Re: desktop abduction

From: Michael Pelletier (mjpelletier_at_mjpelletier.com)
Date: 04/30/05 

Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2005 19:51:38 -0700

Winged wrote:

> Michael Pelletier wrote:
>> Jim Watt wrote:
>>
>>
>>>Got a good one today, client got a virus warning from Norton 2003
>>>and then the desktop vanished.
>>>
>>>no taskbar, no icons no nothing apart from a cursor.
>>>
>>>I can bring up the task manager with ctrl/alt/del and run some
>>>programs but not others.
>>>
>>>Logging in as administrator brings up a background image
>>>but the same situation.
>>>
>>>Emergency repair process and re-installing W2K gives same
>>>
>>>Running the uninstall of NAV 2003 reports its removed itself
>>>but makes no difference.
>>>
>>>Googling suggests a problem with the active desktop or policy
>>>but that looks OK, and have deleted and restored the entry
>>>for .exe in the registry.
>>>
>>>Unusually the client has a full backup (or so he claims) so the
>>>quick and easy solution is wiping the disk and starting again -
>>>however there is a certain intellectual challenge with this one.
>>>
>>>comments?
>>>--
>>>Jim Watt
>>>http://www.gibnet.com
>>
>>
>>
>> I used to do this as a gag to people. If you rename explore.exe to
>> something else ( I used to rename it to exploder.exe ) it will cause the
>> screen to go blank and lose all of your icons. Maybe this is what your
>> virus is doing messing with explorer.exe...
>>
>> Michael
>>
> I hadn't heard that trick, but does make sense.
> Winged

Ya, I used to play it on people and watch there face. It will cause the
entire screen to just go blank. No icons, no menus nothing but a blank
screen. Then, I would just rename explorer back and it would return...You
know, things you do when you are bored...

Michael 

-- 
"Microsoft isn't evil, they just make really crappy operating systems." -
Linus Torvald

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