknownst to you, you have some stuck keys on your keyboard and/or some electrical shorts on it. If you have a spare keyboard, replace it and see what happens. If a control key, arrow key, enter key, etc. fires up when it shouldn't, it could cause the problems you've described.

Rachel

Nope. Still on dial-up, but I'm almost always on-line. I'll try going off and see what happens. I've wondered if it could be the mouse? The keyboard is the newer of the two, but stuck keys sounds like a possibility (jellied little fingers abound around here). . . hmmm . . . might see if I have an extra mouse hiding out.

Thanks Rachel, I appreciate the suggestion.

[cookala]

Is there a brand new virus out there? Or is Microsoft's newest patch the cause? Help? Anybody?

Could be one or the other, or both.

Could also be that the operating system is corrupted - do you remember getting a power spike or brownout recently?

Do you have the most recent windows xp service pack installed? Do you have the most recent security updates installed? Are you using Internet Explorer 6 with service pack 1?

You can check by going to http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/default.asp
and navigating through the instructions to get your pc up to snuff.

If that fails, go get a very large bat and beat the hell out of the pc. I promise you'll feel better. heh.

cookala
welcome to my job

[DeniseD]

Something similar happened to my computer after my kids downloaded Kaza. I have Adobe Illustrator, quite a large file and I could actually see people downloading it. I uninstalled Kaza (which I am just assuming was the problem) but it didn't help so I ended up reinstalling the operating system. This will wipe out everything you have in your computer so it is important to make sure you back up your files and that you have all of the software you need, so far so good.

[Andrea345]

Mary,
I'm just cleaning up from some spyware which got me last night. I was running an older version of AdAware (are you on ver 6? There's also new reference files).

Anyways, here's a helpful forum which helped me clean up last night. They were interested in load which was dumped on my machine. File name was malware144.exe.

Net-Integration forums (http://www.net-integration.net/cgi-bin/forum/ikonboard.cgi)

Anyways, I went out & bought / downloaded the newest versions of firewall, virus scan & spyware. Found another executable & a trojan worm - all from last night.

It all started when I tried to close an explorer window which only showed as explorer locked up my mouse, etc.

-a

[earthshoes]

Thanks for all the advice. I am cautiously optimistic that I've solved the problem. It appears to have been a glitchy mouse of all things. After Rachel's suggestion last night I decided to try by replacing first the mouse then the keyboard.

I swapped out my mouse for the one from the kids' computer and I've had no more problems. My thirteen year old says that other one frequently "sticks" and has even disappeared a couple of times while he is using it, but it doesn't shut anything down. It continues to do this even after being cleaned. I'll buy a new one tomorrow after I'm use that I'm on the right track.

Andrea--Thanks for the link and I updated Adaware yesterday while I was trying to track down the problem. Side note Visiting even known and favorite websites seems to have its risks. I dropped by a dog forum that I frequent a few days ago and my firewall alerted me that someone/thing there was trying to collect information concerning my checking account number. I notified the administrator. While my finances are hardly enough to excite the interest of a hacker it was disturbing.

Denise--I uninstalled Kazaalite--Kazaa sans adware--a few months ago with the onset of all of the copywrite issues. In my case the downloader was a 6'5, 42yr old kid otherwise known as the Husband-type-person. :)

Cookala--No brown-outs or spikes. Windows and I.E. all updated. Baseball bat ready and waiting. I don't want your job, though I suspect you are very good at it.

[cookala]

Hiya, Mary. Just an afterthought - though mice are cheap these days you can open up the bottom of the mouse and clean the ball inside, and the contacts - that might heal it. (Just in case you can't get to the store for a bit.) And thanks for the compliment! Never hurts to get one! :D