Ah...Vundo

Well, I just got a computer delivered to me from another friend - well, technically, my wife's friend. It seems that word gets around that I am willing, and am having some success at removing nasty little buggers from folks PC's.

Blessing or curse? - LOL!!!

Anyways, like the last one, this one has Vundo. I am working through the "READ & RUN ME FIRST Before Asking for Support" stuff, and believe me, I intend to follow it to the letter, but I seem to have made a mis-click, and screwed up the desk-top.

OS = Win XP, all current updates

For some odd reason, instead of the wallpaper, or even active desktop, or anything else I am familiar with, I now see the contents of the "My Computer" folder, instead.

Maybe not so odd, truth be told.

Honestly, it's my fault, and I watched in horror, as I did it.

You see, I have this under-sized, but very portable USB wireless mouse, that I frequently use, when someone asks me to "fix" their computer. All I ever let them drop off is the main box, sans wires and peripherals. Well, as I was about to click on "my computer" in the "start" menu (bottom left corner,) I accidentally "twitched", twice, and the first twitch dragged the icon onto the desktop, and the second twitch clicked the pop-up menu. I think it selected "MOVE HERE", or something close to that.

That was it - the desktop appearance changed totally. Now the desktop has the contents of "My Computer", and the expandable menu boxes on the left hand side. The menu boxes are over-laid with the normal desk-top icons.

I'm hoping this is an easy fix. I'm pretty sure that I can eliminate Vundo (and smitfraud, BTW), by following the tutorials here - it's worked for me before. I just have no clue how to fix the desktop.

I am going to assume that this is the wrong place to post a request for help with this, but after several hours of trying to fix it on my own, interspersed with searches on both Google, and MG, I just don't know where the right sub-forum is.

Thanks for a nudge in the right direction,

 

Will a System restore help?
Using the System Restore Wizard

The System Restore Wizard guides you through the steps of each task in System Restore.
When you run the wizard to restore your computer to an earlier state, it displays the following screens:
http://forums.majorgeeks.com/ms-its:c:\windows\help\ntshared.chm::/plusCold.gifWelcome to System Restore
This screen gives you the option to restore your computer to an earlier time or state.

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/ms-its:c:\windows\help\ntshared.chm::/plusCold.gifSelect a Restore Point
This screen allows you to pick a date on the calendar and then select a restore point to restore your computer to an earlier state.

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/ms-its:c:\windows\help\ntshared.chm::/plusCold.gifConfirm Restore Point selection
This screen allows you to change your mind about the selected restore point or the restoration and to save all files and close all programs before starting the restoration. After you confirm the selection, the restoration process starts, the system restarts, and a user logon screen is displayed.

http://forums.majorgeeks.com/ms-its:c:\windows\help\ntshared.chm::/plusCold.gifRestoration Complete
This screen indicates your restoration has been successful. If the restoration fails, the Restoration was unsuccessful screen is displayed, and no changes are made to your computer.

For more information about System Restore, see System Restore overview.

 

I would think you could go to the Control Panel > Display Properties and simply select a new theme and/or background... no?

 

System restore would lose a lot of stuff, I think.

I finally figured it out - if I let my mouse cursor hover at the top edge of the screen, a title bar appears, with the exit and reduce and minimize choices.

System now cleaned, BTW, and I am installing AVG, SpyBot, WinPatrol - to help them keep outta trouble.

I suggested that they stop visiting porn sites - it seems the husband has a taste for internet porn, and I would bet money that this is how he got the trojans, spyware, malware, and/or viruses that I removed from the system.

I keep telling people - those sites are just bait - and the suckers that take the bait are the ones that get he CTDs - (That would be "Computer Transmitted Diseases...)

Thanks all, and I'll see you when I get stumped again.