Curmudgeonly & Skeptical

Rodge - right click on each of those explorer.exe files that show up in your search window. Click on properties. Click on the version tab -- the "real" explorer should show "Copyright Microsoft corporation". BTW, the "real" explorer.exe lives in c:\windows folder. I'd delete the invalid ones.

It appears your virii are gone, but the damage has been done. In order to get back to health, you can try that system restore, or if you still have your windows XP cd (not a "system restore disc"), you can install right over your existing version. I forget the exact steps involved, but I did this for my parents a year or two when they got into a similar situation. It kept all their existing settings/configurations, but restored the files that got corrupted and/or deleted.

I'd try reinstalling XP as a last resort. Fred's right, use the original CD if you do it. I've had to do that before, thanks to the idiot tech support at my former ISP who totally screwed my computer up while troubleshooting why I couldn't connect. It's a real PITA but it might work.

Oh, why I couldn't connect that time? Well after 2 days of arguing with tech support & them trashing my computer....they figured out that instead of their records showing that they owed me $13 and change (which was correct), it showed that I owed them. So someone shut me off for non-payment.

Which is why they're my former ISP.

I'll try that later tonite. I do not have an original CD, just a backup on Drive "D" that came with the computer. I should be able to do that in Safe mode?

What's on your D drive is likely a virgin system image - meaning it will restore your computer to the state when you originally bought it. That will overwrite all of your current programs & settings etc. It will certainly solve your problems, but you'll have to reinstall all your programs and reconfigure your email/internet, etc. If you do decide to do that, make sure you write down all your settings for your email client (pop server name, username, password).

I di have a copy of XP HOME. This machine has XP-MEDIA installed. Can I use plain XP?

You tried to use system restore point yet? Back to an earlier date when it was working? Id try that at least before doing a reformat, partition and reinstall. I thought you decided it wasnt a virus?

Rodger, I'm not too familiar with the XP media version, but it's probably just XP Home with a bunch of junk added on. Should be safe to use, however it wouldn't restore/install the media components.

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