Solutions: Jumpy icons signal virus problem

By JOHN TORRO
© St. Petersburg Times
published February 18, 2002

Q. My icons have been jumping around. If I hold down the left mouse button, they stay put until I release it. Sometimes I have to chase them around with the arrow. I have arranged the icons according to type, name, date, etc., but the problem persists.

A. The symptoms you describe are characteristic of the W32.Magistr.24876@mm virus. You need to make sure you have the latest updates for your antivirus software. This type of virus arrives as an executable, or .EXE, file and you must have run it from within an e-mail or from a newsgroup download. I can't overemphasize this point: Never run an .EXE file that you receive in an e-mail or from a newsgroup download, even if you know the sender. Outlook Express version 6.0 has new options (accessible from Tools, Options, Security tab) that will block potentially harmful attachments and also warn you when other programs, such as viruses or harmful attachments, attempt to send messages from your computer. Windows XP takes this a step further, taking advantage of SAFER technology to run potentially harmful attachments in a sandbox (an area in memory where the program cannot make calls that affect your hard drive or registry).

Cable Select hard drive mode

Q. In a previous column, you talked about master/slave settings, which I understand. But you went on to mention Cable Select. My hard drives have a Cable Select option and I have often wondered what it was for. Could you please explain cable select, then tell us how to set the hard drives -- the one that is to be reformatted and the standby?

A. The Cable Select setting is one of the options when setting the jumper switch on the hard drive. Typically these settings consist of Master, Slave and Cable Select, or CS, for hard drives that support this option (almost all modern drives do). With the jumper set to Cable Select, the position the drive has on the IDE ribbon data cable -- either first or second position -- determines whether it is to be Master (boot drive) or Slave. The first connection (at the end of the data cable) is considered the Master; the secondary connection, typically toward the middle of the data cable, will be the Slave drive. The advantage to this system is that when changing your drives around, you no longer need to worry about setting jumpers. For people who use external disk caddys, where you plug in disk drives, this is a major advantage.

Carefully handling attachments

Q. I usually delete, without opening, e-mail that has been forwarded or has an attachment. Recently, I clicked an attachment. A box appeared warning me against opening it and recommending that I "Save to disk" instead. I put a floppy in the A drive, thinking I could save it there, but that wasn't an option. Instead, the attachment was saved to my hard drive, so I deleted it. If the attachment contained a virus, what difference would it make if I opened it in Outlook Express or in Windows Explorer? Wouldn't my computer be infected either way? I am using Windows 98 and Internet Explorer 5.0.

A. You are right: There is no difference between opening an attachment in Outlook Express or Windows Explorer. The reason that this precautionary action was implemented in Outlook Express was to make the user think twice about opening the attachment. Here's a trick I use: I save an attachment with unknown contents as a benign file type, such as a .TXT, or with no file type. Once I am assured that automatic associations with programs capable of running macros or programs are removed, I open the file using Notepad or WordPad. Of course, I can't always view the contents, especially with binary files, but still it's better safe than sorry.

Missing DLL file

Q. When I reboot Windows 98, I get this error message: "A required .DLL file, MSH_ZWF.DLL, was not found." This occurred after I received notification from Norton Antivirus that some files had a virus. I opted to delete the infected files to eliminate the viruses. I did not make a note of which files were deleted. Presumably the DLL file was one of them, since it was after the deletion that this error message started occurring. I tried loading Windows 98 again, but that didn't work.

A. This DLL file is part of the Microsoft Intellimouse software installation. Try reinstalling that software to correct the problem. If you can't find your original install media, you can download the latest version from www.microsoft.com/hardware/mouse/download.asp.

PictureLink problem

Q. I have Windows 98 on my office and home computers. Both have this error message: "Dtole has caused an invalid page fault in module kernel 32.DLL." This occurs when the computer is idle for a few minutes. It has been getting more frequent, and sometimes just before it happens the mouse and keyboard become sluggish. I am not able to shut down the computer when this message is present.

A. This is a known problem if you have installed the Hewlett-Packard PictureLink software that is included with the Hewlett-Packard OfficeJet drivers. You need to contact Hewlett-Packard for an update for this software. To work around this problem, move the Hppicture.lnk file out of the Startup folder. This eliminates the error message at startup, but you should still get the updated drivers.

Missing driver

Q. We have a four-in-one Canon MultiPass C555 printer/scanner/fax/copier. It worked beautifully on our laptop with Windows 98. We had to purchase a new laptop, a Sony Vaio PCG-GR27OP, but we cannot install our Canon printer. We cannot find where we can buy or download a driver, which is probably what it needs. We have looked on the Canon, Sony and Windows Web sites.

A. You can find the driver for this printer at http://209.85.7.18/techsupport.php?q=download&p=mpc555.

Driver problem, not virus

Q. I think I have a virus. When I start my computer, it says it cannot find file ail.exe or one of its components. I click OK, and a message pops up that it could not run ail.exe in the WIN.ini. file. I do not have these files and my antivirus apparently did not detect it. I have tried to download other antivirus programs and nothing seems to help.

A. If you have an InterWave Audio Processor sound card, you may need to reinstall the drivers.

Organizing desktop icons

Q. I used to be able to move my icons anywhere I wanted on my desktop. Now, whenever I drag one to a new place it will not stay there. It immediately jumps to the bottom of the monitor. I have left- and right-clicked, dragged it, but it won't stay.

A. Right-click the Desktop, click Arrange Icons, and check to make sure Auto-Arrange is not selected.

Media Player conflict

Q. I downloaded and installed Windows Media Player 7.1. When I click the icon for the player, it starts to launch, but I get this message: "WMplayer caused an invalid page fault in module wmplayer.exe at 0167:01010bd9." Can you tell me what that means and how to fix it?

A. Try uninstalling Windows Media Player and reinstalling without the Adaptec CD-Burning Plug-in.

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