Computer problem--Virus ??

I am running XP professional. This morning all of a sudden some commands were not working. I rebooted computer and now when I click on any program on the desktop half of my icons go hot and I get a message "Confirm 'open' Action" choosing to open 19 items at once may take a long time and cause your computer to respond slowly.

Some other symptoms, number keypad does not work, and when I go to log onto AOL it does not recognize my passwords. (they work fine on this computer)--- I tried to run McAfee and the scan window comes up but nothing happens when I click "scan"

HELP

 

I see a wipe and reload in your future.

You can try to troubleshoot this, but it almost sounds like the machine is too far gone for that. You could try to boot in safe mode, look through add remove programs and make sure there is nothing obvious installed. Also try killing system restore and running antivirus in safemode. Beyond that, it's probably not worth it. Format and reinstall windows.

 

So what causes this, is it a virus?

 

Download this CD image (UBCD4Win) and burn it to a CD.
Boot the machine with it and run ALL the virus and spyware scanners. Not just one or two, but ALL of them.

 

Chances are it is a virus, that is not normal windows operation.

 

I'm not disagreeing that it might be a virus, but I personally wouldn't be so quick to format the box. (For me that would mean 2 weeks lost work trying to get everything installed.) 'Course as a programmer I probably have more cr@p than most.

There could be other explanations. For example I know firsthand that something like a Rum&Coke spilled on a keyboard weeks ago could just start to rear its ugly head suddenly. The OP here said the numpad didn't work properly. Nobody said check the numlock. A little stick on one of the shift or control keys, coupled with a numlock being off, could cause some very similar things.

There are also several other things which would cause this behavior (including scroll lock malfuction) but most of them would be solved by rebooting which was already done according to the original post.

I don't know; I just don't see it being malware for some reason.

 

Let's do some diagnostics.

1)Let's see what service pack of XP you are using. Start > My Computer > Right-click "Properties". Is your XP computer SP2? Also, select the Hardware tab. Device Manager button. Anything with a caution next to it?

2) Check XP event logs. Hopefully they haven't been compromised. To do this:

Start > Run > Run Window > type "eventvwr" w/o quotes.
Any event with a red circle with a white X of type "Error" you'll want to pay attention to around the time you first noticed the behavior.

3) Try using Trend Micro's House call and see what it finds.

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

4) A USB external hard drive may be worth the investment. Hook it up, back up everything to it. If you have to format and reinstall, in theory your stuff should be on the drive. One would need to scan the files as they were put back onto the computer.
Let us know what you find.

 

Not to argue, cuz you could be right, it could be something else. But just to point where I'm coming from, it sounds very similar to a virus I dealt with some time ago on a machine at work. Seems like it would try to start a bunch of apps when you'd click on one. Tha't's what immediately came to my mind when I read his post. Also the fact that his virus scan didn't seem to work was another clue.

Definitely try different virus scanners if you're going to try and fix it. But again, it may not be worth the trouble.

 

See, that's where it doesn't make sense. I write this stuff, and never does it make sense to highlight 20 things on the desktop and _then_ try to launch them. Hmmm actually I don't even know how to do that. (Not saying it's hard; just never had a cause to do so.) Much easier just to start them when the machine boots.

And when we start apps you will not see it. If the app starting was visible it wouldn't have made it out there at all, because the person who paid for it would complain. Trust me, there is no reason that I need to highlight 19 of your icons. And highlighting 19 icons doesn't make things easier for a newbie malware writer either, so I'm just saying no, this is not plausible.

You may in fact have malware, sure, but the problem is in how your directional keys are being handled. Make sure your numlock is on. Other problems should be self-evident as you arrow around. Also try a different keyboard and reboot. Especially if your board has had a few too many drinks spilled on it.

 

I had a similar problem whereby a single mouse click would generate multiple actions. If I opened a message in Outlook Express, all messages above it also opened, ditto in Win Explorer, opened a desktop item and several but not all opened.

Tried a few things with no luck.

Eventually I removed the keyboard and mouse drivers and rebooted. I let windows install drivers automatically ...no more problem.

 

Well, I ran chkdsk utility and problems solved. Everything is working fine.

The only thing I remember is that there was language on many items that the 1st line was corrupt or something to that effect.