i hope someone can help me here. i got a virus call pwsteal.trojan the other day and i ran norton and found four other viruses. I got rid of those and removed some registry keys that norton told to to. then i ran adaware and found 3 more viruses that norton didnt find. i cant remember the name of them but i do remember they where all the same just in different places. i got rid of those. and rid when adaware deleted them my pc just shut off and rebooted. i was in safe mode doing all of this. When it rebooted it seemed as though everything was fine. Then it shut off again. after it rebooted the second time all was fine exept for my background picture. there wasnt one. i tried to change it in the display properties. i opened the background tab and it opened but i couldnt select any options and this is the only tab that wont let me select anything. my pc works fine now and i have done several virus scans and spyware scans and found nothing. please help me with this problem. if you need more info i will try to give as much as possible. i just remembered one thing it did do when i got the virus's. it installed some spysheriff software which i have removed all traces of.

Is this Pro or Home?

One possibility is this post:

Could you look at see if these four items are located in the Registry,
they refresh current policies and make current policies revert back to
the correct values when the policies have been changed without using the
Group Policy Editor.

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Gro up Policy
Object\{21A7BE9D-5027-49C1-B6F7-757B707E1C94}User\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Wind ows\System
If "GroupPolicyRefreshTime" and/or "GroupPolicyRefreshTimeOffset" are
there then delete them

HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System
If "GroupPolicyRefreshTime" and/or "GroupPolicyRefreshTimeOffset" are
there then delete them and then run the reg fix from Kelly's Page that
you downloaded earlier.

But I have a feeling they will probably not be present.

http://groups.google.com/group/micro...ef53ae87974135

More search results:
http://groups.google.com/group/micro...rch+this+group

i am running windows xp pro sp2 i looked for the reg keys in your post but didnt find anything. this is as far as i got. you posted this

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Gro up Policy
Object\{21A7BE9D-5027-49C1-B6F7-757B707E1C94}User\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Wind ows\System
If "GroupPolicyRefreshTime" and/or "GroupPolicyRefreshTimeOffset" are
there then delete them

HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\System
If "GroupPolicyRefreshTime" and/or "GroupPolicyRefreshTimeOffset" are
there then delete them and then run the reg fix from Kelly's Page that
you downloaded earlier.

the farthest mine went was

HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Gro up Policy only thing after is appmgmt and groupmembership
and
HKCU\Software\Policies\Microsoft only thing after is systemcertificates


i did discover that i can change the desktop color through properties but that is all. it wont let pic a background picture

click Start/Run and type gpedit.msc

Under both Computer Configuration as well as User Configuration check:

Administrative Templates > Desktop > Active Desktop

How are the settings here? Especially wallpaper?

Another possibility:

If you can't enable desktop backgrounds after a virus, MVP Kelly Theriot
has a fix. Look under Wallpaper-Desktop-Disable Changing here:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_w.htm

If Display tabs are missing, run Kelly's registry edit on line 285,
right-hand side "Restore all display tabs".

ok this is getting frustating. lol. i have tried everything. I even created a new user to see if it had the same problem. and it does. i did however find out one thing. if i use group policy editor and go to
uc/administrative templetes/desktop/activedesktop/active desktop wallpaper i can change my wallpaper but it has the view as if i had visual settings on performance.(it shows a block of color around the text of shortcuts). the task bar looks the same.
I have included 2 pictures of what i am talking about.

The icon question is easy:

Four things are required for transparent icon backgrounds:

1) 'System Properties' -> 'Advanced' tab -> Performance 'Settings' ->
'Visual Effects' tab:
"use drop shadows for icon labels..." must be checked

2) Right-click on Desktop -> 'Arrange Icons by' -> "Lock Web items..." must
be CLEARED

3) If you have any web content on your desktop, transparency won't work.

To check for web content: Display Properties > Desktop tab > Customize
Desktop button > Web tab > make sure all checkboxes are clear.

4) Wallpaper must be an image file, not html.

I will search further on the wallpaper issue.

hey i was reading a thread in here that a person was talking about he got a bunch of virus's and avg was havein problems. I uninstalled norton because i dont trust it anymore. i then installed bitdefender pro and it found one of the virus's he had. country.exe. would that be anything to do with my probs?

ok back again bitdefender still scanning and has found 4 more virus's. see why i dont trust norton anymore. lol. trojan.spygoldun, trojan.qhosts.he, trojan.spy.small.dg, and trojan.spysheriff.c man i hate viruses

I would suggest posting to our Security Pros:

Please follow the instructions HERE & then post your log in a new thread in the Spyware, Adware, Viruses and HijackThis Logs section.
(Not in this section please).

After they clear you up let us know here if you still have outstanding issues.