Posted on 02/15/2005 9:27:22 PM PST by The Bugler
I'm hoping someone in "Freeper Land" can help with a strange problem that started today. I have a firewall (Zone Alarm Suite) and antivirus (same). I also use GIANT AntiSpyware (paid version) as well as SpyBot Search & Destroy and AdAware SE. This morning, out of the blue my printer decided to fire up and start printing (random stuff), printing was also attempted on my second printer as well as Acrobat PDFWriter. I rebooted sometime later and the same activity occured late this evening.
I'm running Windows ME :-( and I've never been infected with any virus/worm etc (knock on wood) to date.
Turn off file and printer sharing. If that fails, unplug your printer.
Just sit back and watch the "wise" comments pour in.
Printers truly are the WEAKEST LINK in the computer universe. At my job they are demanding we go to computer generated checks. Oh but they don't realize we'll have to actually print them on printers.
Good luck eh!
but windows ME? That has got to go.
I have to perform an exorcism ritual on mine about once a month. Firewalls do not good against alien technology I have found. It is possibly someone from the "other side" trying to make contact.
Did I leave anything out?
Open your Printers folder (in the Control Panel). Double click on each of your printers and be sure there's no cached document that's trying to print.
Then shut down everything, power it all off, check for loose cables, then turn everything back on.
I really doubt this is a virus.
Unplug printer power cable for a few minutes to clear memory
Some anti-virus progs are better at picking up stuff than others. I kept having some weird problems and I d/l the AVG Free edition and it found some things nothing else did and I haven't had any problems since (knock wood). Hope this helps and good luck!
Try doing an R & R on the printer objects. Sometimes they get corrupted and need to be replaced. You also need to seriously considering upgrading. The Win9x platform is not very stable.
I cleaned up her computer with Ad-Aware, SpyBot, and a virus scan. I believe the program that finally got rid of this nuisance was a free download called HijackThis. Exercise caution: it's not an easy program to use, and I recall making a correction in the registry.
Note: always back up your registry before messing with it.
I Googled up some instructions on that particular repair, but I can't remember the search terms off the top of my head.
Shut down File Sharing and get rid of ME. It is not a great OS.
Your printer is haunted. Your screwed.
I do appreciate your input. File/print sharing is shut down. I haven't always been happy with ME, but over the years with updates, it has turned out to be somewhat stable. Like I said, this problem just manifested itself today.
I dunno, it does not sound like a virus.
When was the last time you ran scan disk and defrag?
LOL. I have had ME for 4 years. I have never had a moments problem with it and I use the hell out of my computer.
Because of the problems today, I defragged today. I have my computer set up to defrag every 3 days by default.
You don't have a wireless network in your house, do you?
Same here. At first I had some problems, but with updates over the years, it seems to be pretty stable, and I too stretch it to the max, sometimes
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.