This is starting to annoy me somewhat.
I've found over the last couple of days, that I can no longer download pictures.
Anything that has the file extension of .jpg, .gif or .bmp refuses to load.
Some of the pictures at ECN here work OK, but others don't.
I was at a local computer parts site just before and I went to search for a HDD and none of the thumbnails of the product pictures would load.
Instead all I got was "(34 items remaining)" in the line above the task-bar.
As I am typing this post, most of the smilies icons above the post window are missing, as are the ECN Chat bubble and the US Flag icons.
Hmmm,
I've never seen this happen before, what on earth could be wrong with my computer?.
I've looked through all of my settings and can't find anything un-toward with it.
If it carries on I might use System Restore to fix it.
Any help you guys could give me on this matter would be most gratefully recieved.

Cheers,
Mike :]

I feel I shouldn't put my nose in it, but I hope your PC will be good soon. Please tell, what windows U use and how many memory have you got?
Other, have you got antivirus software?
other, did you ask your telephone company if there's everything okay with the dial-up line?
Did you change anything these days which can cause the problem?

likely you have picked up something evil in your browsing travels...there are some very vicious trojans, viruses, worms, hijackers, etc etc out there. Norton does a good job, but 1 level of protection isnt enough anymore. I would suggest several things to start in addition to running a full Norton AntiVirus scan (and do look to see if its even been updating itself...)
Adaware - available free at www.lavasoftusa.com
Pestpatrol at www.pestpatrol.com (I think)
and I believe there are several free online virus / trojan / worm detection programs that will do a pass through your system. When I get back to office I'll post the addys for them.
Ken

I am not quite sure what is causing it, but here are three shots in the dark that could help.

1. I seem to remember your mentioning Win XP, but did you bring yourself up to SP2 with Windows Update or by getting the CD? It is very important.

2. It is also important that you keep your AV signatures up to date, if they are not already the current ones.

3. If you are using the MS Internet Explorer browser or MS Outlook mail client applications, then consider trying more secure alternative browsers and mail clients such as Mozilla, Firefox, Thunderbird (http://www.mozilla.org/) eudora (http://www.eudora.com/) and opera (http://www.opera.com/). These are more modern and a lot safer.

It might well be the registry is in a silly state and there are tools that can help with that too, but the three things above will help tackle the problem at its roots. Registry correction tools are available at http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_description/0,fid,4666,00.asp
You need to be careful with this -- it is a powerful tool, but also rather risky if you are not careful.

Oh, yes. Are you running a firewall? Because it is best if you do :-) The experts reckon a non-firewalled and unpatched Intel/Windows computer will be taken into remote control (whereby all kinds of odd behaviour like yours will manifest) within 20 minutes of connection to the net, on average. It's scary, it's inconvenient, but it's a fact :-(

Do tell how you get on, and good luck with it.

Another program I used to use is called Peer Guardian, which will block access to your machine by various evildoers. I don't use the program anymore, as my firewall software will utilize its database directly. The database is updated on a regular basis. Peer Guardian is a small program, but pretty effective.

One I have been trying out also is called Giant Anti-Spyware, similar in nature to Adaware and Pest-Patrol. Interestingly enough, each one catches some things that the other two don't... http://www.giantcompany.com/(cjurgj2l45zyulvpj0lfiu55)/products.aspx
for their products - free trial available.

online virus scan at this site: http://www.trendmicro.com/en/home/us/personal.htm
there is an online scanner. There is also a TON or TONNE (depending on your point of reference...) of deep reading. The rate that the cretins are producing these viruses, trojans, worms, etc. is almost unbelievable. Good luck Trumpy with getting your puter cleaned up.

If it is really a worm or trojan, I can suggest my favourite, www.pandasoftware.com I have bought norton antivirus but I hated it and also it never stopped anything from entering my computer. Now I see the alerts that entry is blocked cause someone or something tried to enter... I like that! There is a free 90 days version you can download. Also here it is cheaper than norton, about the third of the price.

Gloria, Kenny and jooles,
Thanks a bunch for your help in diagnosing this fault!.
I ran a variety of AV/Spyware programs to actually find out what was going on in my system.
These days people, I'm afraid that no one type or brand of protection will save you from the nastiness that has invaded the Net.
I did various scans from software downloaded from www.download.com and suffice to say, if I hadn't I'd be in a worse predicament.
After all that I came out with 4 Trojans and 23 Virii.
Sure, if I was a person that frequented dubious websites, I would expect that level of intrusion.
But I aren't, I only use this computer to post at ECNet, a few other forums, the odd MSN Chat, and ECN Chat of course and WIRES IRLP system with my 2metre/70cm Transciever.(Packet Radio, is another use for my computer)
Mind you, I was doing a Google search the other night to find a set of Valves for a radio I'm working on to restore.
Personally, if this is what the Net has to offer, with a simple search, I'd sooner be away from the whole thing.
Why should a few mindless A******s ruin it for everyone else!.
This really peeves me!
I make no apologies about the way that I feel, considering that it is possible that you can render a computer useless by remote control, by pure want to do that really sickens me.


[This message has been edited by Trumpy (edited 10-27-2004).]

Peeves me as well - protecting your computer is becoming a job in itself. Your story is not unique, I run into it here at work and at home on the wife and kid's computers.... innocent seeming searches that turn up what looks like a site that might have the info you want, but turns out it has: malicious code to hijack your browser, hijack your search function, possible trojans worms viruses hidden in seemingly innocent pictures, etc. etc. One thing you can watch for when you search for things, and looking a t the results - if the result shows anything that looks remotely like it might be a result from a DIFFERENT search engine... don't go there. Panda Software is very good, and with Pest Patrol and Adaware you can be fairly safe, along with a firewall like ZoneAlarm. You may also want to look into Peer Guardian, as part of what it blocks is known spamming sites / ad generator sites and other evilness ( in addition to its original function to provide some security for file sharing / networking )

In fact the best in PandaSoft is that my own boss can't reach my computer in the net, I have to turn off permanent protection and then on again, which I like a lot! but seriously, it alerts at EVERY contact in or out and it is your decision if you let the contact be made or not. Including MSN, ICQ and everything! Clever thing, I wanna buy it!

Don't forget to do the routine stuff like cleaning out the junk and doing defrag, Mike.

Dave

The thing is, you don't need to actually visit *any* sites at all in order to pick these things up: simply connecting the computer to your ISP is enough. After 20 minutes, if you are not protecting yourself, they will have you.

There are a lot of bugs in the way that Windows implemented its networking stack, and even more fundamental errors of design in the way that it tries to keep itself secure.

This is why it is _absolutely_ _essential_ to install SP2, because a lot of the fixes for these bugs are contained in there, and installing the fixes is essential to stop a sort of continual pool of reinfection from happening.

If you have not installed SP2, go and get the CD and do it ASAP. Or if you mail me I'll make you a CD and send it you. It's crucial. Sorry to be so bossy :-) But if you don't, they will probably have reinfected you already; that means that you would be both a victim, but also part of the problem, becuause your computer is there spitting out packets that will infect other computers around the world. Also, it may well be sending spam to other users under remote control (a botnet) and we all hate spam, don't we :-)

After SP2 it is also important to run a firewall and to turn off any unnecessary services, for the same reason -- if you don't, then there are opportunities for malware to sneak in there even if you are not visiting *any* sites, never mind ones that are infected themselves. I don't mean doing anything rash like turning off all of them -- you need to do a little checking to see first what actually is running; after that, you decide which ones need to be firewalled and which ones are not needed after all. I believe a normal home/small office user has no need of about two thirds of the stuff that's running, and ALL the unnecessary ones provide potential loopholes by which bad things can happen.

And, as a final thought, bear in mind that nearly ALL the viruses that ARE related to web browsing or email have only affected MS Internet Explorer / MS Outlook, and that people running Mozilla for instance have experienced very few such problems.

Sorry not to reply sooner I was away a bit but if it would help I could post a bit of a longer "howto" type article about things like firewalls. The trouble with these is that there are so many different ones that one can only usefully write a general intro, but I'm happy to do that if it will prove useful.

To start off you could just see which ports are open on your box by using one of the net port scanners.

The question of *why* it is done at all seems to have changed lately too. It is not done now just because they are the naughty geeky teenagers that like showing off too much to be able to control themselves. They are doing it nowadays more because there is a lot of money to be made, infecting lots of machines so that they can be marshalled into huge Botnets, and the collective computing resources in these botnets then sold off to the people who need to distribute spam for their no-prescription viagra stores / online porno shops / shocking APR loan service / whatever.