Member Avatar for bum4evr

It doesnt happen too often, and when It does happen its only for 5 minutes or so and then things go back to normal, but when it does happen its very weird. When I go to open any folder, recycle bin, My Computer or My Documents folders, instead of seeing whats supposed to be in those folders, I see the contents of my desktop instead, all desktop files, folders and shortcuts are there. Then after A few minutes, everything goes back to normal again.

This started happening about a month ago and only happens once a week or after 3 or 4 days or so, its not too serious but im curious as to whats causing it. Ive ran malwarebytes and Avg virus scan and come up with nothing and ive always got comodo firewall running so Im not sure if its a virus.


Anyone have any Ideas?

Winxp Home Version 2002, Service pack 3.
Gateway 8510gz laptop- 2gigs ram

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  • Latest Post Latest Post by Bob_180_Bob

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Short, focused troubleshooting to narrow this down (you’ve already done the basic scans). , since the symptom is intermittent and reverts after a few minutes, it’s more likely an Explorer/shell interaction or per‑profile redirection than a simple file‑system error; ’s suggestion to check system files and run scans is sensible, but try the isolation steps below before doing an in-place repair.

First, isolate environment and profile: boot to Safe Mode (press F8) and exercise folders. If the problem vanishes, a third‑party shell extension or service is the usual culprit. Create a fresh local user and test there—if the new account is clean, the problem is profile‑specific. Also check the Application/System logs in Event Viewer around the times the glitch appears for explorer.exe or shell errors (those log entries point you at a failing component). (learn.microsoft.com)

If Safe Mode / a new profile suggests third‑party code, disable non‑Microsoft shell extensions and startup items in batches. Use ShellExView to hide Microsoft extensions and disable third‑party handlers in halves (50/50 until you find the offender); ShellExView can restart Explorer for you after changes. Use Autoruns to inspect Run/RunOnce, Explorer add‑ons and scheduled items and uncheck suspicious entries. Test between changes and re‑enable everything else once you find the bad item. (nirsoft.net)

If neither of the above helps, check for accidental folder redirection or profile mapping: right‑click My Documents → Properties to see the target, and inspect (but do not edit lightly) HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\User Shell Folders — export the key first if you edit. If the profile is corrupted, create a new user and migrate data; otherwise consider System Restore or a repair install as a last resort. (support.microsoft.com)

Caution: back up data and export the registry before edits; disable only non‑Microsoft items while testing. These steps will usually identify whether it’s a bad shell extension, a bad startup/service, or a per‑user redirect rather than random malware.

Member Avatar for Bob_180_Bob

Hi,
Sounds like you need to remove a virus. Even though you have AVG you can still get a virus, Go to:-
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/
or:-

Download and run to remove any viruses you may have. (Sometimes a virus will stop you accessing an anti-virus site, so try going through safe mode (Tap F8 on boot up) and see if you can access it there.)

Sometimes, some of the windows protected files can be lost or changed. To detect any problems run the program “System File Checker” (SFC). Before you run it you should purge your PC’s cache:-

Go to “START”
Click “RUN”
Type or “copy and paste”.. sfc.exe /purgecache

Note:- the space after “exe”.

The “purgecache” in this command will empty the cache before you run the file checker. You should always purge the cache before scanning with the System File Checker (SFC). That way, you can be sure that system files are copied from your Windows installation media, and are not infected with malware or corrupted. After the cache has been purged, run System File Checker.

Go to “START”
Click “RUN”
Type or “copy and paste”… sfc.exe /scannow

Note:- the space after “exe”. You may be required to use your installation disk.

This could take a long time to complete, when finished, reboot and see if the problem still exists.

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