You are seeing the effects of a hijackware infection (which may have
infected your Win7 computer, too).
See...
Cleaning a Compromised System
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc700813.aspx
Back-up any personal data (none of which should be considered 100%
trustworthy at this point) then format the HDD & do a clean install of
Windows. Please note that a Repair Install (AKA in-place upgrade)
will NOT fix this!
HOW TO do a clean install of WinXP: See
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html#steps
and/or Method 1 in
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/978307
After the clean install, you will have the equivalent of a "new
computer" so take care of EVERYTHING on the following page BEFORE
otherwise connecting the machine to the internet or a local network
(i.e., other computers) AND BEFORE connecting a flash drive, SDCard,
or any other external drive to the computer:
4 steps to help protect your new computer before you go online
http://www.microsoft.com/security/pypc.aspx
Other helpful references include:
HOW TO get a computer running WinXP Gold (no Service Packs) fully
patched (after a clean install)
http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.windowsupdate/msg/3f5afa8ed33e121c
HOW TO get a computer running WinXP SP1(a) or SP2 fully patched (after
a clean install)
http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.windowsxp.general/msg/a066ae41add7dd2b
Tip: After getting the computer fully-patched, download/install
KB971029 manually before connecting any external drive to the
computer:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971029
NB: Any Norton or McAfee free-trial that came preinstalled on the
computer when you bought it will be reinstalled (but invalid) when
Windows is reinstalled. You MUST uninstall the free-trial AND download/
run the appropriate removal tool BEFORE installing any updates,
Windows Service Packs or IE upgrades AND BEFORE installing your new
anti-virus application (which will require WinXP SP3 to be installed).
Norton Removal Tool
ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/english_us_canada/removal_tools/Norton_Removal_Tool.exe
McAfee Consumer Products Removal Tool
http://download.mcafee.com/products/licensed/cust_support_patches/MCPR..exe
Also see:
Risks & Benefits of P2P file sharing
http://www.microsoft.com/protect/data/downloadfileshare/filesharing.aspx
http://blogs.technet.com/mmpc/archive/2008/10/06/the-cost-of-free-software.aspx
Steps To Help Prevent Spyware
http://www.microsoft.com/security/spyware/prevent.aspx
Steps to Help Prevent Computer Worms
http://www.microsoft.com/security/worms/prevent.aspx
Avoid Rogue Security Software!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/antivirus/rogue.aspx
If you need additional assistance with the clean install, please begin
a new thread in this forum:
http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/xprepair/threads
If these procedures look too complex - and there is no shame in
admitting this isn't your cup of tea - take the machine to a local,
reputable and independent (i.e., not BigBoxStoreUSA or Geek Squad)
computer repair shop.
NB: On Sunday, 12 September, this newsgroup (WinXP General) as well as
the Win64 General newsgroups were dropped from the MS newsserver. As
such, I am no longer monitoring this thread.
You will find continuing support for WinXP in these forums:
http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/category/windowsxp
You will find support for Win7 in these forums:
http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/category/windows7
MSMVP - i have answered you below:
<SNIP>
