Black screen popping up and disappearing immediately after

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FlamingFox
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Black screen popping up and disappearing immediately after

Post by FlamingFox »

There's this black screen that keeps popping up while I do my work, or anything on the computer, and it always appears after just a couple of minutes. The screen is the same as the one you use to type written commands in, but the screen has nothing written on it, and it's pretty annoying. It hardly does anything, but I'm worried that it may be spyware or something potentially dangerous. It disappears too quickly for me to take a screenie of it, so all I can do is describe it, I guess.

Thanks in advance!
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m1scha.m
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Post by m1scha.m »

Are you talking about the Command Line Interface? (start > run > type cmd > click ok if you aren't sure)

What are you doing when it happens? Is it the same each time?
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malliz
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Post by malliz »

It does sound like Spyware/Malware
What sort of man would put a known criminal in charge of a major branch of government? Apart from, say, the average voter.
"Terry Pratchett"
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Daifne
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Post by Daifne »

Sure does.
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m1scha.m
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Post by m1scha.m »

Oh dear, time to shoot the puter.

Put it out of its misery.
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malliz
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Post by malliz »

It's probably an old malware, as not that many are crude as that. You see it on early pirate versions of XP. They used to run a script on startup to fool the protection system.
What sort of man would put a known criminal in charge of a major branch of government? Apart from, say, the average voter.
"Terry Pratchett"
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Reflective
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Post by Reflective »

It could conceivably have something to do with security software doing a background check. You should be able to identify it by checking running processes. You can do that in a variety of ways. If you've got Spybot S&D installed for example, go to the "Tools" menu, then click "Process List". You can also download a free utility called "What's Running" from here which shows running processes in real time.
FlamingFox
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Post by FlamingFox »

m1scha.m wrote:Are you talking about the Command Line Interface? (start > run > type cmd > click ok if you aren't sure)


Yeah, that one.

m1scha.m wrote:What are you doing when it happens? Is it the same each time?


It happens when I'm doing whatever I usually do on the computer, be it surfing the web or using Lavasoft's Ad-Aware SE Personal to scan the computer for some spyware/malware. And yes, it's the same each time it happens.
FlamingFox
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Post by FlamingFox »

m1scha.m wrote:Are you talking about the Command Line Interface? (start > run > type cmd > click ok if you aren't sure)


Yeah, that one.

m1scha.m wrote:What are you doing when it happens? Is it the same each time?


It happens when I'm doing whatever I usually do on the computer, be it surfing the web or using Lavasoft's Ad-Aware SE Personal to scan the computer for some spyware/malware. And yes, it's the same each time it happens.

Reflective: How would I know which is the offending program?
FlamingFox
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Post by FlamingFox »

Oh by the way, it seems tahtI cannot post from the "forums.mozillazine.org/posting.php?mode=editpost" and the "forums.mozillazine.org/posting.php?mode=posting" pages. -_-
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GigMormon
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Post by GigMormon »

Symantec Live Update would do this once in a while. It throws up a black command screen for a second while LU fires up.
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Daifne
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Post by Daifne »

And AVG does it, but only at startup. The fact that FlamingFox is seeing it at fairly regular intervals is what's concerning.
FlamingFox
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Post by FlamingFox »

Yesterday it was really slowing my computer down, with that window popping up all the time. It hasn't appeared this morning, though. I think I'll monitor it a bit... could happen again in the afternoon or night.
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Daifne
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Post by Daifne »

Install and run these programs.
SuperAntispyware
AdAware
Spybot Search & Destroy
AVG Anti-Spyware Free

If these don't find it or can't clear it, post in one of these forums for specialized malware removal help:
http://castlecops.com/
http://www.spywarewarrior.com/index.php
http://forum.aumha.org/
http://forums.spywareinfo.com/
FlamingFox
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Post by FlamingFox »

Thanks very much, Daifne! :D
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