Strange item on Windows desktop

[marcplante]

I have a small item that is floating above my desktop it looks like a small white oval (Pill?) ~3x7mm.

it floats above any application window that I open, and I can not grab it with my mouse. I have run McAfee so far, with no result. and I'm going to download Spybot S&D to see if it can locate anything.

Machine is an HP laptop running Vista Home Premium with McAfee security suite running.

This item reminds me of single Pixel Gifs that are sometimes embedded in web pages to track items. while i realize it's not the same, has anyone seen anything that manifests itself like this on the desktop?

TIA,

Marc

 

[Sam25]

I haven't come across something like this. You might want to download and run a full system scan with Malwarebytes or Superantispyware to see if they detect anything.

 

[mechBgon]

You might also want to download and run HijackThis and post the logfile.

 

[marcplante]

Thanks for all the pointers. In the end, I ran McAfee, Spybot and Superantispyware. Ultimately I simply did a system rollback of about a week and it went away. I would loved to have spent more time investigating, but needed to focus on getting some work done.

I did have a firewall running and nothing appeared to be trying to communicate in or out, though I suppose that might have been because I found and disposed of whatever it was quickly. Unfortunately, the only thing I have is a snip of the item from my desktop if anyone wants to see a small JPeg I can send it via std email. PM if you care.

Thanks for your time and comments. I really appreciate all the help I get on Anandtech.

Marc