Anyone else seen anything like this?

[dickthegrouch]

I have a "luminous mask" for want of a better phrase on my desktop (PC).
It shines through any window I care to put on top of it and can't be captured by cutting and pasting, or by print screen.

It looks like a white mask used by men in fancy dress balls.

I have the uncomfortable feeling that it is telling me my every keystroke is being watched but I have run Microsoft malicious software removal tool, NIS scans, Lavasoft, Spybot search and destroy, and Norton's Power Eraser. None of them have come up with anything that looks like spyware.

The mask even appears before the OS is fully loaded, which makes me think it's coming from the video driver firmware. This started about 4 days ago.

Added on edit:
MS Vista x64 on Gateway NV5602 computer

Am I just paranoid, or should I try harder to diagnose it?

TIA for any assistance you can give.

I have a very poor jpg showing roughly what it looks like (I'm no artist) but I couldn't figure out how to upload it.

[struggle4progress]

1. This is a laptop, right? Can you swap anything? For example, can you try an external monitor? Does

it have a video card that you can swap it out? Do you see if it you boot in safe mode, or from (say) an ubuntu live cd? What have you installed recently?

[dickthegrouch]

2. Interesting questions

Yes, it's a laptop.
Displaying to both integral and external monitor only shows the mask on the integral one.
When displaying only on the external monitor the mask is not visible.
It comes up much earlier than the OS, so starting in safe mode does not make it go away.
My slackware CD doesn't boot at all and I have only just found the right incantation to get to the bios on this machine. I'll try again.
I inadvertently clicked on a photo.php link in a YIM window (when the wrong window suddenly went into focus), which no-script stopped but I have no idea if any damage was already done.
Since I'm a *nix guru, I needed help here.

[trotsky]

3. Sure sounds like it is a problem with your LCD panel.

You can take some comfort in knowing that no keylogger is going to tip you off to the fact that they're collecting your keystrokes. The whole point of one is to be as invisible as possible. Is your system still under warranty? Call up their support, explain what you see and the fact that it does not appear on an external display you hook up. They should be able to take it from there.

[BlueJazz]

4. Is it your reflection in the monitor window?