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Question

Website logos...

Mar 20, 2012 10:08AM PDT

I am working on a laptop running Windows Vista. The customer claims that he shut down the laptop during an update when the message says not to shutdown until complete. I uninstalled and reinstalled Internet Explorer 8, that seems to be working fine now.

One problem I cannot get rid of is that website logos are upside down. Logos for CNET, Google, Yahoo, Amazon, and many others appear inverted.

Ran scans with Malwarebytes.
Ran scans with McAfee and then uninstalled McAfee.
Installed Avast and ran scan.
Cleared internet history and temporary files.

All these scans have turned up nothing, but the problem persists.

Does anyone have an idea what may cause this problem?

Thank you in advance for any help!!
GeoK

Discussion is locked

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Answer
Have the customer post here with more details.
Mar 20, 2012 10:17AM PDT

For now I'm going with malware.
Bob

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Additional details...
Mar 20, 2012 11:25AM PDT

Malware was my first guess, but I starting to believe it is a corrupt file. But trying to find which file is corrupt is a problem. I am leaning towards a corrupt file because I installed Google Chrome. The website logos are fine. While in Internet Explorer if I copy the logo to clipboard and paste it in paint, the logo is no longer inverted.

Vista (Service Pack 2) has had all the updates applied. None show any errors.

System restore was applied using a restore point prior to the unreccomended shutdown.

The system is an Acer 5735Z, Intel Pentium Dual T3400 with 2GB RAM.

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Still sounds like malware.
Mar 20, 2012 3:47PM PDT

IE allows ADD INS. I'd try no add ons.

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Additional details...
Mar 20, 2012 6:50PM PDT

Thank you for your response.

Without add-ons displays the same symptoms.

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Strange one
Mar 20, 2012 9:19PM PDT

and more tests;

I also think this is likely malware but try these;

1] Run IE in its Safe Mode configuration, (Start > All programs > Accessories > System Tools > "Internet Explorer (No Add-ons)".

This not only disables add-ons but also ActiveX and toolbars, so some pages may not display properly. But the test is to see if logos now display the right way up.

2] If 1 above doesn't work, reboot the OS into it's Safe Mode options, select "Safe Mode with networking", and open IE in that mode and test.

If any malware is installed, it may not get the chance to run in Safe Mode and so this is another test to see if logos display properly.

For information, I can only see that logos would be displayed upside down if some Javascript and/or CSS file has been added to the web pages, (example code at this web site), and if so then that points to malware and not any corrupt file.

That said, if you download and install CCleaner from http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner and run its analysis with Stock Settings, (no need to change anything on the application's opening page), then run the cleaner, that will remove all TIF files, and will delete history and cookies, as well as any Temp folder files, so if there are any corrupted internet files, that might clear it. All cookies will be deleted, including any held in Chrome, so if your customer needs any for logins etc, head over to Options > Cookies before the run to save them. But personally I would get rid of them all.

I would also download, install, run, update then run a full scan of SUPERAnti-spyware, (SAS), from SUPERAntiSpyware.

Mark

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Additional details...
Mar 21, 2012 10:37AM PDT

Thank you for your suggestions.

I failed to mention earlier that Internet Explorer (No Add-ons) had already been started with same symptoms.

I did try it in Safe Mode with Networking, but had the same results.

CCleaner is one of my most recommended applications to free up space. I had already used it to clear internet history and temp files.

I did install SAS, updated to the most recent database version and ran a scan. Did find some items that were not detected before. Rebooted, ran CCleaner, and opened Internet Explorer. Unfortunately, the same symptoms prevail.

Does anyone know of a scan tool used to check integrity of operating system or application files?

Thank you for all the help and suggestions.

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Scan tool
Mar 21, 2012 10:20PM PDT

I'm not convinced, but try this;

Open a Command Prompt, type in sfc /scannow

For clarity, that is SFC {space} /SCANNOW

Here's a description of what it does; http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929833

You may need the Vista Setup DVd.

Mark

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Followup...
Mar 26, 2012 9:19AM PDT

I was not aware of the System File Checker.

The scan revealed the corrupted file. After hours of searching and trial and error I determined that it would be best to reinstall the OS. The system is now working as expected.

Thank you for your time and suggestions.

GeoK

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Nice work
Mar 26, 2012 8:16PM PDT

It seems the OS damage was too deeped for SFC to fix it, and looks like your only course of action was that reinstall.

Good work for getting that done successfully.

Mark

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PS. Forgot one thing. The IE CACHE
Mar 21, 2012 3:58AM PDT

Try CCLEANER and have it clean all IE things.