Active Desktop Problems

Forwarded here from the Malware section: http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=264303

Hey guys. Hope you're well.
I've had this issue with my laptop (XP) before where Active Desktop Comes up and won't go away. It was fixed but has been back again or a while now. If I click "Restore my Active Desktop" an error window pops up saying:

Neither 'yes' or 'no' bring it back to normal.
I've had a very similar problem before where doing some malware removal fixed it. (but apparently not the case today...)
Additionally I've also had some general computer slowdown and starting up takes an age. Another cause of these problems *could* have been putting my 3D card in the oven at 190oC a couple weeks ago (to reset the solder as a loose connection had formed and I had a blank screen all the time). I don't think that's it though (just thought it'd be good to note) and running the scans you reccommend brings up some results. I took the time to have a nice computer clean-up before doing these too which might help.
Thanks!
Marcus

 

Well that seemed to fix it, till my computer crashed when I plugged in the power cable when it wasn't already plugged into the wall (not sure why that happens). It seemed to have reset the change I did. For now I've changed it back to '0' again.

My computer seems to be going snail pace at the moment too though. Illustrator documents that I used to have no problem with are frustrating to work with... From logging in, to having the computer in a usable state, it seems to take 3-5 minutes. I only have about 50 processes and nothing seems to be an obvious trouble maker. I defragged before posting the message on the malware forum that I linked to so that's not an issue either... Any ideas? There are the malware logs on the other thread if they are useful, but the guys there didn't see any problems...

 

I knocked it down from 62 or so... It used to start up faster while I had that many. >_< I'll give it another look later though.

 

Yakodi...as much respect as I have for the idea that more processes is worse, I have 65 processes running on a 2.13 GHz core2duo computer that runs like lake Placid. I think it's more what you have running that can cause the problem...if this is your problem.

I would recommend defragging daily or at least weekly depending on how much you use the PC. Also, run CCleaner or some cleaner at least the same amount. I defrag my desktop every night and run CCleaner also, both on a schedule to run automatically.

I run GBoost in my systray at all times for optimization with XP. I get amazing results, but pick the settings carefully for your system and usage if you decide to try it (you can't hurt the machine with the settings, but some autostarts might close when you activate GBoost based on your settings choices...basically it's a no brainer process). I also run a straight optimizer called Project Lasso. This one is not like your old RAM boosters...this is the real daddy with a runtime optimization routine (like GBoost). I run on the gaming mode with Project Lasso. I highly recommend trying both of these programs (at the same time) to see if they boost your productivity.

With 65 processes running, this core2 idles at 0-2%. Very acceptable considering I have programs like Dexpot (multiple desktops), RocketDock, Outlook 2007, Styler, and Rainmeter Omnimo theme running to go along with Avast and some others that are essentially links to opening a program.

Seriously, you should give it a try. I have come to the conclusion that Windows just is not a good platform without adding optimization programs after installing. With them...well, performance is excellent...