Could this be due to a virus?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bewildered
  • Start date Start date
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Bewildered

I have posted this question on the Office discussion group and after some
discussion, I was advised that it's probably a Windows problem...

After several years of using Office 2003 (Small Business edition) without
problem, I am now unable to open any Office programmes which have
graphics/photos in them. This affects Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Publisher and
I now also have trouble printing pictures from Windows Photo & Fax viewer.

I have tried the following:

1. uninstalling and reinstalling the entire Office suite of programmes,
2. installing all the latest updates,
3. scanned for viruses, spyware etc.
4. downloaded a trial version of Office 2007 and it also has the same
problem.
5. I have 2 computers and both now have the same problem.
6. Event viewer gives the following information: " Faulting application
winword.exe, version 11.0.8227.0, stamp 486d648f, faulting module
gdiplus.dll, version 11.0.8230.0, stamp 488a6c81, debug? 0, fault address
0x0007a2c9.
7. using Word in Safe Mode and it still gives the same problem...
8. opening an Office document in Windows Safe Mode and the same problem
occurs...
9. System File Checker - which did not come up with any errors.
10. Dependency Walker and it gives an error message "No DOS or PE
signature found. This file is not a valid 32bit or 64bit Windows module".

Can anyone help me sort this out? It's extremely frustrating!

Thanks in advance.
 
Bewildered said:
I have posted this question on the Office discussion group and after some
discussion, I was advised that it's probably a Windows problem...
Click to expand...

(snip multipost)

You have quite an active thread about this issue going in the other
newsgroup to which you posted. Please don't multipost; it makes more work
for everyone and will get you *less* help, not more. See this for why:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossposting
http://www.blakjak.demon.co.uk/mul_crss.htm - multiposting

As for whether this could be caused by a virus, that is easily determined by
doing thorough scanning. Don't skip the prep work.

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

Further questions about this issue should be posted in your other active
thread, not this one.

Malke
 
I have posted this in different places because the different groupings are
quite vague and also because I'm not sure of what is causing this so I'm
trying to look at it from different perspectives.

I have done the virus scan before and it didn't pick anything up on one
computer but found some bad files on the other - however both computers
continue to have the same problem. Also, because this problem occurred after
a few years of using the product/computer with no problems, it makes me
wonder if it is a "bug/malware" that has got in an done damage somehow. Thus
also posting in this grouping as well as the "general" grouping.
 
NOrmally I would agree with Malke about the multi-posting but I think I
can see your point in coming here as you did. So IMO it's excusable but
once you become familiar with cross-positng, it would be better in the
future for something like this, to simply add the crosspost to this
group with a short explanation at the top explaining what you did. That
way, everyone in the other group would also see this post in that group
and you would only have one group to check because with crossposting,
your posts show up in both places and are even likewise marked as read
in both groups when someone reads them.
Not a huge problem though you could still do that cross-posting if you
wanted to at this point. .

Based on what I see here in this post, it may be time to do a backup of
all your important data (pics, letters, email addresses, etc) and start
by doing a Repair Install of XP. In theory you won't lose any data that
way but you will have to let windows update redo updates.
And if that's no help, then you might have to do a "clean install"
and rebuild the computer. Without backups and not counting your
important data you created yourself, it's probably a 2 day effort to
install XP and all of your apps all over again and get them all set back
upas you want them.

If you decide you want to do a Repair Install or a Clean Install ask for
links on your other group; there are several good ones available that
are easy to follow. It actually sounds like malware of some sort to me
so if you decide to continue troubleshooting, you may want to ask for
opinions of good spyware/malware detectors.
I've always looked at it this way: Is it quicker to
reinstall/rebuild, or to continue the troubleshooting path? Since I use
disk imaging now, it's a lot easier question, but if you don't have
backups, it's not so simple. It's time to get into backing up.

One thing you could do, to see if those fies are even worth backing up,
is to send one them to someone who has the same or newer software,as an
attachment and see if they can open them and see the images? Office
files however, CAN contain macro viruses, so be sure to warn the person
first! They may not want to take the chance.
It's my guess that you still have malware of some sort on your
machine. While you're using Office, do NOT allow any macros to run as
that's one place the malware could be hiding.

Throw a bunch of spyware/malware detectors at it and see what comes up.
No single such program will find them all so usually you need at least
three such programs; I have 5 to choose from though fortunately I seldom
have to use them.

HTH

Twayne
 
The OP is using Web Interface.
Malke, you can not cross-post in it.
THAT, and not being able to kill-file, are its only 2 disadvantages.
 
From: "Bewildered" <[email protected]>

| I have posted this in different places because the different groupings are
| quite vague and also because I'm not sure of what is causing this so I'm
| trying to look at it from different perspectives.

| I have done the virus scan before and it didn't pick anything up on one
| computer but found some bad files on the other - however both computers
| continue to have the same problem. Also, because this problem occurred after
| a few years of using the product/computer with no problems, it makes me
| wonder if it is a "bug/malware" that has got in an done damage somehow. Thus
| also posting in this grouping as well as the "general" grouping.

Then Cross-Post it !

Otherwise post a possible virus query in a virus news group such as;
microsoft.public.security.virus

Your query however does not look like a malware problem.
However the way you posted (phrased) this is a bit hard to understand.

You said... "I am now unable to open any Office programmes which have graphics/photos in
them"

Do you really mean you can't open MS Office _DATA FILES_ which have graphics/photos in
them ?

If so this may be a problem with GDIplus and is a OS corruption problem.
If you have already uninstalled/reinstalled MS Office then I suggest you backup all your
data, wipe the PC, and then reinstall the OS and all your applications from scratch.
 
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