Hi, something wierd is happening in my pc: Every time I open a zip file stored in my hd, (opened with winzip) or when i view offline a web page also stored in my hd, the floppy drive gettings nuts and search an inexistend floppy disk and its repeat every time. I have installed the las and updated version of Kaspesky AV and nothing strange is running in the background, no virus, no spyware. Any ideas? is a virus or I must throw up the floppy drive? Thanks in advance. Mobo: Intel 865PERL Chipset: Intel® 865PE CPU: Intel Pentium IV 2.8 GHZ RAM: 512MB DDR Video: SIS-315e 32MB Audio : SoundMAX4XL HD: Maxtor IDE 120GB

Takeru, SWAG, suspect you're on the right track. Anytime I hear about crazy, eratic behaviour with no apparent reason AND no apparent virus, I suspect a Trojan. Maybe not, but... Be aware that a virus and a Trojan are similar, but not the same. Many times, an AV detects one it can't clean , other times, it gets missed entirely. If you need to clean one, A² can do the job and you can get it free @: http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4281.html among other places. If it turns out that you need to use it, be sure to update prior to running. They just released a new update recently and it changes all the time. Things are in a constant state of flux. HTH. Ed in Texas.

Check the Kaspersky options. There is probably an option to check every file that is opened. That's overkill IMO. Do yourself a favor BACKUP!

It is probably not a virus or trojan at all, and it's probably nothing to worry about. Whatever you are using to unzip files is probably just saving the location of the last place you unzipped a file. If that last place was on your floppy drive, that's the first place it looks when it is loaded the next time - even if there is no floppy in the drive, the program will attempt to access the drive anyway, and floppy drives tend to be noisy when that is attempted. All you need to do in that case is to look at a folder on the hard drive with the program, and then exit it - the next time you use the program, it will go to the folder on the hard drive instead when you first open it. e.g. WinZip has that behavior.

Sorry guys that doesnt happen with my floppy drive, nothing appears to be openned, like a folder or something, but the problem with the noisy drive happens once again when I restart the machine and it continues without any reason, what should I do? please if someone knows an aplicattion to check my system or my register let me know ok? thanks in advance. Mobo: Intel 865PERL Chipset: Intel® 865PE CPU: Intel Pentium IV 2.8 GHZ RAM: 512MB DDR Video: SIS-315e 32MB Audio : SoundMAX4XL HD: Maxtor IDE 120GB

Your last post is too vague to invite any comment on it. There are a handful of viruses, possibly trojans, that can cause this behavior, but since you have thoroughly checked your drive with anti-virus and anti-adware/trojan programs, it is extremely unlikely malware is causing your problem. I searched the web with Yahoo using: accesses empty floppy drive - lots of hits - some suggestions here: "Try setting the A-V to ignore the Floppy Drive and see if the problem goes away." e.g. "1. Start NAV, and then click Options. 2. Click Auto-Protect, and then click Advanced. 3. Uncheck "Scan floppies for boot viruses when shutting down Windows." and "Scan all removable media for boot viruses every time it is mounted." (This text will vary slightly with your version of NAV.) 4. Click OK, and then exit NAV." .... This guy had the same problem "......it was just Windows scanning the Documents menu and finding file references there from previous floppy accesses. I guess it was checking those files to see if they were still viable, and it seemed to happen about every 15 minutes, so I suppose Windows has some sort of schedule for keeping its eye on things. This only happened on other people's machines, as I always kept my Documents menu empty [compulsively neat Virgo here... ] until I figured out how to kill it completely with Tweakui. I have noticed Windows seeking the floppy drive when I open a save dialog box only when the previous file I had saved was to the A: drive." .... Turn Off (or clear) the Documents Menu http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/article05-004 ....... Stop Windows from Randomly Searching the Floppy Drive including get Tweak UI for XP (click on the highlighted tweakui) http://www.annoyances.org/exec/show/article07-037 ....... My Note: Your problem will probably go away by doing one or more of the above things. If it is still there, you could try this as well, but you must be careful what you delete: "I would also try clearing your MRU lists, Ad Aware will help you do that as it is one of the things it checks for. Sometimes if you've used the floppy to access a file in a program, the file location will get put on a Most Recently Used List, and those lists sometimes like to make sure the file that was accessed is still there." My Notes: MRU is Most Recently Used. The lists are in your Registry. 1. Start - Run - type: regedit, click on OK If you want to save a backup of your present Registry in case you make a mistake, from the top menu choose Registry - Export Registry File. 2. Make sure regedit is set to look starting at the beginning of the Registry - scroll to the top on the left, click on My Computer to highlight it. (XP sets itself to start at the last location you were at where you found something when you last used regedit, when regedit was closed) 3. In the top menu choose Edit - Find - type: a: , then click on Find Next. Some of the instances of a: will not be applicable to what you should delete. Press F3 to find additional instances of a: . 4. When you see an entry on the RIGHT that has A: or A:\ or a path beginning with A:\, take a look at the location listed at the bottom of the window. If it has MRU or Most Recently Used, or for Niko Mak / WinZip, filemenu, at the end of the location string, you can delete any entry on the RIGHT with A: in it, except (Default). RIGHT click on the Name beside the entry in the RIGHT pane, choose Delete. Press F3 to find additional instances of a: . .......