What's up with this computer?

“For about the last week or so the icons on my desktop sometimes want to run away from my mouse pointer. At first I thought it was just the bourbon, but it's not! This seems to happen after the machine has been on for a couple of hours - not when it is first turned on.
I remember reading about some similar virus thing awhile back, but the Norton antivirus software hasn't fixed this (updated it this morning).
Also, email messages apparently are being sent automatically to people in my address book. These seem to be fragments of Word documents. Just now, for example, after the machine booted up, I got a window telling me that an outgoing message was being scanned for viruses. I don't even have outlook express open.
Anybody have any ideas??”

“Sounds like a virus, dude.”

“Freaky. What was in that bourbon besides bourbon?”

“Virus or you have some prank program running in the background.”

“Yep, I agree with Zeus.

If it's a box at work someone might be messing with you. If it's a box at home you probably have a virus.”

“If it doesn't find anything try McAfee antivirus. Sometimes one will find things the other won't.”

“Norton can't detect every virus, even if you have the latest version.”

“For your sake, I hope it's someone playing a joke. Otherwise, it sounds like a 'Magistr' worm.
Here's some info. Note the 'Indications of Infection' section. Good Luck
Link”

“There are other versions.... just enter-- magistr --in the search line and you will see several. It is a very nasty worm.”

“C:\My Documents\My Pictures\Whitney-Mammoth 8-01\Dsc00007.jpg”

“there's a great online check system also.. www.antivirus as i recall.”

“Here's the one that I was actually looking for, on the Magistr.
Link

I sincerely hope that you haven't got this bug”

“That virus sounds nasty. Open your CD-ROM drive and pour a shot of Nyquil into it. It will have a good sleep.”

“NOT!



I do sincerely hope it was just something in the bourbon, but that was the worm that sprang to mind when you described the symptoms. Good luck, I hope we're wrong.”

“if your system is sending emails by itself then you have a worm...”

“Hodgeman - sounds like you're right on the money. The link you provided as well as additional info from Symantec confirm it. I'm about to do the fix.
If anybody smells smoke, let me know.....”

“Where to begin..... Well for starter even time I start my computer I receive these messages...

1) 'cannot find WPSAPD.DLL Windows need this file to run c:\window\system\wpsload.exe'

2) 'wpsload.exe access to the specified device path or files denied'

3)'Desktop could not load or run 'wpsload.exe' specified the win.ini file. make sure the file exists on your computer or remove the reference to it in the win.ini file.'

Any idea what all this means. I can't remember doing anything that might have cause this warning to show up before my computer was fully booted up. Any idea on what I should do or what I did?


Another thing I have been using Netscape Commmunicator 4.7 for years now because IE and I just don't get along. There seems to be a endless supply of 'pop-ups' when every I use IE. Most annoying.

Even after rebooting my computer I am only able to surf for a few moments before its slows to a complete stop. Something is causing my computer to slow up. Bytes received and sent comes to a complete halt. And the funny thing is the only 'bookmarked' site that loads when all this is happening is Phil's photo page. Nothing seems to load except for Phil's page. I just don't get it. Why Phil's page and not any others.

I dial up for connection, do those phone #'s every go bad or get to 'crowded'. Because I have never had any sort of problem with the connection until a few nights ago and those file warnings though have been popping up for a few months now.

Is it time to take this thing in to have it looked at or is there anything I could do, like try a newer browser or something?

if there is anything I can think of I will bring it to attention because this really blows. Any buddy need a boat anchor?”

“The first warning message is caused by a line in your win.ini file running a program called wpsload.exe. For some reason, a DLL that this program is dependent upon, WPSAPD.DLL, is missing. Did you remove some software a couple of months ago? The way to fix this is to edit your win.ini file and remove the line which is running wpsload.exe, or to locate and reinstall WPSAPD.DLL.

The other problem is a litte odder. I think that since it is a new problem, the likely cause is the failure of a piece of network hardware somewhere down the line from you. The most likely reason that Phil's page loads quickly is that you have it cached on your computer locally, there it appears to be loading quickly, but in reality it's just opening local files. I bet if you clear out your cache, Phil's page won't load either.

I've had problems similar to this with Windows ME, but not after a reboot. It may be that some part of your modem has gone kaflooie, but then I doubt if you'd be able to even get connected.

As far as the lines getting crowded, it can happen sorta like that, what really happens is that your ISP's connection to the Internet can get saturated if they have enough users trying to move large amounts of data at the same time. But most ISPs have REALLY FAT PIPES to the outside, and that's a rare problem, at least to the degree that you're seeing. Another less likely but more insidious possibility is that your ISP is purposely degrading dialup service in order to get their dialup customers to switch to some sort of fast access, either cable modem or DSL. Does your ISP offer a high-speed connection?

Sorry I couldn't be more help. You might try calling your ISP, but they are notorious for blaming the problem on your equipment and doing nothing.”

“Another thing I have notice is when all the windows, programs are closed down, and I'm still connnected to the internet, my computer will not always recognize that that has happened. I would in the past normally receive a little popup asking me if I would like to disconnnect, a simple yes or no question, but many a time this will not happen as if something is still allowing the modem to stay open or my computer has not realized that the windows are closed and I'm wanting to disconnnect. The only way to disconnect is to hit the little CPU icon in the corner, which shows me the byte count. Any of you savvy computerheads got any clues as to what ails my computer, besides me?”

“It sounds like you've changed some sort of preference in whatever browser you're using. Windows by default doesn't care if you have a browser open or not, it'll stay connected until you tell it to disconnect, or automatically after a period of time if you have set it up to do that. The method you describe as "the only way to disconnect" is the way I disconnect every time. Did you recently change or upgrade your browser?”

“YES!!

Well along time ago I tried out the new Netscape 6.0. Thinking it would be a better browser or something. I was just looking to speed up the process of 'surfing'. I hated it. It loaded slower than the present Communicator 4.7 that I've been using from the get go. I know that deletion caused some retreival problems with some personal doc. files. And now since I nolonger use 6.0 and have, mistakenly, removed it I have problems accessing certain files.

The 4.7 version I guess was just the bare bones needed to surf and 6.0 just had to many bells on it that slowed it down.

I have no idea on where to begin looking to change those files. Is that something a greenhorn like myself to locate and fix? If I was to make back up files of certain files would I also be backing up my problems? Would re installing win98 help out? or is that more than is called for?”

“Netscape 6.0 is a fiasco. Sadly, Microsoft does make a superior browser. The reason you get more pop-ups with IE is because active scripting is on by default.

You don't have to reinstall Windows 98. When you removed Netscape 6.0, did you use the delivered "remove" or "uninstall" utility, or did you just delete it? If you just deleted it, that is probably the source of much of your trouble. Always, always, always use the "uninstall" if one is available. If you can't find one, then go to the Control Panel and look for an icon named "Add/Remove Programs" or something similar to that. Some programs put the uninstall in there. Find the program you wish to uninstall, select it, and press the "uninstall" or "remove" button. This will uninstall the program properly and reduce the problems you will have in the future.

Now, back to your current problem. One of the reasons that things don't seem to be working as well is because when you got rid of Netscape 6.0, you probably lost a lot of file associations. File associations are what Windows users to determine which program to use to open a file, based on its filename extension. The best way to try and fix this is to reinstall Netscape 4.7, if you can. Doing that will probably get you back to where you were before you installed Netscape 6.0.

This will probably not fix your "slow Internet" problems, though. Contrary to what a lot of software vendors will claim, upgrading your browsing software will not make browsing any faster. The only thing that will do that (noticeably anyway) is a hardware change. I assume you're using a 56K modem, right? The only way to get faster than that is to go to DSL, cable modem, or ISDN, although ISDN is passe' now because of the availability of faster options.”

“chug chuggin along with my 56k baby!!

I really can't recall, but I believe I did use the uninstall way of removal with a few deletion of icons and file name from some areas.

Well I'm back to using IE again!!! After a few moments on Netscape and browsing TT it just locked up. I wonder since I have an older IE, lurking about if that has caused any problems even though 4.7 as been my main default browser for years

I guess I will have to try to find that 4.7 version again. But I have feeling that will be impossible. I have looked at 'patches' in the past to see if they would alleviate my problems. Any idea as to where I might find that same 4.7 version?”

“Something you may be interested in downloading is a program called "pop-up stopper". It is a free add-on that can be downloaded at http://www.popupstopper.net/. I have it on my computer and never have a pop-up unless it's turned off (there is an icon in the system tray that makes it easy to turn off and on).”

“Just out of curiosity, Briar Rabbit, how much free space do you have on your C: drive? It may be that you've filled your drive with cached information, and that is causing problems. Clearing your cache might help some. I'm sorry, but I can't remember how to do that on Netscape 4.7.


If you look around on your C: drive, you may find the original self-extracting ZIP executable that you used to deliver 4.7 the first time. Wish I could remember what it's called, but I can't. The ol' brain is missing a few cylinders this morning...”

“Hey Bitpusher, thanks for the help!! I spent a good part of yesterday screwing around with my problem. Uninstalled the old browser then tried to install a new version. It wouldn't let me. It said I still had a netscape/window running. Which I don't think I did.
I don't know if I did anything to alleviate my browser problem but for the moment it is working. Although I am still unable to access some files since uninstalling the 6.0v.”

“Try rebooting and then installing the new version. That should clear out any old ghost processes that are out there.

The next time it says something like you have a process or window running still, key the CTRL-ALT-DEL sequence. That will show you a list of processes that are running. You may find a ghost or zombie process running that you can't see on the Desktop. Highlight it in the list, then select the "End Task" button to terminate it.

From what I remember about running Netscape on Win95, it was really bad about leaving zombies behind. If it's doing that a lot, that usually means that Win98 is asking you nicely to reboot before it locks up completely.

And you're welcome for the help. I'm no Windows guru, but I do try to pass around what I've learned.”