Please help with unknown icon in taskbar!

Hello,

 

I'm a new user here. I"m running Norton AV version 18.6.0.29 on a Toshiba laptop with Windows XP, and I have an unknown icon that has popped up in my task bar. It looks like a small light gray square--like a computer screen?--and it has a very small red circle with a slash through it on the lower right hand corner of the icon. Of course, it says "no title" on the menu properties screen.

 

Usually when this type of thing has occurred in the past, it's been picked up by my AV but I"m not getting anything in the scan. Does anyone know what this annoying icon is, or how to get rid of it? I'm not seeing any adverse effects yet from it, as far as I can tell.

 

Karl

Thank you, sir, for your reply.

 

The icon did nothing when I clicked on it. Neither right, nor left-click. And yes, the "task bar" as you described..

 

However, I ran a second scan with both Norton and  Advanced Sytem Care 3, and restarted the computer and it disappeared. Alas, the mystery remains. I don't knwo what it was, where it has gone, nor what it was. Nothing came up in the scan reports that identified it as a virus or trojan, etc. Although I fully admit that if it doesn't say "virus" or "trojan"< I wouldn't much know the difference...I've since restarted twice, and it has not come back. Strange.

 

No doubt it came from a porn site. Yeah well,.....:manembarrassed:

 

Thank you for your reply. Hopefully this little bugger doesn't come back...

Hello,

 

I'm a new user here. I"m running Norton AV version 18.6.0.29 on a Toshiba laptop with Windows XP, and I have an unknown icon that has popped up in my task bar. It looks like a small light gray square--like a computer screen?--and it has a very small red circle with a slash through it on the lower right hand corner of the icon. Of course, it says "no title" on the menu properties screen.

 

Usually when this type of thing has occurred in the past, it's been picked up by my AV but I"m not getting anything in the scan. Does anyone know what this annoying icon is, or how to get rid of it? I'm not seeing any adverse effects yet from it, as far as I can tell.

 

Karl

I'm glad it's disappeared ... and that your system is still working after running Advanced System Care ....

 

I wasn't sure what it was so I googled it and came across this:

 

<< I use to use Advance System Care Free, it worked great... until it deleted all my restore points, and my registry.

So, if I were you, I wouldn't even bother with it. The software isn't that good. >> 

 

I'm very wary of any automated application that offers to clean up my registry since I've seen too many systems disabled after people use them (I do support on computers on the Compuserve Forums and there, and even here too, it's not uncommon to get messages posted saying I cleaned up my registry with XXXYYY and now the computer won't start ......

 

The only cleaner I use on the registry very rarely is one that lists what it has found and makes me check each item if I want it done, backs up the registry and only then does the cleanup.

 

Note also that if it runs in the background then any AV malware etc elements can interfere with Norton and neither will run properly.

Hmmmm---thanks, I didn't know that.

 

I'll disable the automatic cleaning elements of it and only use it occasionally. I don't know how to clean up my registry any other way--I"m really not computer-literate like most people. I haven't had any other problems with ASC, but I"ll see how the computer behaves without running on auto.

 

Thaks again for your help and for the information!

 

Karl


karldoog wrote:

 

I don't know how to clean up my registry any other way



You don't have to. You don't gain any performance by cleaning the registry. All you do is risk removing necessary keys. There is no way a few leftover registry keys can impact system performance. And if the registry really is corrupt, a "registry cleaner" can't fix it.

 

If you still want to remove keys that are no longer in use, go with CCleaner:

 

http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/

 

It is free, and safe. I've never heard of it removing the wrong keys by mistake. But, as I said earlier, "registry cleaners" and "registry boosters" are snake oil, and you don't really need them, no matter how essential the ads for them make them sound.

The icon is very easy to describe. Its your laptop touchpad. The read line through it means you disable it. Its that easy from your dissrption.