How do I stop replicating short cuts?

K

Kate Fights, I Cry

Guest
Fixing up niece's computer. When the system is booted up
the desktop fills with media player shortcuts linked to a
music file. Every time we delete them they keep coming
back the next reboot.

Seems more like some kind of virus

System is Windows XP and Media Player 9


Also when we turn on USB ports in BIOS it won't boot
into windows but asks for a boot device. Yet the USB
ports show up in the system manager even when they are
off in BIOS






--
John

Remember the good old 1980s
When things were so uncomplicated
I wish I could go back there again
And everything would be the same

I've got a ticket to the Moon
I'll be leaving here any day soon
Yeah I've got a ticket to the Moon
But I'd rather see the sunrise in your eyes

(c)1981 E.L.O.
 
Kate Fights, I Cry wrote:

Fixing up niece's computer. When the system is booted up
the desktop fills with media player shortcuts linked to a
music file. Every time we delete them they keep coming
back the next reboot.
Click to expand...
What do you mean by fills with shortcuts, to a single file ? Does the
whole desktop fill with links to the same file, or does it fill with
links to seperate files ? Or do just a few icons appear ?? Im not sure
what you mean.

Just trying to get that one in perspective...

Can you hit ctrl-alt-delete and provide a list of what Processes are
running just after you encounter this, there may be something running to
keep doing this, just for a start anyway..

Seems more like some kind of virus
Click to expand...
Unlikely, most virii prefer to do other nasty things, like screw your
system up and propagate, than just be annoying.. ;)

System is Windows XP and Media Player 9

Also when we turn on USB ports in BIOS it won't boot
into windows but asks for a boot device. Yet the USB
ports show up in the system manager even when they are
off in BIOS
Click to expand...
Do you have any bootable USB devices connected to the PC when you do
this ? If you have a USB device connected to the PC and in the BIOS your
boot order is set to External/USB devices before the floppy or HDD, then
it may be the cause. Like putting an unformatted floppy in your PC and
booting, it will ask for the OS.

Check the boot order in your bios.

I hope Im not assuming too much on the simple side. But thats exactly
what it sounds like for that part.

Need to know a bit more for the icons tho, unless someone else has
encountered it.
 
Pňg mo thňin wrote:

Kate Fights, I Cry wrote:

Fixing up niece's computer. When the system is booted up
the desktop fills with media player shortcuts linked to a
music file. Every time we delete them they keep coming
back the next reboot.

What do you mean by fills with shortcuts, to a single file ? Does the
whole desktop fill with links to the same file, or does it fill with
links to seperate files ? Or do just a few icons appear ?? Im not sure
what you mean.
Click to expand...


I mean the whole desktop fills with rows of shortcuts to music files.

Seems to be links to various files but they keep coming back even after
we delete them.



Just trying to get that one in perspective...

Can you hit ctrl-alt-delete and provide a list of what Processes are
running just after you encounter this, there may be something running to
keep doing this, just for a start anyway..
Click to expand...


I'll do that next time I am at their place. That's the most obvious thing
it would seem to do but it hadn't occurred to me at the time.




Seems more like some kind of virus

Unlikely, most virii prefer to do other nasty things, like screw your
system up and propagate, than just be annoying.. ;)

System is Windows XP and Media Player 9

Also when we turn on USB ports in BIOS it won't boot
into windows but asks for a boot device. Yet the USB
ports show up in the system manager even when they are
off in BIOS

Do you have any bootable USB devices connected to the PC when you do
this ? If you have a USB device connected to the PC and in the BIOS your
boot order is set to External/USB devices before the floppy or HDD, then
it may be the cause. Like putting an unformatted floppy in your PC and
booting, it will ask for the OS.

Check the boot order in your bios.

I hope Im not assuming too much on the simple side. But thats exactly
what it sounds like for that part.
Click to expand...


By bootable device do you mean drives and other similar items?

The only USB device she has is a scanner.

For the moment I turned off USB via the BIOS and the system is starting
up properly. The scanner is the only device that has a USB connection
in her system. I'm more intrigued as to how they were able to recognize
the USB ports in windows with that turned off in the BIOS.
 
"Kate Fights, I Cry" <sittinginthepool@internode.on.net> wrote in message
news:427218CC.2D5F90FF@internode.on.net...
Pňg mo thňin wrote:

Kate Fights, I Cry wrote:

Fixing up niece's computer. When the system is booted up
the desktop fills with media player shortcuts linked to a
music file. Every time we delete them they keep coming
back the next reboot.

What do you mean by fills with shortcuts, to a single file ? Does the
whole desktop fill with links to the same file, or does it fill with
links to seperate files ? Or do just a few icons appear ?? Im not sure
what you mean.



I mean the whole desktop fills with rows of shortcuts to music files.

Seems to be links to various files but they keep coming back even after
we delete them.



Just trying to get that one in perspective...

Can you hit ctrl-alt-delete and provide a list of what Processes are
running just after you encounter this, there may be something running to
keep doing this, just for a start anyway..



I'll do that next time I am at their place. That's the most obvious
thing
it would seem to do but it hadn't occurred to me at the time.




Seems more like some kind of virus

Unlikely, most virii prefer to do other nasty things, like screw your
system up and propagate, than just be annoying.. ;)
Click to expand...
Sounds like MP9 may have the desktop set as the music library or something
like that. Worth checking those settings.

System is Windows XP and Media Player 9

Also when we turn on USB ports in BIOS it won't boot
into windows but asks for a boot device. Yet the USB
ports show up in the system manager even when they are
off in BIOS

Do you have any bootable USB devices connected to the PC when you do
this ? If you have a USB device connected to the PC and in the BIOS your
boot order is set to External/USB devices before the floppy or HDD, then
it may be the cause. Like putting an unformatted floppy in your PC and
booting, it will ask for the OS.

Check the boot order in your bios.

I hope Im not assuming too much on the simple side. But thats exactly
what it sounds like for that part.



By bootable device do you mean drives and other similar items?

The only USB device she has is a scanner.

For the moment I turned off USB via the BIOS and the system is starting
up properly. The scanner is the only device that has a USB connection
in her system. I'm more intrigued as to how they were able to recognize
the USB ports in windows with that turned off in the BIOS.
Click to expand...
There's a "boot order" section in the BIOS setup. This is where you specify
where the BIOS "looks" for an OS to boot, and in which order. If you have
USB device higher than the HDD or CD it's possible that the system will
attempt to boot from that and fail to boot at all.
 
Damien McBain wrote:

"Kate Fights, I Cry" <sittinginthepool@internode.on.net> wrote in message
news:427218CC.2D5F90FF@internode.on.net...
Pňg mo thňin wrote:

Kate Fights, I Cry wrote:

Fixing up niece's computer. When the system is booted up
the desktop fills with media player shortcuts linked to a
music file. Every time we delete them they keep coming
back the next reboot.

What do you mean by fills with shortcuts, to a single file ? Does the
whole desktop fill with links to the same file, or does it fill with
links to seperate files ? Or do just a few icons appear ?? Im not sure
what you mean.



I mean the whole desktop fills with rows of shortcuts to music files.

Seems to be links to various files but they keep coming back even after
we delete them.



Just trying to get that one in perspective...

Can you hit ctrl-alt-delete and provide a list of what Processes are
running just after you encounter this, there may be something running to
keep doing this, just for a start anyway..



I'll do that next time I am at their place. That's the most obvious
thing
it would seem to do but it hadn't occurred to me at the time.




Seems more like some kind of virus

Unlikely, most virii prefer to do other nasty things, like screw your
system up and propagate, than just be annoying.. ;)

Sounds like MP9 may have the desktop set as the music library or something
like that. Worth checking those settings.


System is Windows XP and Media Player 9

Also when we turn on USB ports in BIOS it won't boot
into windows but asks for a boot device. Yet the USB
ports show up in the system manager even when they are
off in BIOS

Do you have any bootable USB devices connected to the PC when you do
this ? If you have a USB device connected to the PC and in the BIOS your
boot order is set to External/USB devices before the floppy or HDD, then
it may be the cause. Like putting an unformatted floppy in your PC and
booting, it will ask for the OS.

Check the boot order in your bios.

I hope Im not assuming too much on the simple side. But thats exactly
what it sounds like for that part.



By bootable device do you mean drives and other similar items?

The only USB device she has is a scanner.

For the moment I turned off USB via the BIOS and the system is starting
up properly. The scanner is the only device that has a USB connection
in her system. I'm more intrigued as to how they were able to recognize
the USB ports in windows with that turned off in the BIOS.

There's a "boot order" section in the BIOS setup. This is where you specify
where the BIOS "looks" for an OS to boot, and in which order. If you have
USB device higher than the HDD or CD it's possible that the system will
attempt to boot from that and fail to boot at all.
Click to expand...


I have noticed that.... But it's got no listing for USB devices.
Only has three spots both taken up by the two DVD burners
and floppy drive. No mention of the HDD at all in the boot
sequence..

It's just strange . It's an MSI board but I'll have to grab the
manual off her and have a deeper look at this. What at first
seemed straightforward is bugging me now.
 
"Kate Fights, I Cry" <sittinginthepool@internode.on.net> wrote in message
news:42722F5C.9BCCDE8C@internode.on.net...
Damien McBain wrote:

"Kate Fights, I Cry" <sittinginthepool@internode.on.net> wrote in message
news:427218CC.2D5F90FF@internode.on.net...
Pňg mo thňin wrote:

Kate Fights, I Cry wrote:

Fixing up niece's computer. When the system is booted up
the desktop fills with media player shortcuts linked to a
music file. Every time we delete them they keep coming
back the next reboot.

What do you mean by fills with shortcuts, to a single file ? Does the
whole desktop fill with links to the same file, or does it fill with
links to seperate files ? Or do just a few icons appear ?? Im not
sure
what you mean.



I mean the whole desktop fills with rows of shortcuts to music files.

Seems to be links to various files but they keep coming back even after
we delete them.



Just trying to get that one in perspective...

Can you hit ctrl-alt-delete and provide a list of what Processes are
running just after you encounter this, there may be something running
to
keep doing this, just for a start anyway..



I'll do that next time I am at their place. That's the most obvious
thing
it would seem to do but it hadn't occurred to me at the time.




Seems more like some kind of virus

Unlikely, most virii prefer to do other nasty things, like screw your
system up and propagate, than just be annoying.. ;)

Sounds like MP9 may have the desktop set as the music library or
something
like that. Worth checking those settings.


System is Windows XP and Media Player 9

Also when we turn on USB ports in BIOS it won't boot
into windows but asks for a boot device. Yet the USB
ports show up in the system manager even when they are
off in BIOS

Do you have any bootable USB devices connected to the PC when you do
this ? If you have a USB device connected to the PC and in the BIOS
your
boot order is set to External/USB devices before the floppy or HDD,
then
it may be the cause. Like putting an unformatted floppy in your PC and
booting, it will ask for the OS.

Check the boot order in your bios.

I hope Im not assuming too much on the simple side. But thats exactly
what it sounds like for that part.



By bootable device do you mean drives and other similar items?

The only USB device she has is a scanner.

For the moment I turned off USB via the BIOS and the system is starting
up properly. The scanner is the only device that has a USB connection
in her system. I'm more intrigued as to how they were able to
recognize
the USB ports in windows with that turned off in the BIOS.

There's a "boot order" section in the BIOS setup. This is where you
specify
where the BIOS "looks" for an OS to boot, and in which order. If you have
USB device higher than the HDD or CD it's possible that the system will
attempt to boot from that and fail to boot at all.



I have noticed that.... But it's got no listing for USB devices.
Only has three spots both taken up by the two DVD burners
and floppy drive. No mention of the HDD at all in the boot
sequence..
Click to expand...
The HDD will definately be available in the boot sequence, see what happens
if you put it second, after the main CD/DVD drive or even first (this can be
a pain when you want to boot from CD regularly though). Worth a try.



It's just strange . It's an MSI board but I'll have to grab the
manual off her and have a deeper look at this. What at first
seemed straightforward is bugging me now.
Click to expand...
 
"Kate Fights, I Cry" <sittinginthepool@internode.on.net> wrote in message
news:4271C69D.7E20A15@internode.on.net...
Fixing up niece's computer. When the system is booted up
the desktop fills with media player shortcuts linked to a
music file. Every time we delete them they keep coming
back the next reboot.

Seems more like some kind of virus

System is Windows XP and Media Player 9


Also when we turn on USB ports in BIOS it won't boot
into windows but asks for a boot device. Yet the USB
ports show up in the system manager even when they are
off in BIOS
Click to expand...
Are you sure it is not the boot from USB that you are enabling
disabling to make it work, USB devices would still be working
if that was the case.
 
"Kate Fights, I Cry" <sittinginthepool@internode.on.net> wrote in message
news:4271C69D.7E20A15@internode.on.net...
Fixing up niece's computer. When the system is booted up
the desktop fills with media player shortcuts linked to a
music file. Every time we delete them they keep coming
back the next reboot.

Seems more like some kind of virus

System is Windows XP and Media Player 9
Click to expand...
I hate media player so I don't use it much or know much of what
it does only that it accesses the internet too freely for my liking.
but it could be possible that either in your Registry or in a Config
file it is set to place links to media files on your desktop so no matter
how many times you delete them, Every time the Registry entry or the
config file is read those links will appear on your desktop.
 
"Pňg mo thňin" wrote in <42721538@funnel.arach.net.au>:
Kate Fights, I Cry wrote:
Click to expand...
----snip----

Seems more like some kind of virus

Unlikely, most virii prefer to do other nasty things, like screw your
system up and propagate, than just be annoying.. ;)
Click to expand...
It's "viruses", Pňg, or if you want to insist on Latinism, "viri".

----snip----

Ned
--
True Blue FAQ: <426E3D09.190F@arthur.valhalla.oz>
Public key: http://pgp.mit.edu/ http://www.keyserver.net/en/
Fingerprint: D17C FDD5 BBA8 8687 42E3 C8F2 C9FB 0314 E17A 0CD7
 
Ned Latham wrote:

"Pňg mo thňin" wrote in <42721538@funnel.arach.net.au>:

Unlikely, most virii prefer to do other nasty things, like screw your
system up and propagate, than just be annoying.. ;)


It's "viruses", Pňg, or if you want to insist on Latinism, "viri".
Click to expand...
Yeah thats just become apparant to me.. I've always used that word..
hmm.. but you are correct !

8-/
 
"Kate Fights, I Cry" <sittinginthepool@internode.on.net> wrote in message
news:4271C69D.7E20A15@internode.on.net...
Fixing up niece's computer. When the system is booted up
the desktop fills with media player shortcuts linked to a
music file. Every time we delete them they keep coming
back the next reboot.

Seems more like some kind of virus
Click to expand...
Sounds like a variant of mywebsearch or similar. Grab Spybot, Adaware and
HiJackThis and run them in that order. If that finds nothing you have to go
registry trawling.
 
I would be looking at how the 2 x DVD drives and the HD are wired and set. As
a (wild) guess I sus that one of the DVD drives is on the same line as the HD
and the settings are wrong.

I would make sure the HD is on its own line, and set as master, and the 2 dvd
drives are on the other IDE line - one set as master the other as slave.

David - who doesn't know much about Windows but has encountered similar
problems with friends computers

Damien McBain wrote:

I have noticed that.... But it's got no listing for USB devices.
Only has three spots both taken up by the two DVD burners
and floppy drive. No mention of the HDD at all in the boot
sequence..

The HDD will definately be available in the boot sequence, see what happens
if you put it second, after the main CD/DVD drive or even first (this can be
a pain when you want to boot from CD regularly though). Worth a try.

It's just strange . It's an MSI board but I'll have to grab the
manual off her and have a deeper look at this. What at first
seemed straightforward is bugging me now.
Click to expand...
 
Unknown wrote:

"Kate Fights, I Cry" <sittinginthepool@internode.on.net> wrote in message
news:4271C69D.7E20A15@internode.on.net...
Fixing up niece's computer. When the system is booted up
the desktop fills with media player shortcuts linked to a
music file. Every time we delete them they keep coming
back the next reboot.

Seems more like some kind of virus


Sounds like a variant of mywebsearch or similar. Grab Spybot, Adaware and
HiJackThis and run them in that order. If that finds nothing you have to go
registry trawling.
Click to expand...


Oooooh fun.....

I've actually gotten comfy with doing that in the past
so it's not really a biggie. The registry isn't as mysterious
as people make out.
 
"Kate Fights, I Cry" <sittinginthepool@internode.on.net> wrote in message
news:427453B3.42DF85A@internode.on.net...
Unknown wrote:

"Kate Fights, I Cry" <sittinginthepool@internode.on.net> wrote in message
news:4271C69D.7E20A15@internode.on.net...
Fixing up niece's computer. When the system is booted up
the desktop fills with media player shortcuts linked to a
music file. Every time we delete them they keep coming
back the next reboot.

Seems more like some kind of virus


Sounds like a variant of mywebsearch or similar. Grab Spybot, Adaware and
HiJackThis and run them in that order. If that finds nothing you have to
go
registry trawling.



Oooooh fun.....

I've actually gotten comfy with doing that in the past
so it's not really a biggie. The registry isn't as mysterious
as people make out.
Click to expand...
Eventually anyone who wants to save data has to get used to it. :)
 
Hey hi thanks everyone for suggestions

Found solutions to both the replicating files and the anomalies in
the BIOS.....

1 The replicating shortcuts were created by something
in the startup routine. When you deleted the shortcuts
they kept returning and this was caused by a process
in the startup routine...

2. The missing HDD in the BIOS was due to the jumpers
on the HDD being set incorrectly. It shouldn't have worked
the way they were set but somehow a conflict was
being created when you activated USB from the BIOS and
the HDD when the system booted.


It's all solved now and system is working
 
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