Blanking Applications

February 5, 2009 5:07 PM

Basic applications on my computer seem to be temporarily "blanking out" on me. Especially noticeable when I'm typing. What might be causing it and how can I fix it?

I'm typing along contentedly, I notice the windows border on the application dims, then re-brightens and I notice that the letters I typed while it was dim are missing. It usually lasts for less than a second, but with some applications it remains dim, the cursor disappears and I have to click on the page to begin typing again.

I recently had a spyware issue but I hope I cleared that up with Spybot and Hitman Pro.

Any ideas how to track this down - it's getting really annoying, but I'm more concerned that somethins f-ing with my computer in the background.

posted by aspenbaloo to computers & internet (4 comments total)

Well, the obvious observation is that something else is seizing focus, but I don't have any obvious suggestion as to who or what it might be.

The preferred tool these days for malware infestations is AntiMalware. It often catches and removes things that other malware programs miss entirely.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 5:29 PM on February 5

I had something SORT OF similar once. It turned out I had the voice recognition/speech feature turned on. So it would hear me talk, or any background noise, and start doing its own thing, leaving me to wonder what just made my computer fritz on me.

I am not sure what operating system you're on, but on Vista you goto the control panel and there is speech recognition icon in classic view.

This is probably a stretch, but you never know!
posted by boulder20something at 5:29 PM on February 5

run the malwarebytes free software
posted by patnok at 6:01 PM on February 5

Assuming the spyware thing is taken care of (and your running some flavor of windows?) I would install Autoruns and then look at what is running at start up, services etc. Carefully experiment by un-checking select entries and see if you can find the culprit.
If for some reason you can't reboot or it's weird, re-boot in safe mode recheck things in autoruns and start over.
This article and the forum's will get you going on how to use it if you don't want to just jump in.
Autoruns and it's related programs has helped me many times.

Oh and back up your data, set a system restore point, YMMV, etc .........
Enjoy
posted by blink_left at 8:13 PM on February 5 [1 favorite]