Need Serious Help!

randerson70 · Jun 16, 2008, 06:29 PM

Ok, i have this whatever virus or hijacker it was that made it impossible to change desktop wallpapers. I have tried every fix on this forum and many others to no avail. I only succeeded in restoring the desktop tab. All options are still greyed out and unusable. I have tried every method for changing my wallpaper and nothing works. I have made all the suggested registry changes and still nothing. I see my usuall background when everything is first loading then it goes to blue background. Anyone have any new fixes for this that I maybe havent tried?

PangingJr · Jun 17, 2008, 01:22 AM

have you tried clean install of XP?

randerson70 · Jun 17, 2008, 03:04 PM

Thats the only thing I havent tried yet. I was hoping to avoid it as it seemed like most of the fixes were pretty simple. Just thought I had been nailed by some new variant that someone may have had an answer too.

PangingJr · Jun 17, 2008, 03:22 PM

so what have you tried to change in the registry to remedy this issue, so far?

randerson70 · Jun 18, 2008, 07:55 PM

I made all the recommended changes in several different posts. Setting the no wallpaper option to 0, some posts said to delete it tried several different ideas. Searched the entire registry for desktop. html and it wasnt found anywhere. When I first started, the desktop tab in the display settings was completely missing. After applying the changes such as deleting some recommended keys and so on, I got the tab back but now even though its there, its completely non functional. Most of the recommendations I have followed have come from this site. THats why I decided to post here for help.

PangingJr · Jun 19, 2008, 04:05 AM

oh, i hope you didn't think i meant to tell you that you came to a wrong place.

well, if you want to save your time, then if you would help me a little more by giving me more in detail explanation on all the things you have already done in the registry and all,
which registry subkeys? have you altered any of the Policies subkeys?...
and who knows, i (or we) might be able to help you better.

randerson70 · Jun 19, 2008, 03:11 PM

Under Hk user I alltered the policies folder under active desktop and system. Active desktop had the no changing wallpaper key which I changed to 0. There are several keys under system but all are set to 0. Some of those are disable background tools, no color choice, no disp background page, no display scrnsaver page. I did the same under hkey machine. Active desktop folder has no changing wallpaper key which is set to 0. The system folder has different keys in it. Dont display last user name, shutdown without logon, undock without logon. The first one is set to 0 and the last 2 are set to one. Hope some of this info helps. Again, I did a registry search and there was no trace of Desktop.html

PangingJr · Jun 20, 2008, 03:55 PM

i don't know if i have a chance to look into it yet, i need a XP based computer, which i don't have with me.
in the mean time, you may want to explore around the web, to see if you can find more solution on this problem.

and have you backup you important files recently?
if you haven't, then you may want to prepare for the worse case scenario.

OldBuzzard · Jun 20, 2008, 11:30 PM

Given that you have been chasing that problem around for close to a week, and there is no telling what OTHER problems that may be lurking in your system because of that virus/trojan, I'd say that it's way past time to "pull the trigger", and do a format/install.

Back up any important data, and have at it. I know that it's a pain in the butt to have to do that, but in the end you will have a nice clean system again, and a lot less agrivation. OH, make sure you backup your FAVORITES too... I have on occasion forgot that

PangingJr · Jun 21, 2008, 05:57 AM

he does not want to perform a clean install of the Windows, if he insist not to do it, then i kinda understand.

but it's just won't work if i can't try it myself or get a repro on the issue in the registry and try a few changes around and see.

OldBuzzard · Jun 21, 2008, 07:12 AM

I can understand his position perfectly. BTDT and have the T-shirt

However, there does come a time when...

PangingJr · Jun 21, 2008, 07:17 AM

lol on the have the T-shirt

randerson70 · Jun 21, 2008, 07:11 PM

Well folks, It appears that after much searching and testing, it has become obvious that this dog wont hunt. As put so eloquently by old buzzard, its time to pull the trigger. Thank you for all your help. Now comes the fun of finding enough removable media to backup all my stuff lol.....

OldBuzzard · Jun 21, 2008, 10:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by randerson70

... Now comes the fun of finding enough removable media to backup all my stuff lol.....

That's where having a 2nd HDD come in handy. I have one HDD that is strictly for Operating Systems, another that is for backups of the OSs, and another for important data.

HDDs are pretty cheap and having a 2nd one is definately worth it.

Also, make sure you have all of the latest drivers for your various components before you re-install. That will make the re-install a lot easier.

Zelig · Jun 21, 2008, 11:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by OldBuzzard

That's where having a 2nd HDD come in handy. I have one HDD that is strictly for Operating Systems, another that is for backups of the OSs, and another for important data.

Yeah, though I've reached the point now where I have more data than I can fit on all my sata ports worth of drives.

To the OP: Although reinstalling is probably the best option at this point, it might be worth taking a look at superantispyware, a number of us on this board have had excellent experiences with it for removing malware.