Wallpaper Settings Forgotten On Startup???

[EPSSniper]

Hey all,

Everytime I seem to restart my computer, my wallpaper settings get lost. I just noticed that tonight, when I set my wallpaper to a different background (stored in the 'My Pictures' folder), I got this problem. In a nutshell, everytime I restart the computer, the desktop is a solid color-all icons are there, just no background. Then when I go to the display properties and click on the wallpaper and apply, nothing happens. However, if I set it manually to a blank background, then to a picture, it works (but just for that session).

I have scanned my computer with SpyBot, eWido, and Adaware, but no results turned up. I haven't done anything different to the computer recently except change the theme. However, I have had themes for ages on my computer. Also, none of the web settings in the display control panel are checked off.

Stats are:
Windows XP SP2
Athlon XP 3000+
MSI K7N2-L
1 gig Kingston PC3200
Geforce 6600 GT

Any ideas? Thanks for reading.

 

[dBTelos]

Try going through the same process with a different user account.

 

[Medea]

Go to Control Panel -> Display -> Desktop tab. Click Customize -> Web tab. See if there is any other listing other than "My Current Home Page."

 

[EPSSniper]

UPDATE: I moved my wallpapers folder out of the My Documents folder and just into the main C:\ directory and everything works okay. Any idea on why the permissions are all messed up? It's just my account and the administrator account on this machine (which I just formatted today).

 

[Medea]

The trojan smitfraud is a likely culprit. In a high percentage of the cases where the desktop get hijacked, smitfraud is usually present. It sets some policies in the registry which prevents a user from getting his desktop back.

 

[Medea]

Duplicate...

 

[EPSSniper]

Are you sure it could be smitfraud? I deleted all partitions and did a full ntfs format on this drive first.

 

[Medea]

I said it's a likely culprit but - no, I'm not sure. There's no way I could be sure without at least seeing a HJT log.

 

[EPSSniper]

Hrmm. Here's the log if you don't mind checking it out:

Logfile of HijackThis v1.99.1
Scan saved at 11:45:04 PM, on 4/20/2006
Platform: Windows XP SP2 (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP2 (6.00.2900.2180)

Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\CTHELPER.EXE
C:\Program Files\CyberLink\PowerDVD\PDVDServ.exe
C:\Program Files\Logitech\MouseWare\system\em_exec.exe
C:\Program Files\AIM\aim.exe
C:\WINDOWS\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.50727\mscorsvw.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\nvsvc32.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\ruby\bin\ruby.exe
C:\Program Files\iPod\bin\iPodService.exe
C:\Program Files\iTunes\iTunesHelper.exe
C:\Documents and Settings\Sammy Alvanipour\Desktop\HijackThis.exe

O2 - BHO: AcroIEHlprObj Class - {06849E9F-C8D7-4D59-B87D-784B7D6BE0B3} - C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\ActiveX\AcroIEHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: SSVHelper Class - {761497BB-D6F0-462C-B6EB-D4DAF1D92D43} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_06\bin\ssv.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NvCplDaemon] RUNDLL32.EXE C:\WINDOWS\system32\NvCpl.dll,NvStartup
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [nwiz] nwiz.exe /install
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NvMediaCenter] RUNDLL32.EXE C:\WINDOWS\system32\NvMcTray.dll,NvTaskbarInit
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [CTHelper] CTHELPER.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Logitech Utility] Logi_MwX.Exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SunJavaUpdateSched] C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_06\bin\jusched.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [MSConfig] C:\WINDOWS\PCHealth\HelpCtr\Binaries\MSConfig.exe /auto
O8 - Extra context menu item: E&xport to Microsoft Excel - res://C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~2\OFFICE11\EXCEL.EXE/3000
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_06\bin\npjpi150_06.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Sun Java Console - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_06\bin\npjpi150_06.dll
O9 - Extra button: Research - {92780B25-18CC-41C8-B9BE-3C9C571A8263} - C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~2\OFFICE11\REFIEBAR.DLL
O9 - Extra button: AIM - {AC9E2541-2814-11d5-BC6D-00B0D0A1DE45} - C:\Program Files\AIM\aim.exe
O9 - Extra button: Yahoo! Messenger - {E5D12C4E-7B4F-11D3-B5C9-0050045C3C96} - C:\PROGRA~1\Yahoo!\MESSEN~1\YPager.exe
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Yahoo! Messenger - {E5D12C4E-7B4F-11D3-B5C9-0050045C3C96} - C:\PROGRA~1\Yahoo!\MESSEN~1\YPager.exe
O9 - Extra button: Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Windows Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O16 - DPF: {6414512B-B978-451D-A0D8-FCFDF33E833C} (WUWebControl Class) - http://update.microsoft.com/windowsupda...86/client/wuweb_site.cab?1145573227750
O18 - Protocol: ms-help - {314111C7-A502-11D2-BBCA-00C04F8EC294} - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Help\hxds.dll
O23 - Service: Adobe LM Service - Adobe Systems - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe Systems Shared\Service\Adobelmsvc.exe
O23 - Service: InstallDriver Table Manager (IDriverT) - Macrovision Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\InstallShield\Driver\11\Intel 32\IDriverT.exe
O23 - Service: iPodService - Apple Computer, Inc. - C:\Program Files\iPod\bin\iPodService.exe
O23 - Service: SQL Server (SQLEXPRESS) (MSSQL$SQLEXPRESS) - Unknown owner - c:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL.1\MSSQL\Binn\sqlservr.exe" -sSQLEXPRESS (file missing)
O23 - Service: NVIDIA Display Driver Service (NVSvc) - NVIDIA Corporation - C:\WINDOWS\system32\nvsvc32.exe

 

[Medea]

Looks nice and clean! You may have had a registry key get screwy.