No mouse 16 bit screen nightmare!

Hi
I wonder if anyone can help me.

I have been experiencing some issues with the home computer and I cannot seem to solve it.

On starting up the computer it turns to a 16bit small resoloution screen with no mouse. This has meant that I am struggling to access most applications that do not use keyboard controls. I have tryed a system restore but this fails. Changing the screen resolution also fails. I have managed to run a number of spyware programs which I had previously installed due to a cool web search virus 2 years ago, but they are not finding much. I have Norton antivirus and firewall installed but am coming to a conclusion that this never finds anything!
I am finding it tricky to access this website via that computer as all the colours blend into one!! so downloading programs to test is a bit blind to say the least. I am writing this from the work laptop!

It was suggested to run Kapersky online scan but I cannot reach the accept conditions button as the screen is too large! I have managed to get it to reccognise a tablet to act as a replacement mouse, but it take ages to click on the right button to close a screen or confirm something. Who manages to use these things!!!

I am unsure if this is a virus or not. The computer is fairy old and running everyone favourite Windows ME

I am hoping someone may have heard of these symptoms before or help suggest what I can do before I sling the whole machine across the room!

The system details are as follows

Windows ME
Memory: 256 RAM
System Resources: 12% Free
File System: 32bit
Virtual Memory: 32bit
Disk Compression: Not Installed
PC Cards (PCMCIA) No PC Card Sockets are installed
AMD Athlon(tm) Processor

Some of these bits are probably not relevent but I wrote everything down from the properties just in case. If you need anymore details let me know and I will try and locate it.

Any help would be much appreciated before one of us breaks the other!!

Thank you

Cat

 

Good morning Cat.

At this point I don't think what you are experiencing is a malware issue. It sounds more like a driver or hardware issue.

Lets check a couple things first though to rule out a malware issue. Please follow step 7 of the READ & RUN ME FIRST Before Asking for Support thread and attach your HijackThis log when you come back so I can take a look at it.

 

Hi AbbySue

Thanks for your reply. Please find attached HiJack This log hopefully! if I manage to hit the right buttons!!

Hopefully this will give some idea to the problem.
I originally posted in the hardware section but did not get a reply after posting my system details.

Any help you can offer will be greatly appreciated

Thank you
Cat

 

Hi

Thank you very much for your help. It seems to have solved half the problem.

I have removed a whole bunch of unused programs as suggested which has helped to free up the system resources to 56% - much better. I have reinstalled the video card which is an ATI and that has brought the screen appearance back to normal. Hooray!! Now it is much easier to see what I am doing. I have also unchecked Workflow and adobe stuff as recommended.
Thank you very, very much for guiding me through this.

Unfortunately I still do not have a cursor. I have a wacom pad plugged in with a pen via USB which does work but with no cursor so it is still a nightmare to click on boxes such as close, maximise and any tiny tick boxes!! The new screen resolution has made this particularly difficult as now the boxes to hit are so much smaller!!! It took me about half an hour to uncheck those workflow and adobe boxes!!

I have an old microsoft intellimouse trackball via serial which will not work at all, and also have tried an old serial wheel mouse which does not register either. Both drivers are installed on the computer, but to be sure I have reinstalled new drivers for them from microsoft online, and also tried booting up without the wacom in case that was conflicting. The only time I have had a cursor was in safe mode with the wacom. Very odd. I cannot figure out how to solve this one. I think I have tried every combination.

I have also found that the internet is now freezing on me about 4 out of 5 goes. I get to a page and then everything stops forcing me to reboot. Unfortunately rebooting is also crashing so it takes a number of attempts to get back on. When ever it goes to the screen to scan disc for errors which is does sometimes this always freezes, again forcing me to reboot. Starting the computer has always been temperamental but it now seems considerably worse. I have typed this message out a number of times and when coming to submit it fails, so I have given up and am now typing this from work!!!

Any ideas would be great. I will send you all a great big virtual hug if we can solve this. It has consumed my life at the moment trying to get this machine back to normal!

Please help I cannot take the wacom blind pen anymore!!!

Thank you

Cat