Any Computer Geeks Out There

[ronp]

I fired up my computer the other day only to see this on my desktop.



Can any one explain this?

I didn't change any settings on my pc. Virus?

 

[fire it up]

Do you mean you had that background show up or was that there?

*wait, maybe it is the vodka, maybe the smoke...
Was there really a problem or was I the unsuspecting victim of a background/smoke joke?

Not sure if I'm allowed to post my background on here, it has to do with smoking. Not any kind of meat but definitely delicious.

 

[fired up]

A virus that deletes your porn folder. Now that is insidious.

 

[ronp]

It just showed up, I have no porn folders that I know of.

 

[fire it up]

If you had that background show up out of nowhere I wouldn't know what to tell you, that is pretty odd, even with a virus.
Did you have that pic of that smoking forum already somewhere on your computer?
What kind of anti-virus program are you running and do you run any adware/spyware programs?
Any chance you are running peerGuardian or No Scripts? (no scripts is firefox only, not internet explorer)
Anyone else in the household that would have swapped your background without telling you?

Even if there was a virus and the forum had any cookies/hits in your temp or history files I don't know of anything or even any good reason why a virus would swap your background and nothing else.

I would suggest running a virus scan, scan for adware, see what the background file for your desktop is called, locate that file and see where it is stored.

 

[DanMcG]

I bet you accidentally right clicked the logo and hit "Set as Background".. I've done stranger things.

 

[pops6927]

DanMcG I think you hit it on the head - had it happen to me too, esp. when I'm in that 'zoned out' state, half asleep - I've done stranger things!

 

[waysideranch]

Ron, i think its a signal you are a smoking maniac. Living it, eating it. Somebody screwing with you. Aliens. Area 51 peps.

 

[ddave]

Yup. I think they're right. Pretty easy to fix.

Just right-click on the desktop and select Properties. Then click on the Desktop tab and select a new (or in this case old) background.

Those instructions work in XP. By the looks of your Start button, I assume you have Vista? They rearranged everything in Vista but it should point you in the right direction.

Dave

 

[indyadmin1974]

Ron,

This can happen pretty easily. More than likely you or someone right clicked on the forum pic and selected 'Set as Desktop background' or 'Set as Wallpaper'.

You can fix it on that Vista machine you are running by right clicking on the desktop, click Personalize, double-click on Desktop Background and select whatever background you want.

PM me if you need any other help.

Personally I think this rocks! I wouldn't worry too much about a virus though.

 

[jirodriguez]

There is a program called Mallwarebytes (do a google search). It is a free program and it is really good at finding and removing viruses, trojans, keyloggers, ect. that get through your firewall. It does not catch incoming viruses, but if you think you have one just run the program and see what it finds. I run 1X a month just to be safe, and I let it updated itself right before I run it to make sure I got the most current data base of viruses.

Another good one is Spybot Search & Destroy (also free), or Adaware (also free). It is best to have these programs on your machine BEFORE you get a virus, because more and more viruses are adding a feature that tries to block your access to anti-virus sites once your machine is infected.

So keep you machines clean and your smoke thin!

 

[fire it up]

It should be noted that you can DL the free version but the full version costs $24.95
Not sure the difference in free and full but usually the free version will scan but won't eliminate some files or some other catch.
Might grab the full version later on and see how well it works.

 

[ronp]

That is probably what happened. I set it back to what it was.

I have full virus running at all times Mc Afee security suite.

There is another really good free program called CCleaner that scans for many things including your registry. I also have another free program called Secunia PSI that watches for any changes that are made to your computer.

So I think I am pretty well on guard. Probably a dumb move on my part.

Thanks for the help everyone.

 

[mballi3011]

It's Haunted ron Run Ron Run it will get you please back away from the computer
I know Call the GHOST BUSTERS

 

[trashcan]

Bullseye. I actually did that while looking at less than decent media when I was like 15 and had a really interesting conversation with my parents about my computer usage.

 

[hilbillyinca]

Hey Ron,
Likely you were dragging a pic from email? or perhaps right clicked a pic on the forum and accidentally hit save as desktop.

I believe someone above already pointed out, just right click desktop, go to properties and change the background.

Or just leave it up, cause its a great background!

 

[teacup13]

sounds like a right click save as background sort of thing...done it many times... sometimes i will lose my background, no idea why, it just happens...its a virus called Windows..lol

for a good small anti-virus, i use Avast and i install this on all computers i rebuild or fix...i have had no complaints yet.

and i use Malwarebytes