Strange New Popup

[RetiredGeek]

Hi All,

I just received the popup below when I woke my machine from sleep. Now this machine has been running w/o major problems for a couple of years. I checked the Driver info in Device Manager and it hasn't changed NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GT Driver Dated: 1/7/2011 Version: 8.17.12.6658, so it isn't an updated driver problem. I ran the Windows Experience Index again {see attachment} and the numbers didn't change. Anyone with any ideas why this showed up all the sudden?

[Roderunner]

Hi RG

It could be a virus.

[Zig]

I suspect it's from some kind of "speed up your computer" tweaker or tool.

Zig

[Just Plain Fred]

I ran the Windows Experience Index again {see attachment} and the numbers didn't change. Anyone with any ideas why this showed up all the sudden?

"Geekster"

Hello... Could it be a RAM problem? Check paging file settings, also make sure the OS is "seeing" all usable RAM ...SIW, and in BIOS..Regards Fred

[Medico]

Have you noticed any changes in performance recently? If you haven't noticed any change and WE Index hasn't changed I would also suspect some sort of phishing thing. This did not occur right after a WU either? This is very unusual. This appears to be one of those Task Manager close times and run manual scan times. We'll all have to watch for this.

[BruceR]

That's a standard Windows 7 warning dialog which apparently appears when the graphics card memory has exceeded some threshold like 90% due to Aero and a full screen game or remote desktop:

How do I decide whether to change the color scheme to improve performance?

Suggested solutions range from setting the offending .exe to run in compatibility mode with some visual/desktop options disabled, to disabling notifications from Desktop Window Manager:

Do you want to change your windows color scheme?

Windows 7 - How do I disable annoying performance colorscheme popup

Bruce

[Medico]

I would still be leary of this only because of the timing. The PC has been working well for quite some time and suddenly this pop up shows up. Yes, perhaps the graphics card has been "running on the edge". Perhaps it is worth keeping an eye on things to see if it happens again. Perhaps I'm getting paranoid in my old age, but I do not trust things that just pop up out of the blue like this so I would still take the precautions I outlined in my previous post.

[bbearren]

Did you try a total shutdown and cold reboot?

[RetiredGeek]

Thanks Guys!

I haven't noticed any change in performance and haven't seen the popup since I posted. I know it's not a virus because I just recently did full scans with MSE & MalwareBytes & Windows Defender Offline all A-OK. It certianly wasn't a game as the most demanding game I play is Minesweeper and the only program that was open when I woke the machine was FireFox. Go figure. You'll notice from the PDF that it's a 1Gb Video Card with 1,791 Mb (1.8 Gb) shared system memory available. Should be plenty for what I'm doing. I'll post back if it happens again.

[curiousclive]

Have you checked your voltages just in case you had a voltage fluctuation which may slow down your graphic card temporarily?

[RetiredGeek]

Clive,

The machine is on a 1500VA APC UPS because the power here in the sticks sucks. The UPS is supposed to maintain voltage as part of it's function.

Apparently, there was a blackout today however, but the UPS hid it from me other than beeping. I think it was while I was watching the Australian Open on ESPN2.

[Medico]

So the blackout was not during PC usage, but during a sleep period of the PC. I do not believe this would have caused a spike in graphics card activity to cause the offending pop up, but who knows. Knowing you I suspect you will monitor very closely for a while. Have a great evening.

[dreamkid]

I've seen a very similar message when attaching to PCs using Teamviewer. Any remote access going on?

[RetiredGeek]

DreamKid,

I do have TeamViewer installed but it was not running at the time, nor have I used it for quit a while. I also have not seen the message since the original post. Thanks for the comback.