Windows keep minimizing

Win98, 128megs memory, older system (probably about 2000). IE6

My SIL's computer has gone wacko LOL. Not only is it not reading the cable modem anymore (nor can the internet/cable provider see it from their office), everytime you run a program it minimizes itself after it loads.

For example, we were trying to play a game and the start screen loaded, then minimized. We maximized it and then hit start. Then it minimized itself again. Then when we tried to play it it minimized itself again.

Another strange behavior is that while trying to go through the start menu to find something with the mouse, it will disappear (the menu) without you clicking anything else.

Could it be something as simple as a mouse and/or keyboard problem? The only programs it doesn't do that to (ones we tested) we Outlook Express, IncrediMail, and Internet Explorer.

My BIL is really bad about getting mad at how slow it is, etc and will start deleting programs instead of uninstalling them. We had done a disk cleanup and checked for lingering programs and uninstalled the reminants of the ones removed by deletion.

The machine ran fine up until around 3 this afternoon and then this crazy stuff started happening. She is running virus protection and a firewall.

Any help would be appreciated. So far she's trying to reinstall the modem with the software the cable company gave us to see if that helps the internet connection problem but the other has me baffled as well.

Thanks,

Kay

 

I would take a look for spyware by running Ad-aware. If that does not clean it up, try another virus scan with current signatures. It sounds more like a virus than anything else.

 

Would spybot not clear that up? We ran that last night.

I think she has adaware on the computer too so I'll get her to run that instead of spybot, and then run a virus check.

She just lives a few houses up, but its hard to research anything when you can't connect to the internet! Maybe I can take my laptop down there and hook up to her modem if she gets that working again. They don't have a landline so I can dial up. Might even risk taking my cable modem down there, but not hook it to their system just my laptop & modem through their cable line.

At least she can check her emails until we can get this figured out, and I can keep checking online as we try different things.

Thanks!

Kay

 

Yep, sounds like a virus to me too.

I imagine there is nothing wrong with the Cable Modem itself - you should be ok hooking up to it from your laptop. But, if you want to be safe, use dial-up.

Good luck!

 

Prepare to format the disk and reinstall everything.

Win 98 needs to be "refreshed" like this every 2-3 years, depending on how much its used. If the pc is only 3 yo, it may be due. Plus, if it is a virus, it may be the only way to remove it as you may not be able to get the latest anti-virus updates.

Does BIL just delete the icons or does go into Explore and delete the programs?

I agree with Chris and safewatch - sounds like a virus.

 

He deletes the shortcut icons and also the program files.

They don't have the restore disk for this computer. Can I try to restore out of the 'copy' that is in the Windows folder on the drive? I would only be putting a new copy over the old without reformatting.

Once the kids get off to school I'll call down there and we can start on this.

Thanks,

Kay

 

Update:

We ran adaware and it didn't find anything, plus she scanned the computer with her antivirus program. I'm not sure how updated her program is, so there may be a virus and it can't catch it.

It won't resintall the modem (cable) so we're going to try to take a short cut for now to at least get her online so I can get some things backed up for her. We're doing the restore directly from the drive programs to see if that gets us going again. If so, then I will upload the backups, plus send a copy of the restore programs on her drive up to my site so I can burn a bootable copy. Then we will try to completely reformat and reinstall at that point. I can't believe my BIL tossed the restore disk. He didn't think they'd need it LOL.

Will let you know what happens...

Kay

 

If you have a current copy of Norton and its current virus signatures on your computer, you could pull her harddrive and plug it into your IDE line, boot your computer, and scan her drive with your Norton and see about any virus problem. If any are found, Norton should be able to clean the disk for you.

She can order replacement restore disks for her computer from the manufacturer. Depending upon the version of the restore available, you may be able to perform a non-destructive restore to her drive. This essentially re-installs the OS without trashing all the other programs and files.

Hope this helps.

 

Chris,

We did a restore through the files on her hard drive (setup.exe in the cabs file of windows).

This has eliminated the minimizing windows problems and games run correctly. The cable company is coming out tomorrow to check the modem situation. I had intended to take my spare modem down there and see if the problem was with her modem, but ended up having to attend a meeting and couldn't.

I run Panda Antivirus on my system. If she can't get back online tomorrow for some reason then I will get her drive and scan through my system. She runs a free AVP and forgot that she has to go to the site for updates. It has been scanning her system automatically during the night, but not with updated signatures.

She just dropped by so I sent the spare modem down there to see if that's the problem. I will post back when I have some information about the problems and if we fixed them or not.

Thanks again!

Kay

 

Oops.

 

Back to 'normal' now. I'm relieved. Apparently, just my assumption here, my BIL deleted some needed files when doing the delete-fest he went on. Plus after reading some other posts about installing too many things at one time may apply here, but in reverse. We may have removed too many things that weren't needed too quickly. If it didn't tell me to reboot after uninstalling something - I didn't. That might have caused some issues too.

AFter running setup.exe, the computer stabilized out. However, the internet connection still didn't work.

Cable Co. guy came out and hooked up his laptop to her modem and got online (so we thought - will explain in a minute). Then her system wouldn't find the drivers for the NIC card. The office also couldn't find her modem by pinging. He left after telling him that he would call tech support for a pc specialist that would come out and check the nic card, but if she needed a new one it would cost $50 for the install. I told her that I would install it for her if needed.

I went down there to try to find the drivers for the NIC card on her system since I know they're on there, or at least should have been. It was strange because Windows couldn't find the drivers for it, but I could search for the files, find them and then guide windows to them. That didn't work (still no internet) so I rob the card out of my son's old computer. That didn't work either, however since I only removed the old card through windows (not physically) it found both cards and completely installed the drivers for both automatically.

I ended up back down there this evening to bring the laptop to hook up to the modem so she could check her email. It didn't work down there either. I was getting frustrated because I verified that the laptop would hook up and connect on my modem before I went down there.

End of story: cable guy showed back up, which is unusual around here, because he had been thinking that something just wasn't right about all this. He tried connecting through his laptop and got online. Hmmm, her next door neighbor has wireless internet and that is how he (cable guy) was getting online. He called the MAC number back in to the office and discovered that the number was one digit off at the office.

So once that was corrected she was back online again. Of course, I got on to her because the first thing she did was download her emails. Then she updated the antivirus program LOL. She scanned and there were no virus' on her system.

I am hoping that if a virus was part of the problem that it was eliminated when we ran setup.exe and if not, am hoping that if it resurfaces that the updated VP will catch it. She will also try to keep BIL from just deleting things. Hasn't worked yet, but she can continue to try.

Thank you guys for all the help. This has been a challenge, to say the least. I'm grateful for being able to stabilize her machine again more than anything since internet connection is worthless if the machine won't run anyway.

Kay

Ps. How could her modem have worked for over a year now with the MAC number being off like that?

K.

 

The MAC address is read when the cable modem boots. Changing machines or NICs behind the cable modem without restarting it will confuse the modem and not allow a connection. The MAC address is important only to the modem.

Sometimes you have to restart windows more than once for it to work.



Might have. But you will never know now.

Glad you got all this figured out. Keeping BIL away from the delete key might help.

 

I am about tired of their computer. She called again last night saying that when she rebooted (why reboot, don't know) that the mouse disappeared.

Its no wonder that tech's require $$$ to help others. It gets old quickly when I spend the day trying to fix things for other people and can't take care of business that does pay LOL.

Kay

 

My wife works for a doctor. At least once/ month she'll call with questions about their software. Its specialized software tied to some special equipment. Like I really know how to fix software I've never seen. The kids and I have to work at keeping things simple for her on the home computer.

Or she'll call me at work to ask simple questions. You don't realize how much jargon we use until you have this experience.

Tell dear SIL to set out some cheese and the mouse will return LOL.

 

This is what AGV found on her computer:

Trojan horse Downloader.Wintrim.T

She does run zone alarm but I'm curious as to how its working for her. She uses earthlink software, but not the email program. Does it work the same way as when its installed differently?

I think the mouse problem could be several things:

one the system still isn't up to par

two the mouse port (ps2) on the back has something in it because the keyboard she is using has the mouse port at the keyboard (like a mac). She's using a browser mouse I gave her and has it plugged in the front (extra) port of the eMachine.

three I never could get the front USB port to work correctly when I had something plugged into the back USB port. I removed mine and got a USB port hub for mine.

Do these sound correct as to what could be or more of the causes for it to not read the mouse at bootup if its already plugged in, yet read it if you plug it in after total boot - at this point the new hardware detected pops up and then you can add it again. Strangely enough, adding more to the mix. She didn't reboot or unplug/replug the mouse to get it to find it. She had a spare mouse and plugged it in the keyboard and then the new hardware detected deal (plug n play) found BOTH mice.

I forgot that I had traded mice with her (the other is for my laptop and hers doesn't scroll) so she didn't have a mouse at all. She's not comfortable with the keyboard commands so she had trouble getting to the control panel to try to fix it from there. I'll have to show her how to maneuver windows without a mouse.

Kay

 

According to Zone Alarm's site, Zone Alarm does not provide virus protection, only the purchased upgrade version does. Virus protection is a good idea.

It seems that there is a USB mouse in all this. PS/2 ports are not commonly on the front, but USB ports are. You can hot swap USB devices. If there is a ps/2 mouse plugged into the keyboard, there may be dirt in the socket or plug to cause it to be erratic even though plugged in. Of course, with windows it always helps to reboot.

With USB, reconnecting the device will sometimes trigger the device recognition.

 

I've discovered something else that doesn't help. Her two year old plays on the computer when mom's not around. Usually they just turn off the monitor when they're not on the system, but since they moved it into the family room they've been having to turn it off. I recommended using a screensaver with a password to stop anything from being done instead of constantly turning the system on and off.

Kay

 

We have found that a password protected screen saver is a good idea here with the 18 month old running around. Set it for 5 minutes.

I would worry if I could not protect my servers from him otherwise. Can't just turn them off. I have keyboards on them now.

 

That particular Trojan tries to evade firewall protection. There are several variants to it. Each is easily removed. I have found that when the computer continues to exhibit bad behavior(especially someone else's) it's easier/easiest to do a complete reformat and install. This Trojan, or others, could be embedded in a downloaded game or some other program, and reformatting and starting fresh should solve all the problems. Then, make sure they don't let the child play with it unless password protected or something similar. Also, set the av to auto update if you can

 

I need to copy the install disk that's on the computer but not sure how to go about this. For one, its hard for me to spend my day down there doing this stuff. I'm also afraid that if I upload the files to my website, then download them to my computer they might infect my computer. Also, who's to say those files aren't infected anyway.

As much as I hate to, would it be possible to use my restore disk on their computer? She can't get a copy of the restore disk since her DH not only tossed the restore disk, he also tossed the receipt for the system.

What should I do? I can't fix everything LOL but don't want to leave them hanging.

Maybe I could just pull the burner out of my system and temporarily install it in theirs to burn the copy. That still doesn't insure that those files aren't corupt or infected.

Guess I hope that I don't always frustrate you as much as their computer has LOL. I know I've done some wicked stuff to mine but I know that I'm the one doing it from goofing around with it. This is how I learn. Right now I have things I'd rather be doing than trying to fix a messed up system. Plus, I think it would just break my heart if this happens again sometime soon!

Kay

 

Here is my advice to you. I have built many systems and worked on many that had lots of problems. From everything you have described to us, I can tell you right now that you have either a virus or a trojen horse on your computer. What a few people here have been telling you to do is the best thing to do and that is FORMAT YOUR COMPUTER! The other thing I would do is upgrade to a new operating system! I would go with XP. Now as you may or may not know, lots of people don't like XP because of the graphic interface. But what most people do not know is that you can change it to make it look like Win98. Its a better Win98 and Win2000 all mixed together. And everyone you talk to here would reccomend going with this OS. If you do, I would upgrade her memmory to 512. Thats better for the games internet and the WinXP OS all together. Since it is a 2000 model, it should have a plenty large enough HD. I am think 40 or 60GIG. Am I right? If so you don't need to upgrade that. Another thing I would do if I were you is poen the computer up and clean it out real real good. Make it look brand new! Another problem you could be facing on a few of the problems here is that the computer is so dusty that the fans are going and the heat sink is filled up to the point that the computer is over heating. #1 reason for computer failure is due to overheating. Everyone who agrees with my statement please come forward now to back me up...

 

Lots of wonderful info! I didn't mention it, but I did clean out their system while it was open. I also left a can of compressed air down there for her to use.

She mentioned upgrading her system to XP, but I haven't used or know how well it would run on systems like ours.

Both "yugo's" of the computer world lol. Both are eMachines and I think she's max'd out at 256 M of memory. I only saw one stick and didn't pull it out to check. Might just be 128. The hard drive is a 4G. Yes, you read correctly. I put an 80gig drive on mine and its been so nice.

I did check fan and its working. I was surprised since its the original fan that came with the system. I've been through 3 of them since I bought mine (yr before theirs). I cleaned up in there, but its still not 'shiny' clean.

Something that has also crossed my mind is the power supply. May not be enough. I need to check the power supply and see what it is. The reason I say this is that after about 6 months after I purchased my machine, the fuse went out on my power supply. I found out it was cheaper to get a new tower w/ supply than to have this one replaced under warranty. If she needs a new power supply (more power) then she'll have to get a new tower since eMachine power supplies are smaller and an OTC power supply is too large to fit in that case. I purchased a 250 switching, which is not as much power as I probably need with the additions I've made to this system. I am curious if this might be causing problems on her machine since she is still using the original (150) I think. Her monitor fried a few months ago so she's using my son's 17" Dell.

I have an extra tower w/ supply down here but am wanting to use that for my husband's gaming so I can keep this system for me. And no, my husband doesn't delete anything off this computer. He knows that I would totally lose it if he wrecks this system. I do that enough on my own - thank you very much - but back up my info before playing around.

I already agree with the overheating issue. I'm suffering through that on my laptop. I do believe that my husband has done major damage to the laptop during this last trip. The exhaust fan doesn't work. I tried replacing it, but I think it might not be the fan at all but the either the connector or the board itself. If I used the laptop I would use a small personal fan to pull air through there to keep it cool, but that poor little fan wore out and down south you can't find small fans this time of the year. Dingbat would let the system run, rarely shutting it down (he was out of town). Now its having some major issues itself.

On the desktop I run both the CPU/heat sink fan and a squirrel fan (card fan). The second is mainly due to the Radeon 7000 video card that I'm using in this one.

They keep talking about buying a new computer. I think if they will take care of this one, upgrade to a larger drive, maybe pop for a better video card and new fan - plus a fan card if they go for the better video card, and new tower/power supply it will resolve a lot of issues they are experiencing.

I'm a firm believer that one day a month is cleaning day. Serious cleaning day. I wear a mask and clean under my fridge and the coils, change the a/c filter and clean all return vents, plus break the computer down and deep clean inside it. I even pull each card and clean the card and reseat it securely. I do the same with my memory. I unplug and replug each connection to make sure vibration hasn't losened any connections. If everyone will be faithful to cleaning their computers it becomes so routine that you can knock it out in no time and have a clean system to work with. On Sunday evening I do all the system cleaning (operating system) removing history files, cookies and internet files. Then its scan disk. defrag, full scan of system with AVProgram. Then comes the backup of the system.

I get tickled when I hear "I don't have time for all that". Well, lets see...for 4 days now I've found the time, and so have they to devote most of their day to fixing - or trying to fix - a messed up system. Not to mention the brain power devotion to figuring this out.

Again, I sincerely thank everyone for their posts and the advice given.

Have a great day everyone!

Kay