#1 ·
Windows XP SP2. I've got this rig that’s been sitting idle for maybe 3 or 4 years, but I just fired it back up a few days ago specifically to run some AutoCAD stuff.
So, here's the deal: ever since I booted it up, clicking anything—whether it's a program or just a file—triggers it to open dozens of times with a single click. Even using the side buttons on my mouse makes it go haywire. Hell, even clicking on empty space on the desktop launches an app. The PC was actually at a repair shop recently; the antivirus was totally out of date, so they cleaned everything up, nuked the viruses, and updated the AV.
But yeah, the same madness is happening again. For instance, My Documents will pop up about fifty times in a row, and I can't even right-click to get into Task Manager.
I finally managed to get into Task Manager using CTRL+ALT+DEL, and weirdly enough, the PC immediately acted normal. I don't get how just opening TM fixes the whole mess? I noticed ntvdm.exe was running about 50 times in TM, so I killed it... but then the chaos started all over again. I'm reading online that this might have something to do with 16-bit vs 32-bit programs. I tried killing all instances of ntvdm.exe in TM once and thought it worked, but clearly, it’s tied to opening Task Manager.
So, here's the deal: ever since I booted it up, clicking anything—whether it's a program or just a file—triggers it to open dozens of times with a single click. Even using the side buttons on my mouse makes it go haywire. Hell, even clicking on empty space on the desktop launches an app. The PC was actually at a repair shop recently; the antivirus was totally out of date, so they cleaned everything up, nuked the viruses, and updated the AV.
But yeah, the same madness is happening again. For instance, My Documents will pop up about fifty times in a row, and I can't even right-click to get into Task Manager.
I finally managed to get into Task Manager using CTRL+ALT+DEL, and weirdly enough, the PC immediately acted normal. I don't get how just opening TM fixes the whole mess? I noticed ntvdm.exe was running about 50 times in TM, so I killed it... but then the chaos started all over again. I'm reading online that this might have something to do with 16-bit vs 32-bit programs. I tried killing all instances of ntvdm.exe in TM once and thought it worked, but clearly, it’s tied to opening Task Manager.