Ghost in printer?

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Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

Can anyone offer some help with my computer. I'm running Windows XP on it
and I have a printer I used to have hooked up to our old computer attached to
it. On a daily basis this printer will turn itself on and run a little bit
like it's printing something then it will just stop. We turn it off and then
after awhile it will turn itself back on and do the same thing. we have gone
as far as to just leave the one printer unplugged and this of course stopped
it. I believe that the old computer we had was took out by a virus but never
did find out. It just stopped working for us and we just left it as a lost
and bought this new one. But ever since we have been having problems with
the computer, it runs really slow and I have run spy check after spy check.
I'm downloading a anti virus and will try and see if that helps but does
anyone out there have any kind of idea as to why this one printer keeps
turning itself on. Any kind of help we would greatly appreaciate. Thank you.
 
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Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

This behavior sounds like a worm or Trojan of some kind. You absolutely
need to be running an anti-virus application and a firewall. You mention an
old computer that was affected by some kind of problem. What brand,
processor, memory and so on is this machine? If you don't want it I may be
interested in it and would consider paying shipping depending on what it is.
You can reply to my email address, don't worry about the address as it is
not my primary email account but a throw-away acccount for circumstances
such as this, or simply post back and we can take it from there.

"rislab@hotmail.com" <rislabhotmailcom@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
message news:BC54C85B-1F67-4089-90AA-C183403FCA11@microsoft.com...
> Can anyone offer some help with my computer. I'm running Windows XP on it
> and I have a printer I used to have hooked up to our old computer attached
to
> it. On a daily basis this printer will turn itself on and run a little
bit
> like it's printing something then it will just stop. We turn it off and
then
> after awhile it will turn itself back on and do the same thing. we have
gone
> as far as to just leave the one printer unplugged and this of course
stopped
> it. I believe that the old computer we had was took out by a virus but
never
> did find out. It just stopped working for us and we just left it as a
lost
> and bought this new one. But ever since we have been having problems with
> the computer, it runs really slow and I have run spy check after spy
check.
> I'm downloading a anti virus and will try and see if that helps but does
> anyone out there have any kind of idea as to why this one printer keeps
> turning itself on. Any kind of help we would greatly appreaciate. Thank
you.
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

On Wed, 20 Oct 2004 09:35:35 -0700, rislab@hotmail.com wrote:

> We turn it off and then
> after awhile it will turn itself back on and do the same thing. we have gone
> as far as to just leave the one printer unplugged and this of course stopped
> it.

"Unplugged" how? Why not try plugged in to the power source but not
attached to computer? If the printer powers up on its own, at least the
problem is getting narrowed down to "printer only" or "printer attached to
X computer"

--
Sharon F
MS-MVP ~ Windows XP Shell/User
 
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Guest
Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.basics (More info?)

"rislab@hotmail.com" <rislabhotmailcom@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
message news:BC54C85B-1F67-4089-90AA-C183403FCA11@microsoft.com...
> Can anyone offer some help with my computer. I'm running Windows XP on it
> and I have a printer I used to have hooked up to our old computer attached
to
> it. On a daily basis this printer will turn itself on and run a little
bit
> like it's printing something then it will just stop.

Does it make the same noises when you switch it on normally?

How does it connect to the PC? Serial? Parallel? USB?