Hello to everybody. I'm a new member.
I don't know if my following problem is of a virus infection. Last night, a friend of mine wanted me to see some photos. So he was sending them to me. They were .lnk extension, which surprised me, & as I was opening them here, I got an alert that "Real Player" is out of date; & asked me if I would like to get it updated. I clicked yes. It downloaded & installed "Real player SP". Then at the end, it asked me if I wanted to set it as a "default". I again clicked yes.
Now the problem started. When I closed all the application-windows to see my desktop, to my surprise, ALL THE ICONS HAD CHANGED TO "REAL" ( the icon of "Real player" application). Not only that, but when I tried to open an application (eg, Toshiba DVD player), it asked me what type of program should I associate with that application.
I got an idea that something had gone wrong. I ran anti-virus (by accessing it from "my computer"). It reported as "no virus" were found. I right-clicked on "real" icon (for Toshiba DVD Player) on my desktop, to see its properties. It listed it as .lnk extension & called it a 'link' file (instead of calling it "application" with .exe). All other icons appeared the same way. I tried to access the Internet Explorer, & again the same thing happened. It asked me with what type of program I should open it. At last, I uninstalled "Real player" through the 'control panel'. Still, the problem persists.
My Toshiba Satellite laptop has Vista, & has Verizon's Internet Security Suite (for virus protection). The same friend of mine had sent me plenty of photos & videos in the past, but nothing went wrong with them. This is the first time that ever happened, & I guess, even my friend is unaware of sending me some kind of an infected file.
Now I searched on the internet for link files (.lnk), & it brought me to your website. I tried to look up for a similar problem from your other members, but found none, so started a new thread.
Any help? Thanx in advance. Mitch.