Question

Caught virus and taskbar items became invisible

Asked by: myplace

Hi, as the title says, when I turned on my computer, the taskbar would not show the windows that I had opened. Also, the location of the quick launch icons is messed up as well. I first used my own norton antivirus and scanned 3 viruses. I deleted 2 of them and quarantined the other one. But that didn't solve the taskbar problem. Then I tried to use the symantec online virus scanner but for some unknown reason the scanning refused to start. Therefore, I then used trend micro online scanner and deleted 2 more viruses. However, the taskbar still doesn't not show the windows that I have currently opened. Finally, I ran Kaspersky online scanner and then cleared the files in the java cache.  Still, my taskbar problem is not fixed.  (I believed I have successfully eliminated the virus) What's going on?

My OS is winXP.

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Asked On
2005-11-23 at 09:05:57ID21641300
Tags

taskbar

,

invisible

,

virus

Topic

Miscellaneous Security

Participating Experts
2
Points
350
Comments
14

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Answers

 

by: war1Posted on 2005-11-23 at 09:32:11ID: 15351901

Greetings, myplace !

Use the registry edit on line 117 of this page to restore the Taskbar
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

Best wishes!

 

by: richrumblePosted on 2005-11-23 at 09:54:15ID: 15352069

If you see the virus come back, then make sure your turn off system restore, then remove the virus (again), just in case windows cached the virus for you, and it may put it back on your PC after a reboot. http://www.xinn.org/annoyance_spy-ware.html
-rich

 

by: myplacePosted on 2005-11-23 at 11:03:47ID: 15352596

war1, is it safe to edit the registry?  What does it do to my computer?  Is it that the virus modified my registry and this registry thing will put my computer back to normal?  Is my computer perfectly clean now?

 

by: myplacePosted on 2005-11-23 at 11:11:39ID: 15352645

I just tried that line 117 and put it into the registry but still it couldn't solve the problem.  :(  Now how do I undo this registry modification?

 

by: myplacePosted on 2005-11-23 at 11:22:46ID: 15352714

Update:  I used windows system restore to restore the system back to the day before I caught the virus.  Is everything solved now?  Should my computer be perfectly fine and will there be any remnants left by the virus?

 

by: war1Posted on 2005-11-23 at 11:39:48ID: 15352818

myplace, you asked 3 questions in a row before I had a chance to answer.  Virus likely corrupted your registry, and the registry edit should fix it.

You should back up the registry before modifying.  If you had save file in notepad and save it as a taskbar.reg.  Then you could just click on the file and the patch would be installed correctly.

System restore restores your registry and some system file.  But it may restore the virus.  Run the virus scan or what ever you did to remove the virus, to make sure it did not come back.

 

by: myplacePosted on 2005-11-23 at 12:34:26ID: 15353170

Sorry about that, war1.  I didn't do all of those when I downloaded and imported the file from line117 into the computer.  The file named was nodesktop, not taskbar.reg.  Anyways, I did a system restore and the taskbar is working fine now.  I'm also running an online virus scanner (kaspersky) right now to check for virus.  For some reason I still can't use the symantec online scanner that I use most of the time when I want a virus scan.  At this moment the kaspersky virus scanner is showing that there's only one virus in the norton AV quarintined folder (It can't be repaired.  Is it safe to delete it?).  The rest of the viruses that were detected this morning did not show up.  Has the system restore saved my computer?   I knew the time of day when my computer caught the virus, so I used system restore to return the computer to the day before it caught the virus.  What I'm conerning right now is whether the virus has already did some permanent damage to my computer even after I performed system restore.

 

by: richrumblePosted on 2005-11-23 at 12:40:51ID: 15353208

That's one person it's helped! I've never used System Restore sucessfully, or rather to my satisfaction. Personally I turn it off when ever I get the chance and I leave it off. It's possible the virus is still there somewhere, and most quarantined files are safe to delete. I preffer McAfee to Norton also. If you scan your PC with an up2date AV, and it comes back clean, then it's pretty safe to assume your ok. I'm told the secret to using system restore successfully is making restore point's often... I'd rather not have to personally, but I do make backup's of my data often. http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/helpandsupport/getstarted/ballew_03may19.mspx (some of the employee pictures are crazy...)
-rich

 

by: war1Posted on 2005-11-23 at 12:43:57ID: 15353221

>> norton AV quarintined folder (It can't be repaired.  Is it safe to delete it?)

Yes, it is safe to delete it.  But you may have to go to Norton Quarantine folder to delete it.

Check Task Manager and Regedit edit to make sure they are working.  Otherwise, the virus did not do much harm.

 

by: myplacePosted on 2005-11-23 at 12:55:18ID: 15353299

Thanks war1.

to richrumble:  nice article.

I wonder why the symantec online virus scanner still isn't working for me.

 

by: war1Posted on 2005-11-23 at 13:14:23ID: 15353428

You are welcome, myplace!  Does TrendMicro Housecall online scanner work for you?

http://housecall.antivirus.com

 

by: myplacePosted on 2005-11-23 at 13:24:33ID: 15353487

Oh yes it does.  That's the first one I used after symantec failed.  Then I scanned the computer again with kaspersky.

 

by: war1Posted on 2005-11-23 at 13:34:00ID: 15353537

myplace, the reason I asked is because a virus can block scan of computer. But fi it blocks NAV, it would block other popular antivirus scanners like TrendMicro.  Since it did not, you do not likey have a virus.  I don't know why Symantec online scan is not working, unless it is taking a Thanksgiving holiday. :-)

 

by: myplacePosted on 2005-11-23 at 13:40:07ID: 15353568

I really hope the virus is gone :(  I'll try NAV later again.

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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