Unusual background program

[MnSue]

Recently I have noticed "floater images" from "my picture" folder running BEHIND my screen's wallpaper.

The images float across the screen from the lower right to the mid area on the left side of my monitor. I started to notice this periodically in the last month when I switch from the internet to another program, for example, in the "brief moment" between applications .

I have ran Spyware Doctor Deep scan for viruses. I have ran, from the assessories, both the Disk cleanup and defrag'er. I have downloaded all the Microsoft updates (windows XP) and anti-virus updates.

I have checked the task manager, and no applications show active, however, I did see CPU activity for "pctsSvc.exe" and have no idea what that is.

My IT guy at work hasn't heard of this before, so I thought I try the computer knowledgable grumblers.

anyone have any ideas?

:smiley:thanks:smiley:

 

[Mike Labbe]

The process in question is "PC Tools Spyware Doctor"

I suggest doing a free scan with the tool at www.malwarebytes.org I trust this more than Spyware Doctor to identify any potential issues.

Does this happen only after the screensaver has been running? If so, try changing to a different screen saver to see if this could be a factor.

Mike

 

[MnSue]

Hi Mike
Just finished the Malware scan. It found some minor items - which the Spyware Doctor may have missed...

Also, changes to a generic wallpaper, so I'll check if there are any differences.

thanks for the assistance. I'll let you know if the "ghosts" reappear - or not!

 

[Jim3535]

If the images are static and in the same places that they were in your my pictures folder, then it sounds like a screen redrawing issue. This is common in XP and earlier versions of windows. When applications hang, are busy (and not well threaded), or the system is busy, you can see artifacts of what was there before until the system / program gets around to redrawing the screen.

If the images move or float across the screen then it's probably something worse. You can also try these since all scanners seem to miss some stuff.

• Ad-aware free (don't get suckered into the payed for version)
• Spybot Search & Destroy
• AVG free (antivirus)