Virus Type Activity

There's some bizarre things happening on my Dell Laptop running Vista. First
the screensaver completely stopped working, then the cursor would randomly
jump back several sentences whilst typing for no apparent reasons. The thing
that now makes me suspect virus/trojan activity is the small pictures you get
in the address bar and on tabs in IE which normally show company logos have
changed.

For instance the Microsoft logo has changed to a pic of a man in a hooded
top, the Yahoo logo has changed to a circle with 2 letters in it and so on. I
have done virus scans with new virus updates and a system scan and a system
restore. Does anyone have any bright ideas? Out of desperation I am using
Linux on a seperate partition as I am nervous about entering bank details etc
on MS.

Hi,

More likely spy/adware than a virus. As it's a laptop, the most frequent
cause of the jumping cursor is actually the user's hand brushing the
touchpad while typing.

Boot into safe mode and begin formal spyware scanning.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

"littlehobo75" <> wrote in message
news:B0C9C71F-B88E-4164-8E57-...
> There's some bizarre things happening on my Dell Laptop running Vista.
> First
> the screensaver completely stopped working, then the cursor would randomly
> jump back several sentences whilst typing for no apparent reasons. The
> thing
> that now makes me suspect virus/trojan activity is the small pictures you
> get
> in the address bar and on tabs in IE which normally show company logos
> have
> changed.
>
> For instance the Microsoft logo has changed to a pic of a man in a hooded
> top, the Yahoo logo has changed to a circle with 2 letters in it and so
> on. I
> have done virus scans with new virus updates and a system scan and a
> system
> restore. Does anyone have any bright ideas? Out of desperation I am
> using
> Linux on a seperate partition as I am nervous about entering bank details
> etc
> on MS.

Install and run SpyBot Search & Destroy in Safe Mode.
Full info below

Security Programs that I have installed, and how to use them to remove
problems.

Vista’s Firewall works very well.

http://www.spybot.info/en/index.html

Spybot Search & Destroy 1.5.2 is a very good, FREE Anti-Spyware Program.
Download, install, update, and immunize your System with it.
Then SCAN with it.
Update it, and scan your System once a fortnight.

Important re: Safe Mode
If you happen to find a problem that you can’t uninstall / delete, reboot
the computer, and go into Safe Mode.
To get into Safe mode, tap F8 right at Power On / Startup, and use UP arrow
key to get to Safe Mode, then hit ENTER.
RESCAN your computer with you Anti-Virus and Spybot S & D while in Safe Mode.

--
Mick Murphy - Qld - Australia


"littlehobo75" wrote:

> There's some bizarre things happening on my Dell Laptop running Vista. First
> the screensaver completely stopped working, then the cursor would randomly
> jump back several sentences whilst typing for no apparent reasons. The thing
> that now makes me suspect virus/trojan activity is the small pictures you get
> in the address bar and on tabs in IE which normally show company logos have
> changed.
>
> For instance the Microsoft logo has changed to a pic of a man in a hooded
> top, the Yahoo logo has changed to a circle with 2 letters in it and so on. I
> have done virus scans with new virus updates and a system scan and a system
> restore. Does anyone have any bright ideas? Out of desperation I am using
> Linux on a seperate partition as I am nervous about entering bank details etc
> on MS.

"littlehobo75" <> wrote in message
news:B0C9C71F-B88E-4164-8E57-...
> There's some bizarre things happening on my Dell Laptop running Vista.
> First
> the screensaver completely stopped working, then the cursor would randomly
> jump back several sentences whilst typing for no apparent reasons. The
> thing
> that now makes me suspect virus/trojan activity is the small pictures you
> get
> in the address bar and on tabs in IE which normally show company logos
> have
> changed.
>
> For instance the Microsoft logo has changed to a pic of a man in a hooded
> top, the Yahoo logo has changed to a circle with 2 letters in it and so
> on. I
> have done virus scans with new virus updates and a system scan and a
> system
> restore. Does anyone have any bright ideas? Out of desperation I am
> using
> Linux on a seperate partition as I am nervous about entering bank details
> etc
> on MS.

Do a thorough check for malware, following all of the steps at one of these
Web pages.
Help with malware:
All MS-MVP Sites.
http://aumha.org/a/parasite.htm
http://aumha.org/a/quickfix.htm
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/...moving_Malware
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm
http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/darnit.html
http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k/Malware_Defence.htm

Unexplained computer behavior may be caused by deceptive software.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/827315

So How Did I Get Infected Anyway?
For quite a few people it's by installing programs like Messenger Plus,
whose ads for malware don't identify the malware as such and try to convince
you that you owe it to the author. See also:
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=27971
Don't ever do a "default" install of anything. Always choose Custom and see
what else is being carried along. Don't install any extras you're not sure
of.

--
Frank Saunders MS-MVP IE,OE/WM
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