Is this Pop-up a Virus?

[Ro_Laren]

My mom has a new Lenovo Thinkpad computer and she keeps getting a pop-up. This pop-up keeps coming up when she does not have the internet open. It happened once when she was working on an Excel document and another time when she was working on a Word document. A black box with the letter "A" in it appears on the bottom right hand corner of her computer screen (it will pop-up in front of the Excel spreadsheet, Word document, desktop, or whatever she has open). Look at a pic of it below:

Is this a virus or something else?

 

[Dac]

If this is a new computer, its probably some stock custom software the OEM bundled on there. Everyone does it nowdays and I hate it, turns new PCs into slow pieces of crap.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Have you tried right-clicking or double-clicking it to see what it is? If it has an "About..." box or anything?

 

[Ro_Laren]

^ I think that last time I tried to right- and left- click the icon and nothing happened...

 

[Mr Silver]

It looks like one of those old download accelerator programs. That was my first thought when I saw it anyway.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I would open the task manager and systematically terminate processes until I figured out which one it was, then look up the executable name online and see if it's a real problem.

You might crash the computer or make it otherwise unusable by doing this, though. Nothing a reboot won't fix but my "strategy" is not for the fainthearted.

You could also run msconfig to look through the startup programs and try to figure out which one of those it is.

 

[Amaris]

That is your caps lock warning sign. When your caps lock is on, that little notifier pops up. I had to stare at it for a minute and remember back when I had my Thinkpad, because the image looked so familiar. It's your caps lock notifier that lets you know your caps lock key is on.

 

[M'Sharak]

That is your caps lock warning sign. When your caps lock is on, that little notifier pops up. I had to stare at it for a minute and remember back when I had my Thinkpad, because the image looked so familiar. It's your caps lock notifier that lets you know your caps lock key is on.

Confirmed. (See #5)

 

[DimesDan]

That is your caps lock warning sign. When your caps lock is on, that little notifier pops up. I had to stare at it for a minute and remember back when I had my Thinkpad, because the image looked so familiar. It's your caps lock notifier that lets you know your caps lock key is on.

What a seriously amusing and straight forward answer.

On my Laptop, the Caps Lock warning icon is a padlock which locks and unlocks when you press the button.

I've never given it any thought, but if a non tech savy person saw it, they would probably worry about it for the half second that it is on the screen!

 

[Robert Maxwell]

That is your caps lock warning sign. When your caps lock is on, that little notifier pops up. I had to stare at it for a minute and remember back when I had my Thinkpad, because the image looked so familiar. It's your caps lock notifier that lets you know your caps lock key is on.

Really? Wow, how obnoxious. I have never seen a persistent screen overlay for caps lock before. That would drive me nuts.

 

[TheSeeker]

^No kidding. My wife just got a new Toshiba laptop and they have these handy little LEDs on the side of the Caps Lock and Num Lock keys to indicate if they are on or not. Much nicer if you ask me.

 

[Sean Aaron]

Why would you need an on-screen notifier that your capslock was on? Surely a light on the keyboard would suffice?

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I, too, prefer the (out of the way) keyboard lights.

 

[Holdfast]

Why would you need an on-screen notifier that your capslock was on? Surely a light on the keyboard would suffice?

http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?p=5168279#post5168279


Sometimes synchronicity is a truly wonderful thing.

I say merge the threads and watch the universe implode.

 

[CorporalClegg]

On a related subject, do any others forcibly expunge their Caps Lock keys from all their keyboards, or is that just a personal quirk of mine?

 

[Mr Silver]

On a related subject, do any others forcibly expunge their Caps Lock keys from all their keyboards, or is that just a personal quirk of mine?

Perhaps just a personal quirk, many people still haven't discovered the joys of the shift key.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I don't like cosmetically damaging my keyboards.

But not everyone is like me.

 

[TheSeeker]

Wow. That is disgusting.

 

[CorporalClegg]

I don't like cosmetically damaging my keyboards.

But not everyone is like me.

I think that's going to be my next AV.

 

[Holdfast]

I'd have indigestion if I had a keyboard like that too.