Screensaver whacked/Tray Icons shifted - ???

Late in the evening on the day after the Blaster worm hit, I went to the Microsoft site and downloaded the patch that fixed the bugs that presumably allowed the Blaster virus to do its dirty deeds.
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It may be pure coincidence, but right after the installation of the patch, Tray icons were shuffled around and the bottom bar containing icons for open windows were reversed.
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Additionally, I have returned to my computer after a long time (I left it running) and turned on the monitor, and lo and behold, my screensaver had not kicked in. I brought up the Desktop settings and the section for Screensavers showed no changes -- it was still set for the same screensaver, and for the same time delay before initiating the screensaver. I even deselected AND re-selected the same settings and hit the Apply button, just in case. I came home this evening to find that the screensaver is STILL not kicking in.
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Would/could a Windows XP patch from Microsoft (in this case for the Blaster worm loophole) cause these strange things ? I am particularly concerned about the screensaver issue, as there is one person who has constant access to things in our household, and I would like to be able to leave my computer running AND trust the screensaver function (with password feature turned on) to operate correctly.
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Thoughts/comments ? Thanks in advance .....

- Dave G.
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Asus A7D mobo
Dual Athlon MP1800+ processors
512 MB DDR RAM
Creative Annihilator Blaster GeForce3 video (64 MB DDR RAM)
Dual WD 80 GB HDDs (7200 rpm)
Kenwood Zen True-X 72x CD-ROM drive
Plextor 40x12x40x CD-RW drive
Logitech Optical Freedom cordless keyboard & mouse
USR/3Com 10/100 NIC card
Toshiba cable modem
Viewsonic 18" UVGA flat panel monitor
Windows XP Professional (full edition)
Norton Internet Security (firewall + antivirus)

Stargazer, if all you did was install the patch that will not rid your computer of the worm. You also have to use Symantec's fixblaster to rid your computer of the worm. The patch only closed the ports to keep the worm out, but if you already have the worm you need to get rid of it.

Go to this thread and read the first or second post, it gives the url for downloading the fixblaster. plus instructions on what you need to do besides installing the patch.
http://discussions.virtualdr.com/sho...hreadid=143673

Photolady,

Thanks for your comments. I used the "FixBlaster" and it did not find the Blaster worm on my system. Yesterday, I began the instructions for manual removal, but of course did not find the MSblaster.exe file.
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To all:

The last time I returned to my PC and turned on the montior, my system had decided to initiate the screensaver. So, it appears it is randomly/alternately working and not working .... the worst kind of problem is one that isn't consistent .... sigh.
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- Dave G.

Asus A7D mobo
Dual Athlon MP1800+ processors
512 MB DDR RAM
Creative Annihilator Blaster GeForce3 video (64 MB DDR RAM)
Dual WD 80 GB HDDs (7200 rpm)
Kenwood Zen True-X 72x CD-ROM drive
Plextor 40x12x40x CD-RW drive
Logitech Optical Freedom cordless keyboard & mouse
USR/3Com 10/100 NIC card
Toshiba cable modem
Viewsonic 18" UVGA flat panel monitor

I am not sure why you use a screensaver, maybe because it's pretty? Screensavers don't save your monitor. I just turn off my monitor if I'm going to be away from my computer for any time. Screensavers were invented/created when years ago burn in was a problem, that is not the case now days.

However, for whatever reason you use your screensaver, have you ran a spyware check on your system lately?

Photolady,

I use SpyBot Search & Destroy to find and eliminate spyware.

As for my screensaver, I was already aware they weren't needed nowadays for their original intent, particularly on a flat panel monitor such as mine. I just wanted a way to have the machine password-protected without having to shut it down completely, which I don't always want to do.

- Dave G.