Yahoo Messenger issue

[cj22]

I'm not sure if you deal with problems outside the TMF but I figured I'd try. As of late, my Yahoo messenger doesn't let me type more than a couple letters before the cursor disappears and I have to click back into the window. Its like having a pop-up without the actual pop-up. And its constant, not just occasionally. This means I type two letters...have to click in the window....type 2 more.....have to click in the window etc. Does anyone know what causes this or how to fix it? I already removed the program then reinstalled it but its doing the same thing. Any help is appreciated! Thanks!
CJ

 

[His Divine Shadow]

It almost sounds like a focus issue. By that I mean your active window (or the window in "focus") is changing. When you have most programs open (games and some others are exceptions) they appear in a window of varying sizes, right? The top of each window usually has the title of the application in it. When you have one window selected the top turns blue, right? If you click outside of it (or in another window) it should turn gray-ish.

Another way to look at it: in the list of open programs next to the start menu the currently selected window appears "punched in" almost, with the other window bars appearing as buttons that are in the out position. Watch those when you're doing this; does YIM get unselected after those two letters? If so something is taking your focus away; it might be part of YIM or it may be another program.

 

[cj22]

It almost sounds like a focus issue. By that I mean your active window (or the window in "focus") is changing. When you have most programs open (games and some others are exceptions) they appear in a window of varying sizes, right? The top of each window usually has the title of the application in it. When you have one window selected the top turns blue, right? If you click outside of it (or in another window) it should turn gray-ish.

Another way to look at it: in the list of open programs next to the start menu the currently selected window appears "punched in" almost, with the other window bars appearing as buttons that are in the out position. Watch those when you're doing this; does YIM get unselected after those two letters? If so something is taking your focus away; it might be part of YIM or it may be another program.

Yes, that is correct about the focus being taken away. The issue is I don't have any other applications open at the same time so I don't know what could be causing it. I control/alt/delete to make sure, and Yahoo Messenger is the only app open.

 

[Bugman]

I've had so many problems getting Yahoo to work i've about given up on using it.

 

[cj22]

I've also recently gotten a pop-up message saying "Windows Minimum Virtual Memory too low". That never happened before either.

 

[His Divine Shadow]

The Task Manager (What CTRL ALT DEL summons) has several tabs. One shows open applications while another shows all processes. It is an important distinction, for you may have no applications open but many, many processes open. The notices about virtual memory attest to that; you likely have many background processes running and using up resources.

If you like we can try to clean them up, reducing the list to only the necessities. It will likely solve the YIM problem and leave your computer running more smoothly. In the mean time (or if you don't want to do that) try the online Yahoo! Web Messenger. It runs in a web browser and thus bypasses the installed messenger.

If you want to go down the cleanup path I'm going to ask you to install a program called WinPatrol. Once that is installed can you follow the procedures on this About.com page to take screen shots? I specifically need screen shots of "Startup Programs", "Active Tasks" and "Services" tabs. Make sure if you have to scroll down to see all items on one of those that you take multiple screen shots so you get all of them up here. We can then go through and turn off the extraneous items.

 

[cj22]

The Task Manager (What CTRL ALT DEL summons) has several tabs. One shows open applications while another shows all processes. It is an important distinction, for you may have no applications open but many, many processes open. The notices about virtual memory attest to that; you likely have many background processes running and using up resources.

If you like we can try to clean them up, reducing the list to only the necessities. It will likely solve the YIM problem and leave your computer running more smoothly. In the mean time (or if you don't want to do that) try the online Yahoo! Web Messenger. It runs in a web browser and thus bypasses the installed messenger.

If you want to go down the cleanup path I'm going to ask you to install a program called WinPatrol. Once that is installed can you follow the procedures on this About.com page to take screen shots? I specifically need screen shots of "Startup Programs", "Active Tasks" and "Services" tabs. Make sure if you have to scroll down to see all items on one of those that you take multiple screen shots so you get all of them up here. We can then go through and turn off the extraneous items.

I would greatly appreciate help with this! Where do you want me to send you the screen shots? Email? Or post them here? Just let me know and I'll do whatever. Thanks a ton!

 

[His Divine Shadow]

You can upload them here if you wish. If for whatever reason you do not want to upload them here you are free to email me. My email address is as follows:

Obviously those three parts need to be put together to work. If at all possible try uploading the screen shots here; someone else may benefit from what I help you with.

 

[cj22]

Well I've found the process that's causing the problem. In my processes list its called 2i344la7.exe. Once I end the process everything is fine. But it always comes back. Any ideas on what it is or how to get rid of it? I can still do the "print screen" if you want me to. Thanks!

 

[His Divine Shadow]

A search for that file leads to a single page in German. I would guess it's a virus/trojan/nasty or part of one. What sort of firewall or antivirus program(s) do you have running? What sort of antispyware/adware programs do you have installed?

Since you've found the process there's no need to go through the screen cap thing unless you want to do general cleanup.

 

[cj22]

A search for that file leads to a single page in German. I would guess it's a virus/trojan/nasty or part of one. What sort of firewall or antivirus program(s) do you have running? What sort of antispyware/adware programs do you have installed?

Since you've found the process there's no need to go through the screen cap thing unless you want to do general cleanup.

I have Norton Antivirus that's old and I run Spy Sweeper pretty regularly. Nothing other than that.

 

[His Divine Shadow]

The old antivirus is missing things, I would guess. You don't have a firewall active that you know of? If you use Windows XP (These instructions may work for Vista) go to the Control Panel from the Start menu and find an icon that says "Security Center" or something similar. See what it says about firewall; if it only says the Windows firewall is active you need one.

I can recommend either ZoneAlarm's free firewall or Comodo's. I'd go with Comodo if you have no preference, for it includes some anti-malware properties:
ZoneAlarm (The "Get Basic PC Protection" side)
Comodo Personal Firewall
Make sure that you do not have any firewall (other than the Windows firewall) running before you install this! Having two active firewalls can be a big problem in terms of stability. When you install Comodo it will ask if you want to perform a scan for malware. Say yes and let if go; it may well detect and remove the nasties on its own. If so, you're good and can skip the next step if you want (although I recommend doing it).

Antivirus is more complex. Get a firewall installed first. Once that is installed download one of the following firewalls but DO NOT install it yet. These three are all good choices; pick one at random (Avira is a random pick from me if you're lazy):
avast!
AVG
Avira
Once the installer is downloaded, uninstall Norton. If you know the product you have (e.g. Norton Antivirus 2003) head to the Norton Removal Tool page and download the appropriate uninstaller. If you just don't know what you have or it isn't listed there go to the Add/Remove Programs page in the Control Panel and remove it there.

Once Norton is gone install your chosen Antivirus program. Let it install and update itself (If it doesn't update itself look for a button that says "Check for update" or similar and run one yourself). If it asks to do a full system scan do it! Otherwise, open it and run a manual scan. I can tell you how if you are unable to decipher the control panel.

If these don't work we'll go to antimalware tools; hopefully this will be enough.

 

[DimpleToes]

I've had so many problems getting Yahoo to work i've about given up on using it.

no wonder we dont talk anymore.. though is was for I did not shave my legs.for one day. hehehehe

 

[cj22]

The old antivirus is missing things, I would guess. You don't have a firewall active that you know of? If you use Windows XP (These instructions may work for Vista) go to the Control Panel from the Start menu and find an icon that says "Security Center" or something similar. See what it says about firewall; if it only says the Windows firewall is active you need one.

I can recommend either ZoneAlarm's free firewall or Comodo's. I'd go with Comodo if you have no preference, for it includes some anti-malware properties:
ZoneAlarm (The "Get Basic PC Protection" side)
Comodo Personal Firewall
Make sure that you do not have any firewall (other than the Windows firewall) running before you install this! Having two active firewalls can be a big problem in terms of stability. When you install Comodo it will ask if you want to perform a scan for malware. Say yes and let if go; it may well detect and remove the nasties on its own. If so, you're good and can skip the next step if you want (although I recommend doing it).

Antivirus is more complex. Get a firewall installed first. Once that is installed download one of the following firewalls but DO NOT install it yet. These three are all good choices; pick one at random (Avira is a random pick from me if you're lazy):
avast!
AVG
Avira
Once the installer is downloaded, uninstall Norton. If you know the product you have (e.g. Norton Antivirus 2003) head to the Norton Removal Tool page and download the appropriate uninstaller. If you just don't know what you have or it isn't listed there go to the Add/Remove Programs page in the Control Panel and remove it there.

Once Norton is gone install your chosen Antivirus program. Let it install and update itself (If it doesn't update itself look for a button that says "Check for update" or similar and run one yourself). If it asks to do a full system scan do it! Otherwise, open it and run a manual scan. I can tell you how if you are unable to decipher the control panel.

If these don't work we'll go to antimalware tools; hopefully this will be enough.

When I click on "security center" the Firewall is ON, the Automatic Updates is ON and the Virus Protection says OUT OF DATE. So is it safe for me to download the Comodo firewall? I just wanted to double check with you before I did anything. Thanks!

 

[His Divine Shadow]

If you click the vertical ">>" to the right on the "Firewall" line it will expand that section. If it says anything other than Windows Firewall there please tell me what it does say; you may then have a third-party firewall in place already.

 

[cj22]

If you click the vertical ">>" to the right on the "Firewall" line it will expand that section. If it says anything other than Windows Firewall there please tell me what it does say; you may then have a third-party firewall in place already.

Here's what it said...

At least one of the firewalls installed on this computer is currently ON. A firewall helps protect your computer against viruses and other security threats.

Note: Two or more firewalls running at the same time can conflict with each other. For more information see "Why you should only use one firewall".

 

[His Divine Shadow]

That's a bit odd. You do have something running, then. We need to figure out what. Open the Control Panel from the Start menu and find "Add/Remove Programs". Look through that list. Do you see *anything* that looks like a firewall? The following words may be clues:

Norton
Symantec
ZoneAlarm
Checkpoint
Comodo
Sunbelt
Kerio
BlackICE
Internet Security

 

[cj22]

That's a bit odd. You do have something running, then. We need to figure out what. Open the Control Panel from the Start menu and find "Add/Remove Programs". Look through that list. Do you see *anything* that looks like a firewall? The following words may be clues:

Norton
Symantec
ZoneAlarm
Checkpoint
Comodo
Sunbelt
Kerio
BlackICE
Internet Security

I have McAfee Personal Firewall Plus.

 

[His Divine Shadow]

Aha, that's the one. You have a choice here. You can either leave that in place and go on to the antivirus steps (removing Norton/Symantec and installing another) or you can download one of the two I said (Comodo is my recommendation), uninstall McAfee, and install the new one immediately. If you can do the uninstall of McAfee and start the install of Comodo with your internet disconnected that would be the safest thing for this. If the McAfee came with the computer (as is likely) I'd say you should remove it; it may be a trial version that has limited features.