Is it a virus?

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 They were .lnk extension, which surprised me, & as I was opening them here, I got an alert that "Real Player" is out of date; & asked me if I would like to get it updated.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.

tell me what your antivirus is os computer etc...?

As I already said in the 4th paragraph, I have "Windows Vista" on my laptop, & Verizon Internet Security Suite (for all the protections; it's a paid service). Thanx.

avira's antivir is way better than verison. it's at http://www.avira.com and get superantispyware at http://www.superantispyware.com they should help u out. they are both free and from experience some of the best

Ok, thanx Neilmac. I'll try, & let you know.

u will have to uninstall your current antivirus to install avira's. antiviruses don't play nice with each other. And if u r having problems with installing the new antivirus program then restart windows in safe mode with networking. just boot normally then when the splash screen starts up shut off the computer and reboot that should bring up the advanced boot menu. if for some reason that doesnt bring it up then press F8 constantly when the computer turns on a split second after the bios (basic input output system) loads and before the windows splash screen. by starting in safe mode u only load a basic set of drivers just barely enough to run windows and therefore before the virus has a chance to load. here's a tip for the future when u go online only go online with a limeted account not administartor type account, that way if someone hacks in they will have the same rights as the user that's logged in, and therefore wont find it as easy to make system wide changes especially to the registry and windows files. you can also goto http://download.cnet.com/Temp-File-Cleaner...4-10628816.html and download the free temporary file cleaner program as a lot of viruses are located in temp files. it's good to empty these files on a regular basis. also in the future before u download and install any updates or new programs create a restore point before u do so. some viruses turn off and delete resore points so if u can back up an image of your entire hard drive after you have disinfected your system. then if something catastrophic happens u can restore from the image which is simpler than reinstalling from scratch and then reinstalling all your programs. a good automatic backup system can be gotten from clickfree that come in various sizes and are external backup drives. also i have a toshiba satellite too and if u havent done so yet create a set of recovery discs from the auto create program the system comes with. if u don't have it goto http://cdgenp01.csd.toshiba.com/content/su...cher_27726A.exe and create a set of disks it's worth it to have them