Hi all.
the Problem Child is back...with new issues...I don't know if i have a virus or not, but i'll listen to anybody at this point.
Please read the whole thing and tell me what you think..I do appreciate the knowledge I've gained here over time, so thanks in advance...
Recently i've noticed on all my programs, that the text areas and graphic interfaces have decreased in size, making it impossible to read anything.
This is happening universally, (on both pcs now) all the colors are muted, the programs look like fake versions of themselves, some user functions are limited or sometimes gone, and yet I'm still able to do things, but it just feels WRONG, like I'm being keystroked or shadowed somehow.
It feels like it's my will vs the creeps on the other side of the pc, wherever that is.
Once I even wrote some pricing in a document for a prospect, and I left the file open and unsaved, went to the bathroom, came back and saved the file, and then when I went to reference it later that day, the pricing was GONE.
Not my imagination either, it's happened several times, and I've heard all the stories about Java,
Flashplayer, Messenger, (which I don't use but it's on the pc) and a lot of other applications which can be used for monitoring and sending data, by very malicious and intelligent persons unknown.
I've tried adjusting the font, text, and screen resolution, but only the desktop icons get bigger, and online I know how to resize pages.
But for some reason ALL the PROGRAMS i select to use have been minimized beyond anything I've ever seen before.
Questions:
1. Has my pc been taken over and cloned?
2. is it a rootkit virus?
3. or am i just pc-stupid to know what to do to fix this?
ALSO: Malware scans from complex software don't always help you to determine what to delete.
Once after scanning the HP with Gmer or Combo-fix, i forget which, it found over 500 suspect files- and I didn't know (and it didnt tell me) what was safe to delete, and what was not, so i left it the way it was.
I've already paid Microsoft techs $100.00 of dollars to help with recoveries this last year that took days to fix. My subscription is up with Vipre in two weeks, I'm NOT going back with them, even with their $10.00 off promo discount, because their software was RUNNING when all this happened, and they told me I should have called, which I did, and no on ever came to the phone to get me off of hold.
So it's back to AVG for me.
The machine which 'm having issues with is a IBM thinkcentre, running win-xp pro, with svpk 3.Also this, ever sense Outlook took over Hotmail, (I woke up last week and hot-mail was gone after 15 years of using it) everthing that has MSN on it acting funny..
Outlook 2003 mail client not sending/receiving mail IE 8 browser acts funny after disabling all the suspect add-ons, this crap just goes on and on.
I actually was forced to do a non-destructive recovery on my HP 2days ago in the hope that I could get the context menu selections back, and the mouse to 'act' correctly, and generally get control of my pc back.
I don't know if it worked, and have two questions for the HP action I just did:
1. Will a non-destructive recovery and reset to factory specs destroy the virus, it there was one?
2. I haven't tried to look yet, but there were over 500,000 or so data files including pics, text notes,
created folders, documents, and programs from the last 5 years on that pc...encompassing every area of my life, business, em,ployment, tax records, family pics, creative original work, letters, recorded communications, blah , blah everything.
So did the non-destructive option i chose to use from a HP recov. disk delete those as well, or (pray, pray) are they all still there???
I'm about to overhaul a second perfectly good pc simply because I'm too ignorant to determine the problem, and I hate being compromised in my work, which intimately involves using my pc daily.
Thans for reading my rant...lotta questions in there, don't know if there's answers for everthing, but thanks!
gc
the Problem Child is back...with new issues...I don't know if i have a virus or not, but i'll listen to anybody at this point.
Please read the whole thing and tell me what you think..I do appreciate the knowledge I've gained here over time, so thanks in advance...
Recently i've noticed on all my programs, that the text areas and graphic interfaces have decreased in size, making it impossible to read anything.
This is happening universally, (on both pcs now) all the colors are muted, the programs look like fake versions of themselves, some user functions are limited or sometimes gone, and yet I'm still able to do things, but it just feels WRONG, like I'm being keystroked or shadowed somehow.
It feels like it's my will vs the creeps on the other side of the pc, wherever that is.
Once I even wrote some pricing in a document for a prospect, and I left the file open and unsaved, went to the bathroom, came back and saved the file, and then when I went to reference it later that day, the pricing was GONE.
Not my imagination either, it's happened several times, and I've heard all the stories about Java,
Flashplayer, Messenger, (which I don't use but it's on the pc) and a lot of other applications which can be used for monitoring and sending data, by very malicious and intelligent persons unknown.
I've tried adjusting the font, text, and screen resolution, but only the desktop icons get bigger, and online I know how to resize pages.
But for some reason ALL the PROGRAMS i select to use have been minimized beyond anything I've ever seen before.
Questions:
1. Has my pc been taken over and cloned?
2. is it a rootkit virus?
3. or am i just pc-stupid to know what to do to fix this?
ALSO: Malware scans from complex software don't always help you to determine what to delete.
Once after scanning the HP with Gmer or Combo-fix, i forget which, it found over 500 suspect files- and I didn't know (and it didnt tell me) what was safe to delete, and what was not, so i left it the way it was.
I've already paid Microsoft techs $100.00 of dollars to help with recoveries this last year that took days to fix. My subscription is up with Vipre in two weeks, I'm NOT going back with them, even with their $10.00 off promo discount, because their software was RUNNING when all this happened, and they told me I should have called, which I did, and no on ever came to the phone to get me off of hold.
So it's back to AVG for me.
The machine which 'm having issues with is a IBM thinkcentre, running win-xp pro, with svpk 3.Also this, ever sense Outlook took over Hotmail, (I woke up last week and hot-mail was gone after 15 years of using it) everthing that has MSN on it acting funny..
Outlook 2003 mail client not sending/receiving mail IE 8 browser acts funny after disabling all the suspect add-ons, this crap just goes on and on.
I actually was forced to do a non-destructive recovery on my HP 2days ago in the hope that I could get the context menu selections back, and the mouse to 'act' correctly, and generally get control of my pc back.
I don't know if it worked, and have two questions for the HP action I just did:
1. Will a non-destructive recovery and reset to factory specs destroy the virus, it there was one?
2. I haven't tried to look yet, but there were over 500,000 or so data files including pics, text notes,
created folders, documents, and programs from the last 5 years on that pc...encompassing every area of my life, business, em,ployment, tax records, family pics, creative original work, letters, recorded communications, blah , blah everything.
So did the non-destructive option i chose to use from a HP recov. disk delete those as well, or (pray, pray) are they all still there???
I'm about to overhaul a second perfectly good pc simply because I'm too ignorant to determine the problem, and I hate being compromised in my work, which intimately involves using my pc daily.
Thans for reading my rant...lotta questions in there, don't know if there's answers for everthing, but thanks!
gc