I Have a virus - but it's not being detected

[Bill Schaible]

When I first booted up today my screen showed a pulsating full screen size
Windows logo with very ragged outlines and crude coloring. I rebooted and
my PC worked but seemed a little different. The splash screen that displays
when Outlook Express starts is not the right color - it is mostly white,
which is not usual. Also, the blue color in some of my icons seems a
different shade than usual.

I have had AVG Free running and it gets updated almost daily. I had AVG
Free scan my PC just now but it didn't find anything. So I decided I must
be OK inspite of the unusual color symptoms. Then when I opened Outlook
Express the OE window had some patches of green on it - like some moss or
seaweed.

So I did an online BitDefender scan of the PC, and BitDefender didn't find
anything either. I'm pretty sure I've got a virus. I never heard of one
that just changes colors on some graphics or puts patches of moss on
particular windows. But this stuff is really happening - though it seems to
be sporadic. Has anybody had symptoms like these ones I described here?

TIA Bill S.

 

[Noel Paton]

When I first booted up today my screen showed a pulsating full screen size
Windows logo with very ragged outlines and crude coloring. I rebooted
and
my PC worked but seemed a little different. The splash screen that
displays
when Outlook Express starts is not the right color - it is mostly white,
which is not usual. Also, the blue color in some of my icons seems a
different shade than usual.

I have had AVG Free running and it gets updated almost daily. I had AVG
Free scan my PC just now but it didn't find anything. So I decided I must
be OK inspite of the unusual color symptoms. Then when I opened Outlook
Express the OE window had some patches of green on it - like some moss or
seaweed.

So I did an online BitDefender scan of the PC, and BitDefender didn't find
anything either. I'm pretty sure I've got a virus. I never heard of one
that just changes colors on some graphics or puts patches of moss on
particular windows. But this stuff is really happening - though it seems
to
be sporadic. Has anybody had symptoms like these ones I described here?

This sounds to me more as if it's a hardware//driver problem than a virus
problem.
You don't mention your OS - so I'll assume that it's Win9x...
Reboot to Safe Mode
Open Device Manager
Remove ALL Display Adapters
Remove ALL Monitors
Reboot to Normal Mode - Windows will reinstall the required drivers -
hopefully curing your problem.

If that doesn't work, boot to DOS using a startup floppy, and type "edit" at
the a:\> prompt (without the quotes) - see what colour the screen is, and
leave it for a while - does the colour change? is it uniform?

report back
--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2006, Windows)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.crashfixpc.com/millsrpch.htm

http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read on how to post messages to NG's

 

[Befunge Sudoku]

Our telly did stuff like that, just before the magic smoke
escaped. Got a spare monitor you can switch in, to check?

 

[Bill Schaible]

The change to display is not general - only specific things particularly in
Outlook Express are different. It isn't the hardware. It isn't the
drivers.

 

[Noel Paton]

The change to display is not general - only specific things particularly
in
Outlook Express are different. It isn't the hardware. It isn't the
drivers.

Ok - us refresh the drivers, as I suggested!

--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2006, Windows)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.crashfixpc.com/millsrpch.htm

http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read on how to post messages to NG's

 

[Bill Schaible]

OK. I'll give it a try.

Ok - us refresh the drivers, as I suggested!

--
Noel Paton (MS-MVP 2002-2006, Windows)

Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
http://www.crashfixpc.com/millsrpch.htm

http://tinyurl.com/6oztj

Please read on how to post messages to NG's