Taskbar issue/possible malware?

My network, volume control, and power meter icons randomly dissappeared
from my taskbar. I went into "taskbar and start menu properties" to enable
these icons, but the only icon that my computer would allow me to turn back
on, under the "notification area" tab was the network icon. I hope this is
not due to malware. I just got this computer in late may. I had Mcfee which
did not find anything (now my trial has expired), CA antivirus, anti-spy...
did not find anything other than a few low risk spyware cookies. Anyway, the
reason I am going into this whole virus thing is because I have also had some
issues with my display "Z order". And, when I start up my computer, CA tells
me that someone is trying to access my computer. Am I being paranoid?

"The Shadow" <> wrote in message
news:CDE36DAE-3A84-4470-9726-...
> My network, volume control, and power meter icons randomly dissappeared
> from my taskbar. I went into "taskbar and start menu properties" to enable
> these icons, but the only icon that my computer would allow me to turn
> back
> on, under the "notification area" tab was the network icon. I hope this is
> not due to malware. I just got this computer in late may. I had Mcfee
> which
> did not find anything (now my trial has expired), CA antivirus,
> anti-spy...
> did not find anything other than a few low risk spyware cookies. Anyway,
> the
> reason I am going into this whole virus thing is because I have also had
> some
> issues with my display "Z order". And, when I start up my computer, CA
> tells
> me that someone is trying to access my computer. Am I being paranoid?

Some system tray icons do not reappear after explorer.exe crashes. In my
experience, explorer.exe crashes quite a lot in Vista, whereas this is a
very rare thing in XP. Check Event Viewer to see if explorer.exe has been
crashing.

Try this online scan if you want to check for malware:
http://www.eset.com/onlinescan/

You might have to run IE7 without Protected Mode on, or run as Admin.

ss.

By the way, I have tried restarting - same problems.
P.S. Thanks in advance to anyone willing to take the time to write
I wrote:

> My network, volume control, and power meter icons randomly dissappeared
> from my taskbar. I went into "taskbar and start menu properties" to enable
> these icons, but the only icon that my computer would allow me to turn back
> on, under the "notification area" tab was the network icon. I hope this is
> not due to malware. I just got this computer in late may. I had Mcfee which
> did not find anything (now my trial has expired), CA antivirus, anti-spy...
> did not find anything other than a few low risk spyware cookies. Anyway, the
> reason I am going into this whole virus thing is because I have also had some
> issues with my display "Z order". And, when I start up my computer, CA tells
> me that someone is trying to access my computer. Am I being paranoid?

On Sat, 26 Jul 2008 07:56:22 +0100, "Synapse Syndrome"
<> wrote:

>Some system tray icons do not reappear after explorer.exe crashes. In my
>experience, explorer.exe crashes quite a lot in Vista, whereas this is a
>very rare thing in XP. Check Event Viewer to see if explorer.exe has been
>crashing.

You have something wrong. I have only had Vista on this machine for
almost three months, but I've never had an explorer crash that I can
remember. It's not a cutting-edge system by any stretch of the
imagination, but it's rock solid stable.

"Nonny" <> wrote in message
news:...
>
>>Some system tray icons do not reappear after explorer.exe crashes. In my
>>experience, explorer.exe crashes quite a lot in Vista, whereas this is a
>>very rare thing in XP. Check Event Viewer to see if explorer.exe has been
>>crashing.
>
> You have something wrong. I have only had Vista on this machine for
> almost three months, but I've never had an explorer crash that I can
> remember. It's not a cutting-edge system by any stretch of the
> imagination, but it's rock solid stable.

I had been using Vista since August 2006 (RC1), but I transferred my Vista
Ultimate License to my HTPC instead in August 2007, and have only been using
it for that since then.

Explorer.exe used to crash a lot, on a fresh install, so there was nothing
wrong with my system. I suspect SP1 has improved things a lot, but in any
case, I don't give too much credit to what you say. Aren't you the guy who
says he runs Outlook 2000 on Vista without any issues? LOL.

In your Reliability Monitor, there is an option to save the .xml file.
Attach it here and let's see if you are lying again. I bet you there are
explorer.exe crashes.

ss.

On Sat, 26 Jul 2008 08:14:42 +0100, "Synapse Syndrome"
<> wrote:

>"Nonny" <> wrote in message
>news:.. .
>>
>>>Some system tray icons do not reappear after explorer.exe crashes. In my
>>>experience, explorer.exe crashes quite a lot in Vista, whereas this is a
>>>very rare thing in XP. Check Event Viewer to see if explorer.exe has been
>>>crashing.
>>
>> You have something wrong. I have only had Vista on this machine for
>> almost three months, but I've never had an explorer crash that I can
>> remember. It's not a cutting-edge system by any stretch of the
>> imagination, but it's rock solid stable.
>
>I had been using Vista since August 2006 (RC1), but I transferred my Vista
>Ultimate License to my HTPC instead in August 2007, and have only been using
>it for that since then.
>
>Explorer.exe used to crash a lot, on a fresh install, so there was nothing
>wrong with my system. I suspect SP1 has improved things a lot, but in any
>case, I don't give too much credit to what you say. Aren't you the guy who
>says he runs Outlook 2000 on Vista without any issues? LOL.

Nope. Outlook 2003. I have Office 2000 installed but not Outlook 2000.
>In your Reliability Monitor, there is an option to save the .xml
file.
>Attach it here and let's see if you are lying again. I bet you there are
>explorer.exe crashes.

Sorry, I don't have any crashes. I would load XP back if that were
the case (I have a saved image). I only put Vista on this machine so
I'd know what some friends are looking at when they call me with
problems. I liked it so much, I abandoned XP after about 3 weeks.

When I first installed it, I had XP on "D" and Vista on "C" and used
the BIOS for dual-booting (you can use Google Groups to check that
out). I even have "C" and "D" on removable trays in case I wanted to
use that setup for dual booting.

On Sat, 26 Jul 2008 08:14:42 +0100, "Synapse Syndrome"
<> wrote:

>In your Reliability Monitor, there is an option to save the .xml file.
>Attach it here and let's see if you are lying again. I bet you there are
>explorer.exe crashes.

I have no idea where to find that.

Clue me in.

"Nonny" <> wrote in message
news:...
>> Aren't you the guy who
>>says he runs Outlook 2000 on Vista without any issues? LOL.
>
> Nope. Outlook 2003. I have Office 2000 installed but not Outlook 2000.

That's not what you said here:
http://groups.google.co.uk:80/group/...=nonny+outlook

ss.

On Sat, 26 Jul 2008 08:14:42 +0100, "Synapse Syndrome"
<> wrote:

>In your Reliability Monitor, there is an option to save the .xml file.
>Attach it here and let's see if you are lying again. I bet you there are
>explorer.exe crashes.

Found it.

Had three crashes in 30 days... no wonder I didn't remember them.

One was ugly... Explorer, Outlook, True Image, and Firefox were
involved so I'll call that a system crash.

Another involved explorer, Download Accelerator Plus (have stopped
using that) and irfanView.

Only one was truly traceable just to explorer.

"Nonny" <> wrote in message
news:...
>
>>In your Reliability Monitor, there is an option to save the .xml file.
>>Attach it here and let's see if you are lying again. I bet you there are
>>explorer.exe crashes.
>
> I have no idea where to find that.
>
> Clue me in.

http://www.superwasp.net/weblog/uplo...tor-774841.Png

I can't remember where the option to save the .xml file is. I thought it
was on the right hand pane, but it could be in the menus as well.

ss.