# Weird Computer Problem



## FelldohTheSquirrel (May 2, 2009)

Alright, so my computer has been acting really strange since yesterday. It randomly minimizes, maximizes, or simply closes programs without any notice as to why it's doing it. It happened with Firefox, Windows Live Messenger, and Explorer. It's really starting to irritate me, because it could close Firefox while I'm checking my email, or it could close Explorer while I'm looking through my pictures. Would anyone know why it would be acting this way?


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## ToeClaws (May 3, 2009)

Whoa... that does _not_ sound good at all.  Programs crashing and closing are one thing, but randomly minimizing is very suspicious behaviour.  Your system might be infected with some nasty malware.  Assuming it's Windows, download and run this little low-level worm and trojan sniffer:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/RemoveIT_Pro_d5205.html

You'll probably be surprised by what it finds. :/


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## FelldohTheSquirrel (May 3, 2009)

ToeClaws said:


> Whoa... that does _not_ sound good at all.  Assuming it's Windows, download and run this little low-level worm and trojan sniffer:
> 
> http://www.majorgeeks.com/RemoveIT_Pro_d5205.html
> 
> You'll probably be surprised by what it finds. :/



Yeah, my computer runs Windows Vista Home Basic. I'll try it.


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## whoadamn (May 3, 2009)

u usin a laptop?


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## Runefox (May 3, 2009)

You should also give it a scrub with Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware, just to be sure.

What anti-virus program, if any, are you using right now? Also, it's a little less likely, but have you ever spilled anything into your keyboard? 

EDIT: Having never used RemoveIT before, I downloaded it. It seems a little sketchy-looking. Giving a scan, it found several false-positives, including Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware, WinPCap (I guess that's fine, not everyone wants or even knows what that is), several MS TechNet console powertoys (psexec, pslist), and a bunch of Sony apps related to CDDB (probably leftover from SonicStage). Be careful while using this program.


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## Irreverent (May 3, 2009)

Does your PC it have a touchpad?  With new drivers set to "hyper sensitive" one of my LT's will exhibit this behavior.  Just blowing on the touch pad will set it off, until you adjust the driver settings to desensitize it.


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## ToeClaws (May 3, 2009)

Runefox said:


> EDIT: Having never used RemoveIT before, I downloaded it. It seems a little sketchy-looking. Giving a scan, it found several false-positives, including Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware, WinPCap (I guess that's fine, not everyone wants or even knows what that is), several MS TechNet console powertoys (psexec, pslist), and a bunch of Sony apps related to CDDB (probably leftover from SonicStage). Be careful while using this program.



It's a legit program, but yes, it's very sensitive.  It uses signatures as well as very sensitive heuristics scanning - pretty much like the "bloodhound" mode in other scanners.  It marks anything that seems suspicious, and if you look at the programs that it flagged, they are malware-like in how they work.

The folks behind it try to keep it from detecting the legit stuff, but the guessing pattern for it seems to be so sensitive that they'll fix it for a few weeks and they it'll come back again after a few weeks.  

On an advanced user's system, false positives are common, and we know enough to check over the results to be sure.  On most general use systems, they don't happen as much.  Comes down to users needing to double-check things.  

I haven't tried that one you suggested - I'll have to give it a whirl as well.


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## ToeClaws (May 3, 2009)

Irreverent said:


> Does your PC it have a touchpad?  With new drivers set to "hyper sensitive" one of my LT's will exhibit this behavior.  Just blowing on the touch pad will set it off, until you adjust the driver settings to desensitize it.



Oh snap... actually this is a damn good point!  Most laptops with touchpads have "tap click" turned on by default (the most annoying computer invention ever).  As you type, your hand brushing the touch pad can register as a left mouse click, which causes a bit of chaos.  Like Irre says, you can turn down the sensitivity, or you can disable it all together in the mouse portion of the Control Panel.


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## FelldohTheSquirrel (May 3, 2009)

whoadamn said:


> u usin a laptop?





ToeClaws said:


> Oh snap... actually this is a damn good point!  Most laptops with touchpads have "tap click" turned on by default (the most annoying computer invention ever).  As you type, your hand brushing the touch pad can register as a left mouse click, which causes a bit of chaos.  Like Irre says, you can turn down the sensitivity, or you can disable it all together in the mouse portion of the Control Panel.



I don't use my touchpad, though. And my hands aren't even close to the touchpad when I type.

Also, I ran a registry scan. 177 problems, 160 are high priority. But the program won't do dick all and it only tells me to buy the goddamn thing.


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## Carenath (May 3, 2009)

ToeClaws said:


> Oh snap... actually this is a damn good point!  Most laptops with touchpads have "tap click" turned on by default (the most annoying computer invention ever).  As you type, your hand brushing the touch pad can register as a left mouse click, which causes a bit of chaos.  Like Irre says, you can turn down the sensitivity, or you can disable it all together in the mouse portion of the Control Panel.


I actually find that's one of the most useful inventions, Im always tap-clicking on my laptop, and I've never had any issues with the mouse interfereing with the keyboard.. as I type with my wrists raised above the edge of the keyboard.. but my laptop also has a button above the trackpad that will let me disable it for just that purpose, making typing even more of a dream.
Its probably one thing HP did that Dell have failed to do for years


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## Jealousy (May 3, 2009)

Doesn't AVG have a free virus scanner you could try?


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## noodlescoop (May 3, 2009)

check to see if a program called vnc is running, if it is then someone is remotely messing with your computer


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## ToeClaws (May 3, 2009)

Carenath said:


> I actually find that's one of the most useful inventions, Im always tap-clicking on my laptop, and I've never had any issues with the mouse interfereing with the keyboard.. as I type with my wrists raised above the edge of the keyboard.. but my laptop also has a button above the trackpad that will let me disable it for just that purpose, making typing even more of a dream.
> Its probably one thing HP did that Dell have failed to do for years



Yeah, HP/Compaqs do at least have that button, but on my R3000, it's pretty much right in the way of where you put your hand... well my hand anyway (got a big hand).  I just use the buttons and disable the tap thing.


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## GoodEats (May 4, 2009)

FelldohTheSquirrel said:


> I don't use my touchpad, though. And my hands aren't even close to the touchpad when I type.
> 
> Also, I ran a registry scan. 177 problems, 160 are high priority. But the program won't do dick all and it only tells me to buy the goddamn thing.



I find Ad-Aware and Spybot: Search and Destroy both very useful 

AVG is the most pain in the ass program in the world. I installed a new version and scanned... It deleted my rundll32 file and screwed up my computer till I managed to fix it by downloading a copy from online and replacing it.  It was dangerous to do that! D:<


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## jagdwolf (May 4, 2009)

Before you scan the hell out of your machine, lets simple look at a few things?  
Did this start happening after you loaded a program or install new drivers?  Like IE 8 or new Windows Live messenger etc?
Did you spill anything on the keypad?
Have you checked all the keys to make sure they are not stuck
have you written any keystroke macro's that might be malfuncioning?

does your system crash or does it just close the program?  

Start there, lets rule out the simple stuff first. then we can worry about scaning the hell out of your rig.


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## FelldohTheSquirrel (May 5, 2009)

jagdwolf said:


> Before you scan the hell out of your machine, lets simple look at a few things?
> Did this start happening after you loaded a program or install new drivers?  Like IE 8 or new Windows Live messenger etc?
> Did you spill anything on the keypad?
> Have you checked all the keys to make sure they are not stuck
> ...



1. No

2. About a month ago ago, but this only started happening the day I posted this topic.

3. Some stick, but they're definitely not stuck.

4. What?

5. Only the program, but the last time it happened was last night.


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## Shino (May 5, 2009)

Have you checked to see if someone installed a ghost typer?
(I doubt it, but just being thurough.)

First thing I'd reccommend is running OneCare's Security Scanner. (Do the full system scan.) It's free, safe, and will actually FIX anything it comes across.

Beyond that, it's possible (though extremely unlikely) that you're dealing with a internal BIOS, overheat or some other hardware issue (i.e. dirty mouse sensor). At this point though, I'm taking shots in the dark without more info.

I would like to point out for the record: I think tap-click is one of the best things that ever happened to touchpads. Without it, your precious iGadgets wouldn't even work.


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## jagdwolf (May 6, 2009)

FelldohTheSquirrel said:


> 1. No
> 
> 2. About a month ago ago, but this only started happening the day I posted this topic.
> 
> ...


 
Ok, so were looking at only online programs then such as firefox, ie, and live right?  or does it happen with other programs as well.

If it is just those programs, and it just started happening, *and you did not install any new programs, or download any upgrades to those programs*, then I would say we are looking at only a few items.

First are you using wireless or are you using a hardline connection?  If wireless, have you noticed slowdowns in the connection speed or page loading? If so perhaps you need to upgrade your software for the wireless connection it could have become corrupted.  Not highly likely but a easy cheap fix.

Second, like mentioned it could be a heat issue, does it happen when running any other heavy graphics program?  If not, it may not be a heat issues for the laptop, but if using wireless, it could be a heat issue with the port itself.  If using hardline, and does not do it in any other heavy graphic program (games, movies, etc) I would say its not a heat issue.

Third, but kinda off hand is when was the last time you checked your VM, or defragged/cleaned out your cache files.  Its a long shot but a full or messy HD has been know to crash programs, and its a quick check.

All of these that I have mentioned are the "cheap" easy quick fixes that most people over look.  the Oh yea I upgraded my live messenger or got the new IE8 or new wireless software.  So many people don't look at the simple stuff first and just go digging in.  

If non of these things I have asked or mentioned apply, then a virus or corrupted software might be the issue.  Not that a scan is gonna kill your machine, unless its a virus designed to do that when one of the know scan programs run.  Its just easier to check the simple stuff before running amoke trying to finger it out.

good luck and keep us posted


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## whoadamn (May 9, 2009)

FelldohTheSquirrel said:


> I don't use my touchpad, though. And my hands aren't even close to the touchpad when I type.


oh trust me, they are. 

tap the top left or right corner of the pad, some laptops use these areas of the touchpad as shortcuts to various functions. typically they will either maximize or minimize a selected window, depending on it's state.


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