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re: Taskbar Issues Thursday, January 6, 2005 at 3:01 pm Posted by rob (721 messages posted) Does this happen when your anti-virus or firewall is disabled? Also, what apps would you have open - which flash and have difficulty opening? On Thursday, January 6, 2005 at 2:40 pm, Alena wrote: >This is one of the weirdest problems I've encountered with my computer, and I can't >seem to trace it to anything or fix it. > >My taskbar is totally acting up and I find it more than annoying. The quick launch >and notification areas seem to work fine, but I'm having major issues with open windows/applications. > As an example, I have three windows open right now, and they are displayed in the >taskbar. The current window's tab is highlighted as normal. When I click on another >window's tab, instead of opening that window, the tab flashes orange. After about >five seconds, it stays solid orange. When I click on the orange tab, the window >does not appear. Clicking on any other tab only causes it to flash orange, too, >without opening the window. In order to stop the madness, or if I want to use the >taskbar to get to another program, I have to minimize all the windows but the one >I want. > >I'm able to open already minimized windows and it works the way it's supposed to, >but that's where the working-like-it's-supposed-to ends. I'm very frustrated and >annoyed.. I tried searching for my problem but I'm not even sure what to search for! > >I fiddled around in Taskbar Properties, restarted.. I just noticed this problem today >after the installation of a Wi-Fi adapter and new software/drivers for it. > >Please help me! > >Thanks in advance, > >Alena [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Taskbar Issues Thursday, January 6, 2005 at 3:27 pm Posted by Alena (14 messages posted) I tried disabling both and the taskbar is still acting up. I also can't right-click on any of the tabs, and doing so does absolutely nothing. I have IE open and Billy (a small mp3 player). Thanks! Alena On Thursday, January 6, 2005 at 3:01 pm, rob wrote: >Does this happen when your anti-virus or firewall is >disabled? > >Also, what apps would you have open - which flash and have difficulty opening? [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Taskbar Issues Thursday, January 6, 2005 at 3:44 pm Posted by rob (721 messages posted) Okay, last time I saw this problem it was Norton causing it...it was scanning every app. before (and sometimes after opening) Update your anti-virus scanner and run it. I do not think this is a malware related issue. On Thursday, January 6, 2005 at 3:27 pm, Alena wrote: >I tried disabling both and the taskbar is still acting up. I also can't right-click >on any of the tabs, and doing so does absolutely nothing. > >I have IE open and Billy (a small mp3 player). > >Thanks! > >Alena > > > > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Taskbar Issues Thursday, January 6, 2005 at 3:46 pm Posted by matt (876 messages posted) NEVER disable your firewall and antivirus if you are connected to the net. And never listen to anyone that would tell you to disable them. On Thursday, January 6, 2005 at 2:40 pm, Alena wrote: >This is one of the weirdest problems I've encountered with my computer, and I can't >seem to trace it to anything or fix it. > >My taskbar is totally acting up and I find it more than annoying. The quick launch >and notification areas seem to work fine, but I'm having major issues with open windows/applications. > As an example, I have three windows open right now, and they are displayed in the >taskbar. The current window's tab is highlighted as normal. When I click on another >window's tab, instead of opening that window, the tab flashes orange. After about >five seconds, it stays solid orange. When I click on the orange tab, the window >does not appear. Clicking on any other tab only causes it to flash orange, too, >without opening the window. In order to stop the madness, or if I want to use the >taskbar to get to another program, I have to minimize all the windows but the one >I want. > >I'm able to open already minimized windows and it works the way it's supposed to, >but that's where the working-like-it's-supposed-to ends. I'm very frustrated and >annoyed.. I tried searching for my problem but I'm not even sure what to search for! > >I fiddled around in Taskbar Properties, restarted.. I just noticed this problem today >after the installation of a Wi-Fi adapter and new software/drivers for it. > >Please help me! > >Thanks in advance, > >Alena [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Taskbar Issues Thursday, January 6, 2005 at 3:57 pm Posted by rob (721 messages posted) a momentary disabling of av and fw apps. for diagnostic purposes is IMO a low risk. having them continually on, even when troubleshooting is a bit pedantic don't you think? On Thursday, January 6, 2005 at 3:46 pm, matt wrote: >NEVER disable your firewall and antivirus if you are connected to the net. And never >listen to anyone that would tell you to disable them. > > > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Taskbar Issues Thursday, January 6, 2005 at 4:33 pm Posted by matt (876 messages posted) No I don't think. Especially since blaster worm and a few other things out there get people without firewalls. On Thursday, January 6, 2005 at 3:57 pm, rob wrote: >a momentary disabling of av and fw apps. >for diagnostic purposes is IMO a low risk. > >having them continually on, even when troubleshooting is a bit pedantic don't you >think? > > > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Taskbar Issues Thursday, January 6, 2005 at 4:49 pm Posted by Alena (14 messages posted) I generally run Ad-Aware and Spybot on a weekly basis, and disabling Norton didn't seem to help. I'm going to uninstall Systemworks and install the Norton AntiVirus my school provides and see if it helps. -- Alena On Thursday, January 6, 2005 at 3:44 pm, rob wrote: >Okay, last time I saw this problem it was Norton causing it...it was scanning every >app. before (and sometimes after opening) > >Update your anti-virus scanner and run it. > >I do not think this is a malware related issue. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Taskbar Issues Thursday, January 6, 2005 at 5:12 pm Posted by rob (721 messages posted) Not going to engage into a petty squabble with u Matt...This board is here to HELP people with their windows problems NOT for posters to engage in non-constructive squabbling. My statement that av and fw protection can be disabled momentarily for diagnostic/troubleshooting purposes is merely a statement of opinion and not fact. IMO, users can easily disconnect their internet connection during the troubleshooting process, drastically reducing the probability of viruses etc, thus enabling them to saftely disable av and fw apps. On Thursday, January 6, 2005 at 4:33 pm, matt wrote: >No I don't think. Especially since blaster worm and a few other things out there >get people without firewalls. > > > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Taskbar Issues Thursday, January 6, 2005 at 5:27 pm Posted by Alena (14 messages posted) Well, the problem is thankfully resolved. That was so annoying! I have little doubt it was Norton, because after I thought about it, I remembered that after I got the WiFi adapter working and internet again, I was prompted by LiveUpdate to do multiple rounds of updating and restarting. Because it didn't prompt me after the last restart, I thought it was done. In any case, I figured out how to uninstall just Norton AntiVirus, and installed the Corporate NT version. Whatever the issue, it seems to be fixed now. Thanks! -- Alena [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Taskbar Issues Thursday, January 6, 2005 at 5:31 pm Posted by rob (721 messages posted) Glad you solved your problem Alena. On Thursday, January 6, 2005 at 4:33 pm, matt wrote: >No I don't think. Especially since blaster worm and a few other things out there >get people without firewalls. > > > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Taskbar Issues Thursday, January 6, 2005 at 6:28 pm Posted by matt (876 messages posted) If you read my original post I said not to do it while connected to the net. On Thursday, January 6, 2005 at 5:12 pm, rob wrote: >Not going to engage into a petty squabble with u Matt...This board is here to HELP >people with their windows problems NOT for posters to engage in non-constructive >squabbling. > >My statement that av and fw protection can be disabled momentarily for diagnostic/troubleshooting >purposes is merely a statement of opinion and not fact. IMO, users can easily disconnect >their internet >connection during the troubleshooting process, drastically reducing the probability >of viruses etc, thus enabling them to saftely disable av and fw apps. > > > > > [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Taskbar Issues Thursday, January 6, 2005 at 8:37 pm Posted by Falcon (13489 messages posted) Rob, he is correct. You can be infected in 10 seconds flat. Some people have even been infected in the time from network initialization until firewall initialization. The Wereotter [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Taskbar Issues Friday, January 7, 2005 at 11:18 am Posted by Alena (14 messages posted) I'm just curious, how does that happen? I'm not a computer n00b by any means, and I know enough about viruses to feel very confident about preventing them, but I admit I know little about worms. Thanks, and I, too, am very glad I solved the problem. :D -- Alena On Thursday, January 6, 2005 at 8:37 pm, Otter wrote: >Rob, he is correct. You can be infected in 10 seconds flat. Some people have even >been infected in the time from network initialization until firewall initialization. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Taskbar Issues Friday, January 7, 2005 at 11:36 am Posted by Falcon (13489 messages posted) First, you must understand how a computer program works internally. Imagine that you're writing a program that needs to do an operation several times in several places, such as, for example, finding the maximum value of a number. if(X1 > X2) X = X2 else X = X1 if(Y1 > Y2) Y = Y2 else Y = Y1 if(Z1 > Z2) Z = Z2 else Z = Z1 As you see, this can get tedious to write and even more tedious to maintain. Thus, functions were introduced: function min(First, Second) returns a Number { if(First > Second) return First else return Second } X = min(X1, X2) Y = min(Y1, Y2) Z = min(Z1, Z2) Now, as you see, the min is used in three places. How does the computer know what it should do next? Meet the stack: The computer keeps track of what it must do next by placing the address of the next instruction after the function call onto the stack. You might think of the stack just like a stack of papers, for example. You can look at the top paper, remove the top paper, or put another paper on top. In a computer, the new item is added to the bottom (lowest address) of the stack, however. Perhaps you already see the problem--if computers usually copy data from the lowest address to the highest, but the stack grows from highest to lowest, what happens if a program tries to copy more data to the stack than space it reserved for that data? This is called a buffer overrun (or overflow). Thus, when the function returns, the injected code is run. Usually this code is quite small, and simply serves to load the remainder of the virus from somewhere else. For Blaster, it uses the TFTP protocol to transfer a file. For Slammer, the virus is contained completely in the initial attack. The Wereotter [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Taskbar Issues Friday, January 7, 2005 at 1:27 pm Posted by Falcon (13489 messages posted) Note that quite often, the initial portion of the virus fits within 1 TCP packet. That would be about 1.2 KByte max, for most connections. Thus, the infector is about 10,000 bits in length. Even the worst modems usually connect at 28,800 bits per second. Infection time is thus less than half a second. Once the virus has run, it shouldn't have too much trouble getting the rest of its code, if present, in as well. The Wereotter [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Taskbar Issues Friday, January 7, 2005 at 2:12 pm Posted by matt (876 messages posted) Thanks Otter. I was not trying to engage in a petty squabble as rob suggested. I was trying to inform of the dangers of dropping firewall and antivirus protection while connected to the net. I am glad that you picked up on that and made me feel better about my statement. Thanks again. On Thursday, January 6, 2005 at 8:37 pm, Otter wrote: >Rob, he is correct. You can be infected in 10 seconds flat. Some people have even >been infected in the time from network initialization until firewall initialization. [Reply or follow-up to this message] re: Taskbar Issues Friday, January 7, 2005 at 3:09 pm Posted by Alena (14 messages posted) Very interesting and informative, thanks for posting that! -- Alena On Friday, January 7, 2005 at 1:27 pm, Otter wrote: >Note that quite often, the initial portion of the virus fits within 1 TCP packet. >That would be about 1.2 KByte max, for most connections. Thus, the infector is about >10,000 bits in length. Even the worst modems usually connect at 28,800 bits per second. >Infection time is thus less than half a second. Once the virus has run, it shouldn't >have too much trouble getting the rest of its code, if present, in as well. 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