Multimedia Class Scheduler

[seekermeister]

I started getting a series of ting sounds from Windows every few minutes today, which continued after rebooting. Checking in the Event Viewer, the only thing that is reported in the last hour, is 12 instances of reports, half of which speak of this service stopping, and the other half about it starting.

Since I'm not using any kind of multimedia devices or apps at the moment, I find this rather confusing. Any ideas on how to handle this?

Reference Multimedia Class Scheduler Service - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[A Guy]

Had you just installed anything that may have created a scheduled task? Does event viewer show a pattern of when the service starts, IE: every hour, etc? From what I see, this service starts with windows, then stops after a few minutes, unless you open WMP for instance. A Guy

 

[seekermeister]

No, I have not installed anything in a time frame that relates to this. The time interval between the on/off cycles are not precise, they vary between 1-5 minutes, which seems to make it unlikely that they are scheduled tasks. If this service is supposed to be off shortly after booting, then the anomaly is that it is starting up at all. Besides what you have already stated, can you think of any other reason that might be at the root of this problem?

 

[A Guy]

Hmmm, no, other than possibly the WMP services



If the problem is repeatable, you might see if it occurs when your network connection (or internet) is turned off. I hesitate to suggest a system restore point, as I know you are aware of all the basics

A Guy

 

[Layback Bear]

Have you updated any of your older programs? Sometimes with a update they will install new things in your start up. Using msconfig check and see if their is anything new.

 

[seekermeister]

I have absolutely no idea of what it has to do with the Multimedia Class Scheduler service, but I finally found the source of the problem. I'm being blocked from accessing my Gmail account. My email client reports a server error, saying that my username and password are not being accepted.

When I try to do so via my browser, I get a page as shown in the screenshot, asking for my mobile phone for verification...I don't have a mobile phone, and I can't recall ever giving them my landline number.

I searched for a method to contact them via email and failed. I then started to use their forum, in hopes of finding a solution, but a previous post on the forum seems to answer part of the question, but not how to get around the telephone number portion. Here is a link:

Gmail asking for my cell phone number to send verification code, anyway to retain password??? - Gmail Help

Does anyone have any idea of how to solve this?

 

[A Guy]

See if this page will help you:

I cannot access my account - Gmail Help

A Guy

 

[seekermeister]

Thanks, but I tried that before with no luck. I think that I know what the problem is...I was having a problem sending mail through Gmail, as I had once before some time back. Even though the settings were correct, I kept getting a 5.5.1. error, while I continued receiving mail normally. Previously, I used a method provided by my email client's maker (The Bat!), to create a Gmail account using an email address ending with @thebat.net. At first, that made two separate accounts in the client, both of which functioned properly, but then for some reason, the bat account disapppeared, and the Gmail account continued to work.

When I tried that this time, the two accounts remained in my client, but the account username to the Gmail account had been changed to the bat username, and neither accounts seemed to work in either direction. I then edited the username to the original in the Gmail account, and it started working again, so I set the bat account not to check for email.

I don't know how, but I suspect that both accounts were still trying to connect to the Gmail account, and Gmail's server thought that my ID had been stolen. Either that, or Gmail has decided that they don't like The Bat! anymore, because in some circles, it is considered to be a spamming client, because It is so full featured that it can be used for almost any purpose.

I re-enabled the bat account to check for email, and that account is still working, but the problem is that I have no access to the thousands of messages that are in my old account. All that I need is one account that works, and gives me access to my email archive, whether old or new. However, the only way that I can think of to do that is by direct contact with Gmail, which doesn't seem possible, since they are requiring a mobile telephone number to text by.

 

[A Guy]

Geez, "Do no evil" huh? I've been searching for you, and guess what, Google are a**holes. They have no customer support, and this is a common thing for them. Don't have a mobile #? Well, use a friends. That is their advice. They screw up, and you pay. Have a read, I know it doesn't help you, but everything I find says they want a phone # period.

why does gmail need my cell number that I don't have? - Gmail Help

A Guy

 

[seekermeister]

Thanks for the link, it does seem to illustrate the problem, but doesn't provide a viable answer for me, because I not only do not have a cell phone, I don't know anyone that does. This situation is not one that should ever exist, regardless of what caused them to block the account. With most anyone else, you could either call or email someone, and clear up the problem in no time. I guess that my old account is permanently dead, and now I have to decide whether to use my new Bat account, or the one from my ISP, because if at some point in the future, some server decided that my Bat account had suspicious activity, I could lose a few thousand more emails. I can't remember the year that I established my Gmail account, but it was back when it required an invitation to do so. I believe that I have 15,000 emails archived, that are now dead and gone, except that I have them on my client...until something goes wrong with that.

 

[A Guy]

Sorry I couldn't find an answer. I looked at a ton of places, because I couldn't believe there was no support, or workaround. Closest I have found is a suggestion to click the support link on the notification page and submit a ticket. But even they say they give it low priority. A Guy

 

[seekermeister]

No need to apologize for trying to help. If any apology is due, it is from Gmail. Thanks for the effort.

 

[seekermeister]

It was easier than I thought. I had failed to notice that webpage that I had attached above, had the option to use voice, as well as text. Even though the telephone number field was labeled mobile phone, I used my landline # instead, and the instant that I entered it, my telephone rang and a robot dictated a verification code. As soon as I entered that, it gave a means to change the password. that restored access to the account, so the only thing that I really don't like about this, is that I was forced to give them my telephone number. I really don't care that they say that they won't sell it, I don't even want them to have it. Que Sera Sera!

 

[A Guy]

Well hell, that's great. Although I imagine it has you wondering about Gmail now. At least in the future, you know how to quickly fix it if it should happen again. I'm glad you got it sorted

A Guy

 

[seekermeister]

It appears that my account was actually compromised, because there are 29 messages in my inbox that shouldn't be. They are Gmail notifications of undeliverable mail, which I never sent. I have no idea of how many were actually delivered. The strange thing is that on the ones that were not delivered, each had multiple email addresses listed in the sent to field. I got one which appeared to be from Agnitum, but the link that it contained took me to a website offering video downloads. I have no idea if those downloads are free or not, but it really doesn't matter, because I will never download anything from them.

If they hijacked all of addresses of those who have sent me emails in the past, I have no idea of who they may be contacting in my name. I think that I need to change my email settings on all of my other accounts, including my bank, PayPal, eBay, etc.

EDIT: I don't know if that is necessary or not, because those accounts use a different password than I used at Gmail, however I have used the same password on a lot of other locations...like forums.

 

[A Guy]

Well that sucks. Is it that easy to hack into GMail? Lots of posts about their accounts being compromised when I was searching. Do you think those on your contact list would let you know if they received a suspicious email that appeared to come from you?

I had email come from my Mom's account, it was spam, and not virus at least. I had her contact her ISP and change her password, etc. Spent hours scanning her PC and found no sign of any intrusion, so it appeared to be just her email compromised.

A Guy

 

[seekermeister]

I'm much less concerned about them sending spam, because the vast majority of the email addresses in my Gmail account are not personal, and even if a spam got through to someone, they would probably just ignore it. I'm more concerned about the possibility that they may gain access to my other information, like I mentioned previously.

I just tried changing my password on both eBay and this forum a bit ago, and it doesn't appear that it succeeded. Like after submitting the change here, I used a bookmark in my browser to this website, and it just displayed the forum, with me already logged in as usual, without me needing to login. With eBay, it was so messed up, I don't know what happened, except that I can still access my account there also, just as with here.

 

[A Guy]

Not to be overly simplistic, but had you signed out of 7F? Cleared the cookie and browser cache? You'll certainly want to scan your PC, but it doesn't sound like it is compromised, only your GMail, so the changing passwords shouldn't be affected. A Guy

 

[seekermeister]

Simplistic is what I like, but I doubt that logging out and clearing the cache will change anything, because my browser usually displays multiple login possibilities when available, yet it definitely is worth a try.

EDIT: You were right as far as this forum goes, logging in and out, after clearing cookies seemed to fix the problem here. I will just have to keep trying on eBay and elsewhere.