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Windows 2000 Desktop is Upside Down

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by mharri

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I have seen some strange things, but I encountered something that takes the cake. One of the users that I support has a portable computer that he uses in the field. He reported to me that when he boots it up that when he logs into Windows and all items on the desktop are upside down. I logged onto his system and sure enough everything on the desktop was upside down. I checked for viruses, but no reported problems. I even tried a repair with the Windows 2000 CD, but to no avail. Anyone come across this one and any suggestions?

Mike

13 replies

by thechas

Mike,

It sounds like "jokeware" to me. (or "prankware")

Anyhow, there are websites devoted to this kind of prank.

Look for unusual items in add/remove programs.
Also, look in all the usual places that startup software hides.
Once you findthe shortcut, see if you can identify who wrote / distributed the software, and check with them for removal / repair instructions.
Otherwise, try just disableing the shortcut.

Chas

by pschuvie

Ha ha it's been awhile since I saw that one. Right up there with the jokeware that creates a BSOD that you can never figure out where it is coming from.

Here are a couple places to get possible copies. Had to download one and take it apart to correct when this happened to me.

www.whybebored.com/654654/lock/index.shtml

http://www.mentis.demon.nl/cavorka/programs.htm

http://www.coolarchive.com/applications.cfm

hope that helps of course maybe somehow you can just tell them that it is a security feature .

by hrjwtcrbfmfy

See if the user installed new video codecs. I remember seeing a setting in the Nemo Codec Pack (I think) that warned about installing a certain component because if you didn't have a certain video card, it would flip everything upside down.

by alpha-male

I have seen this situation caused by an odd issue related to hardware acceleration on older video cards. Try backing the hardware acceleration down one step and then rebooting.

by rwlap

There was one program called BadDay.exe that flipped the desktop upside down, then you could save as wallpaper and it would continue to come up that way - might check for this one.

by mharri

All,

Thanks for your assistance and suggestions. There was no apparent jokeware on the system and I tried the other suggestions with no successful resolution. I did a complete reinstall of Windows 2000 and the problem went away. A strange situation. Thanks for your assistance.

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