Startup Wallpaper

I have a nice fishing picture set as wallpaper on my dad's pentium II
computer running Windows 98. Recently he received some malware (it
downloaded itself) which contained a parasite. I used Ad-Aware SE
Personal to remove it. Everything works fine except that while the
machine is booting, the correct wallpaper appears for a second, is
replaced by the Window's default plain "green" background, then a few
seconds later reverts back to the correct one. I have looked at the
win.ini and system.ini files as well as the registry, but cannot find
the cause of this irritation. Can anyone shed any light on this shell
game?

Mr. Atos;

Until/unless someone responds who *really* knows the exact solution, you
might try:.....

If you already have the original of your dad's pic in docs OK. If not,
create a copy.
Go to Control Panel Display Background, and select (None)
Restart and observe what happens. If you don't see the 'winking effect',
you're probably OK. Run Ad-Aware or CW Shredder or even AVG on your docs to
be sure the pic file is not a threat. And re-institute as wallpaper it if
you wish.

If you do see the 'winking effect' I anticipate the next thing to do is what
Gary Terhune calls a Clean Boot:
From: Gary S. Terhune )
Subject: Clean Boot -- What it is and why you need it
View: Complete Thread (8 articles)
Original Format
Newsgroups: microsoft.public.win98.gen discussion
Date: 2004-01-24 08:33:34 PST

I had a non-hijackware problem with my wallpaper a while back which behaved
as you describe, and this resolved it.

If you are stuck beyond this, you might have to consider creating a
'Hijackthis' report and submitting it to Lockergnomes or SWI (Spyware Info).

Happy trails,

rooster
boundary bay, bc

Thanks rooster. I have performed the first task already with no
results. I have reviewed and printed Gary's article and will attempt
the procedure on my next visit to see my parents. Appreciate the saving
hand.

"Mr. Atos" wrote in message oups.com...
Thanks rooster. I have performed the first task already with no
results. I have reviewed and printed Gary's article and will attempt
the procedure on my next visit to see my parents. Appreciate the saving
hand.

Also turn off "Active desktop" if you aren't using it.
(Right click the desktopActive desktopView as web page)

What can happen (visible on slower machines with large wallpaper files)
is that the desktop wallpaper will load, Windows will clear that, and
then load the AD web-page. You probably have the desktop wallpaper and
AD wallpaper set to the same file. If they were different you'd see the same
thing but different wallpapers.

Thanks, Bill. I will check that feature out also.

Bill, it was the "Active Desktop". The parasite must have enabled it
some how. Thanks for the tip!

"Mr. Atos" wrote in message oups.com...
Bill, it was the "Active Desktop". The parasite must have enabled it
some how. Thanks for the tip!

You're welcome..