Member Avatar for dougiedickson

When i close a window it leaves a trail as though there are loads of the same window open, i,ve had this b4 and it was a virus but i,ve done a full scan and nothing!Defrag the lot

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Dani AI

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A few follow-up notes after 's report and the helpful replies from and . Because 's suggestion cleared the symptom, this kind of "window trailing" is more commonly a graphics/Explorer redraw or driver/acceleration issue than an active virus. A full malware scan is still worthwhile, but the diagnostics below help narrow root cause and prevent future recurrences.

A practical diagnostic sequence: boot into Safe Mode (basic VGA driver and minimal shell extensions). If the trailing disappears there, the culprit is almost certainly a video driver or a third‑party shell extension. If it persists in Safe Mode, suspect failing GPU/video memory, bad RAM, or corrupted system files. Capture driver and DirectX info with dxdiag before changing anything so the original state is known.

Useful checks and fixes (in order):

  • Update the GPU driver from the hardware vendor (Intel/ATI/NVIDIA) rather than relying only on Windows Update.
  • Temporarily reduce hardware acceleration from System Properties -> Advanced -> Performance -> Troubleshooting to see if acceleration triggers the artifact.
  • Run System File Checker to repair system files:
    sfc /scannow
  • Perform a clean boot with msconfig (disable non‑Microsoft services/startup) to isolate third‑party shell extensions; use a shell‑extension viewer to disable non‑Microsoft handlers if needed.
  • If the artifact is tied to animations, re-enable Visual Effects one at a time to identify the specific option (common suspects: animate windows when minimizing/maximizing, show window contents while dragging, fade/slide menus).

Hardware checks if software fixes fail: test with a different monitor/cable, reseat the video card, check GPU temperatures, and run a memory test. If malware remains a concern after these steps, run an up‑to‑date rootkit/anti‑rootkit scanner or offline rescue tool. These steps explain why 's change likely worked and provide a path to a stable, visually restored system without masking an underlying fault.

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Member Avatar for chris5126

Sounds like spyware to me try downloading ewido this will find nearly all spyware programs that have infected your computer that other spyware and even anti virus software will fail to pick up download a free trial from here see what it finds http://www.ewido.net/en/ Hope this is helpfull

Member Avatar for gemini4

Hey Dougie to get this fixed go to System Properties/Advanced, Performance Settings and put a dot in Optimize for performance.

Member Avatar for dougiedickson

Tried both methods and A ok chaps! Thanx again!
At the rate we are going i'll have the fastest pc in the western world lol! (i wish) I just have lots of little probs but never seem to have the time to sort tilll now
Dougie

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