When I open any Microsoft Word document , the computer automatically types in gibberish as if somebody has control of my computer. The same thing happens with Internet Explorer when any site requests a log-on. This has been a problem for a couple of years.

I have Norton Anti Virus Pro and Norton SystemWorks, and twice a week scanning comes up with nothing. I have a Trojan scanner as well. I have no other problems.

I have Gator to remember my passwords. Is that causing the problem or is it something else?

Steve Warren, Rowville, VIC

Someone has got control of your computer! You’ve let Gator in!

Now I’ll be honest with you Steve. I don’t really know if Gator is causing your problem with MS Word. In fact I don’t really know just what is actually causing your problem. But I do know this -- people who install invasive and troublesome ‘freebies’ such as Gator and that horrible ‘Bonzi Buddy’ on their computers also tend to have other invasive and troublesome spyware-supported ‘freebies’ installed as well. That can create problems that are often quite a deal of trouble to track down and resolve. So here’s what I’d ask you to do:

• Write down all those passwords of yours in an alphabetically indexed notebook and start looking after them yourself! I know you’d like your computer to do that for you, but it just doesn’t make sense to set passwords for security, and then store them on the machine you’re trying to secure, no matter how well-encrypted they may be. And in any case, what’s going to happen if your drive fails and you lose all your data? You’ll probably have forgotten them by that stage and you’ll be in all sorts of bother! Uninstall Gator’s password manager.
• Identify and uninstall any other ‘freebies’ you might have that could prove problematic. Checking your downloaded ‘freebies’ against the database at Spyware-Guide will help with the task.
• Install both AdAware and Spybot Search & Destroy (you’ll find both on the PC User cover CD). Run them both, and allow them to remove anything suspicious they find.
• Uninstall any other software that stops functioning correctly after you’ve cleaned your system of spyware, and find better behaved alternatives to them.
• Ensure that the versions of Norton AntiVirus and Norton SystemWorks you have installed are up to date versions, and have had updates regularly installed. Ensure that your AntiVirus program is background scanning, and set to remove viruses rather than simply report them. I strongly suspect that your versions are a bit ‘dated’, as Norton SystemWorks 2004 includes not only password management, but a spyware protection component which wouldn’t allow your Gator Password Manager to actually run on your system! If you have SystemWorks 2004, you shouldn’t need AdAware and Spybot.
• Use Windows XP’s ‘Search’ function to detect any files on your system with the extension ‘.pwl’. Delete any that you find and reboot your system. Doing this will delete any remaining passwords you have left on your system, and when Windows reboots, the files will be recreated. You will, of course, have to re-enter any passwords that are required, but you can be sure you’ll have stored password lists that are free from any trace of file corruption.

That may all sound like ‘overkill’, but viruses and Trojans aren’t the only forms of ‘nasties’ that can infest your system, and installing badly behaved ‘freebies’ is one of the quickest routes to disaster you can have. Now to the task of trying to resolve your problems with MS Word.

If it hasn’t already been resolved, the most likely cause of your problem is a corrupted ‘normal.dot’ file. It could be a corrupted installation of Microsoft Word also. For a troubleshooting guide to resolving your problem, work through the procedures that are detailed in this Microsoft Knowledge Base Article Q323117 If that doesn’t fix things for you, contact us again with the details and we’ll follow the matter up more closely.


Heh heh. Now I know that, coming after my initial ‘rant’, that was a very short answer to your actual question. But please, please do the things I mentioned up front. You made me feel ill when you mentioned ‘Gator’!

Cheers,

Terry O'Shanassy