mystery box in taskbar

Question

This is starting to bug me. Every 15 minutes, a blank mystery box appears in the taskbar and then quickly disappears. I checked for viruses and spyware using 2 different kinds of software, and that is not what is causing it. I don't know what in the world is causing this. After this happened the first time, I did a PC Restore but the mystery box still keeps appearing. Any ideas? Help would be GREATLY appreciated.

europa303 · Answer

go to start, run, type msconfig, OK, startup tab and take a look at the items there.  Do any look suspicious?

SitelTech · Answer

Try downloading Ad-aware ( www.dsvs.org/10 ) X-Cleaner ( www.tinyurl.com/2bvur )   Goodluck

RoHe · Answer

If it's not some malware, it could just be the auto-updater for your antiviral software, Sonic RecordNow, RealAudio, Adobe Acrobat, DVDLauncher, etc, trying to phone home for updates. Uncheck these items on the Startup tab in msconfig and reboot.

You'll get message when you reboot about running in selective startup or diagnostics mode, so check the "don't show" box and then to see if the mystery box stops popping up. Just do not go on line without your antiviral and firewall apps running. You only need the updater for antiviral program, firewall, and XP to run automatically. You don't need the others updaters to start every time you boot the PC. You may have to go into each of those others apps to look for an option to turn off auto-updating. Unchecking sgtray in msconfig will turn off the Sonic updater, but Sonic, itself, will still be available when you click it's shortcut.

Ron

bcampbell209 · Answer

Thanks for your help all of you. I found out it was HP's automatic software updater. Disabled it on startup and now I don't get the mystery box anymore. Wonderful!

RoHe · Answer

:)

Windows General

mystery box in taskbar

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