XP Pro SP2 - malware attack?

[xxx]

I am trying to help a friend who has XP Pro SP2 on her notebook.

System has AV installed and seems generally well kept - but there are problems
which I am not sure how to resolve;-

Critical desktop icons (my documents, control panel) cannot be accessed. Double
clicking on them results in fatal error in explorer.exe and a memory dump.

It is impossible to access Internet Explorer -> Internet Options, except by
double-clicking on a html file on the hard disk from the command prompt, which
opens IE - otherwise IE is inaccessible.

I cannot find anything unusual, via msconfig, in system start up.

Before I decide to do a clean install I would appreciate any suggestions as to
both the likely problem and its possible solutions.

Thanks in advance.



Steve

 

[Ghostrider]

I am trying to help a friend who has XP Pro SP2 on her notebook.

System has AV installed and seems generally well kept - but there are
problems which I am not sure how to resolve;-

Critical desktop icons (my documents, control panel) cannot be accessed.
Double clicking on them results in fatal error in explorer.exe and a
memory dump.

It is impossible to access Internet Explorer -> Internet Options, except
by double-clicking on a html file on the hard disk from the command
prompt, which opens IE - otherwise IE is inaccessible.

I cannot find anything unusual, via msconfig, in system start up.

Before I decide to do a clean install I would appreciate any suggestions
as to both the likely problem and its possible solutions.

Thanks in advance.

If the system has anti-virus installed and loaded with current
definitions and running at all times, then cleaning the computer
with anti-adware and anti-spyware would be the next step. There
are a number of these that can be downloaded and installed, such
as Adaware and Spybot S&D. An external scan using Trend-Micro's
Housecall would also be helpful at removing extraneous garbage.

 

[Rock]

I am trying to help a friend who has XP Pro SP2 on her notebook.

System has AV installed and seems generally well kept - but there are
problems which I am not sure how to resolve;-

Critical desktop icons (my documents, control panel) cannot be accessed.
Double clicking on them results in fatal error in explorer.exe and a
memory dump.

It is impossible to access Internet Explorer -> Internet Options, except
by double-clicking on a html file on the hard disk from the command
prompt, which opens IE - otherwise IE is inaccessible.

I cannot find anything unusual, via msconfig, in system start up.

Before I decide to do a clean install I would appreciate any suggestions
as to both the likely problem and its possible solutions.

Thanks in advance.

Steve

THE PARASITE FIGHT
Finding, Removing & Protecting Yourself From Scumware
http://aumha.org/a/parasite.htm

Richard Harper’s Guide to Cleaning Pests
http://rgharper.mvps.org/cleanit.htm

http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Removing_Malware

PC Hell Spyware and Adware Removal Help
http://www.pchell.com/support/spyware.shtml

http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm
http://www.spywareinfo.com

 

[DL]

If you have a winxp installation cd for this sys you might try a repair
installation before moving on to a clean install.