Hi Guys,

Need your help once again! Here's the problem:

Running Win XP on Acer laptop.
Installed APOD (Astronomy Picture of the Day) a few months ago. It updates your background with a picture every day. Now i want to put my own picture on the background. Everytime i press apply, it flashes up for a millisecond and then the original APOD picture is back up. There are no options in the settings to stop updating or anything. I've uninstalled the program and this problem still happens. I found the picture it refers to in C:\Program Files\APOD\APOD.jpg. Deleting this file simply leaves me with a white background and a small "x" in the top left corner of the screen. This file is still there even after i uninstalled the program. I have re-installed it now. The problem still stands. I want to be able to change my bg picture! This is the HiJackThis log as it is now with the program installed.

Please help!

Thank you

Anyone any ideas?

Try Start -> Run -> regedit

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies
Navigate to this folder. If the folder has a folder named ActiveDesktop, select and delete it.

Also try going to

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\ Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies

If the policies folder has a folder named ActiveDesktop delete it.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System

Go there and check if there is a key called wallpaper under the folder System.

Hey! thanks for the ideas

Unfortunately, there weren't any folders called Active Desktop and no key called Wallpaper...

Uninstall APOD, and get me a screenshot of your desktop after that.
Use PrintScreen, and paste it into paint.
Export the file as a jpeg and attach it to your next reply.

If i un install it using the add/remove programs (that's the only way) nothing seems to change. The taskbar icon is still there, the background is still the same. So i closed APOD (by pressing close after right clicking on the icon in the taskbar) and then i went to the APOD folder in Program files and deleted APOD.jpg which is the file name for the background the program uses. Then i refreshed the desktop and the image uploaded is what i've got. A red background and note the cross at the top left. If i try to set a desktop image it simply flashes and stays the same!

Can you check back into the registry using the same folders as I mentioned above?
This is a weird problem. Do you have your XP install disc?

edge2022 reading on this some people talk about active desktop maybe causing a problem.
Not sure if it will stop it but it's worth a try

1. Open the Control Panel.
2. Open the Display icon.
3. Click the Desktop tab.
4. Click the Customize Desktop button.
5. Click the Web tab in the Desktop Items window.
If you wish to disable Active Desktop, make sure all checkboxes in this window are un-checked.

This post has been edited by rshaffer61: Mar 31 2009, 06:10 PM

I checked the registry, nothing there!

I don't think i've got the CD's... it's a few years old and i've moved house at least 3 times. I don't know where anything is anymore!

Thanks for the suggestion rshaffer61 but there's nothing checked there. No active desktop running.

Normally with active desktop you can move things around the screen and there's a grey bar if you go near the to active object but this doesn't happen here, just a cross in the top left!

Layth

This post has been edited by Layth: Mar 31 2009, 06:14 PM

Ok not much on the program except allot of people had trouble uninstalling it

http://bb.nightskylive.net/asterisk/viewto...106&start=0

Read this and see if any1 had any fixes.
Try disabling your security protection including Windows firewall and your suite. Disconnect from the internet before doing this, as you don't want any viruses.

And btw, thanks to rshaffer
I am running out of ideas.

This post has been edited by edge2022: Mar 31 2009, 06:35 PM

I'm sorry.. I just looked around myself as a matter of interest cause I have never seen anything like that