A friend has Windows XP but no internet access. The last internet picture set as background by a previous owner of the computer was a porno. When she goes to Control Panel, Appearance & Themes, Change the Desktop Background: The picture associated with Internet Explorer Wallpaper is objectionable. Can it be deleted or changed without internet access? I know other pictures can be set as background (desktop wallpaper), but how can the porno picture become unavailable?

Hi bigfut5, welcome to SAF

If you can change the background picture, just locate and delete the porno stuff... If it does not let you change or it come back on next reboot, you may have a malware installed there, even if the system does not access internet anymore.

Right-click on her desktop, go to properties/wallpaper, see what file it is pointing to and choose another pic.

Post back if the problem persist.

Chris

Thank you for the advice, Ironbender. When I right click on my desktop and bring up the picture associated with Internet Explorer Wallpaper on my computer (also XP), I do not know how to determine what file the picture is from. I have deleted all temporary internet files and cookies. Bigfut5

Delete it in: c/windows/web/wallpaper

When you right click on desktop then click properties/desktop, there's normally a list of wallpapers where current is highlighted...

As Sasol said, you can search it on c:\windows\web\wallpapers, but mine are on c:\windows and c:\windows\wallpapers...

You'll have to search on your HD to find and delete it...

Use windows explorer to find any other non-objectionable picture on the pc. Right click it and select "open with." Choose to open with "internet explorer" from the list. The pic should open in IE. Right click the open pic and set it as the windows background. It will replace the current one.

Next, I would use windows explorer to search the harddrive, including all subfolders, for all picture types. Open them one y one and delete the others you WILL find.

PS - Welcome to SAF!

I want to thank everyone for your advice. It helped me succeed. I was able to delete the porno picture for my friend. I searched all folders, subfolders and hidden folders for "wallpaper". One of the hits was the Internet Explorer Wallpaper file. I brought it up to verify it was the one to be deleted and deleted it. Then I deleted it from the Recycle Bin. Bigfut5

You are welcome, bigfut5