Unexpected file and application deletions

February 23, 2008

Can anyone throw any light on this bizarre problem? In fact I have 2

problems which may or may not be related. When I power up my computer it has

started going directly into the BIOS setup - not always but about 80% of the

time. I exit from this without saving changes and it then boots up in the

normal way.

The second problem is that when I double click on a desktop icon to start a

program, the application opens but I also get a dialogue box headed 'confirm

file delete' which sits on top of everything else stopping me from any

further clicks until I chose one option inside the box. If I press any of

the buttons (yes/no) or even click the cross in the top right corner, the

application starts to be deleted and I have to rush for the power off button.

If I am opening Outlook Express, clicking anything in this box starts the

permanent deletion of all my emails. It is now happening if I right click on

the icon and select 'open' or even access it through the start menu.

My computer has AMI BIOS v5.7, Win XP SP2, P4 2.4 GHz processor, 1Gb RAM.

Has anyone seen either of these problems before? I am more than happy to do

a repair re-install of Windows but that won't solve the BIOS problem - or

will it?

All comments would be most appreciated.

John

February 23, 2008

Re: Unexpected file and application deletions

Your system is infected - start all you security/protection programs - if

you can.

"John Earle" <JohnEarle@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:9B766DCE-E74B-4898-81C4-0AA06C9B3467@microsoft.com...

> Can anyone throw any light on this bizarre problem? In fact I have 2

> problems which may or may not be related. When I power up my computer it

> has

> started going directly into the BIOS setup - not always but about 80% of

> the

> time. I exit from this without saving changes and it then boots up in the

> normal way.

>

> The second problem is that when I double click on a desktop icon to start

> a

> program, the application opens but I also get a dialogue box headed

> 'confirm

> file delete' which sits on top of everything else stopping me from any

> further clicks until I chose one option inside the box. If I press any of

> the buttons (yes/no) or even click the cross in the top right corner, the

> application starts to be deleted and I have to rush for the power off

> button.

> If I am opening Outlook Express, clicking anything in this box starts the

> permanent deletion of all my emails. It is now happening if I right click

> on

> the icon and select 'open' or even access it through the start menu.

>

> My computer has AMI BIOS v5.7, Win XP SP2, P4 2.4 GHz processor, 1Gb RAM.

> Has anyone seen either of these problems before? I am more than happy to

> do

> a repair re-install of Windows but that won't solve the BIOS problem - or

> will it?

>

> All comments would be most appreciated.

>

> John

February 23, 2008

Re: Unexpected file and application deletions

The date and time was 2/23/2008 12:46 PM, and on a whim, John Earle

pounded out on the keyboard:

> Can anyone throw any light on this bizarre problem? In fact I have 2

> problems which may or may not be related. When I power up my computer it has

> started going directly into the BIOS setup - not always but about 80% of the

> time. I exit from this without saving changes and it then boots up in the

> normal way.

>

> The second problem is that when I double click on a desktop icon to start a

> program, the application opens but I also get a dialogue box headed 'confirm

> file delete' which sits on top of everything else stopping me from any

> further clicks until I chose one option inside the box. If I press any of

> the buttons (yes/no) or even click the cross in the top right corner, the

> application starts to be deleted and I have to rush for the power off button.

> If I am opening Outlook Express, clicking anything in this box starts the

> permanent deletion of all my emails. It is now happening if I right click on

> the icon and select 'open' or even access it through the start menu.

>

> My computer has AMI BIOS v5.7, Win XP SP2, P4 2.4 GHz processor, 1Gb RAM.

> Has anyone seen either of these problems before? I am more than happy to do

> a repair re-install of Windows but that won't solve the BIOS problem - or

> will it?

>

> All comments would be most appreciated.

>

> John

Hi John,

Did you swap out the mouse and keyboard to eliminate them from the

troubleshooting first?

Does the same thing happen when you're in Windows Safe Mode?

--

Terry R.

***Reply Note***

Anti-spam measures are included in my email address.

Delete NOSPAM from the email address after clicking Reply.

February 23, 2008

Re: Unexpected file and application deletions

"John Earle" <JohnEarle@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:9B766DCE-E74B-4898-81C4-0AA06C9B3467@microsoft.com...

> Can anyone throw any light on this bizarre problem? In fact I have 2

> problems which may or may not be related. When I power up my computer it

> has

> started going directly into the BIOS setup - not always but about 80% of

> the

> time. I exit from this without saving changes and it then boots up in the

> normal way.

>

> The second problem is that when I double click on a desktop icon to start

> a

> program, the application opens but I also get a dialogue box headed

> 'confirm

> file delete' which sits on top of everything else stopping me from any

> further clicks until I chose one option inside the box. If I press any of

> the buttons (yes/no) or even click the cross in the top right corner, the

> application starts to be deleted and I have to rush for the power off

> button.

> If I am opening Outlook Express, clicking anything in this box starts the

> permanent deletion of all my emails. It is now happening if I right click

> on

> the icon and select 'open' or even access it through the start menu.

>

> My computer has AMI BIOS v5.7, Win XP SP2, P4 2.4 GHz processor, 1Gb RAM.

> Has anyone seen either of these problems before? I am more than happy to

> do

> a repair re-install of Windows but that won't solve the BIOS problem - or

> will it?

>

> All comments would be most appreciated.

>

> John

Your first problem is hardware related - best to post in

a hardware group.

Your second problem is probably caused by malware or

by a virus, as Jerry suggests. At the very least you should

run msconfig.exe and examine the startup tasks in detail.

Better to scan your machine for viruses, e.g. here:

http://www.trendmicro.com. Look for "House Call".

February 24, 2008

RE: Unexpected file and application deletions

Thank you all for your very helpful comments.

I apologise because I should have said in my original post that I have

Norton Internet Security always running, Norton Firewall instead of Windows

Firewall and virus definitions fully updated. I do a full system scan

regularly which reveals nothing worse than tracking cookies so how anything

could have got onto my system is a mystery.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

John

February 24, 2008

Re: Unexpected file and application deletions

John Earle wrote: