First post here, so thanks for any advice you may be able to provide.

So, I'm at the point where I'm almost tempted to abandon ship on this stupid computer and let it sink to the bottom of the depths of the sea.

This lends me the question that someone here might be able to answer: "At what point do we simply say this operating system is hooped and it's time for the old save what documents you can, reformat and reinstall windows with stronger protection?" I mean, I'm an old school computer guy having started on XT's and that always worked in the old days. I've been surfing these websites since yesterday and installing kaspersky, Ewido, and about a dozen other anti-malware programs. Some of which say 'it's all gone, don't worry about it'. Others that say there are still almost 200 infected files and 4 different virii on my machine, etc. Either way, the needupdate page still comes up every time I load IE, so I'm not convinced all is well. There is no way I'm going to even consider doing any banking on this thing in the near future, so is all of this for nothing?

I tried the safe mode, system restore off, run all antimalware stuff, etc. and at this point...Norton AV says there's nothing there but now it gives a warning that Windows thinks my AV software may or may not even be able to protect me. I'm a sitting duck from their viewpoint!

Well, here we go. I guess the first part of requesting help here is to post a 'highjackthis' report? I downloaded and ran this today. Here's the report:

Logfile of HijackThis v1.99.1
Scan saved at 9:21:57 AM, on 12/27/2005
Platform: Windows XP SP2 (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP2 (6.00.2900.2180)

Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\mssearchnet.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\SYMANT~1\SYMANT~1\vptray.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Real\Update_OB\realsched.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\drivers\w32x86\3\hpztsb04.exe
C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_06\bin\jusched.exe
C:\Program Files\Panicware\Pop-Up Stopper Professional\PopUpStopperProfessional.exe
C:\Program Files\Symantec_Client_Security\Symantec AntiVirus\DefWatch.exe
d:\Program Files\ewido anti-malware\ewidoctrl.exe
C:\Program Files\Symantec_Client_Security\Symantec AntiVirus\Rtvscan.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\nvsvc32.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\wscntfy.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\MsgSys.EXE
C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe
C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe
C:\Documents and Settings\Bill\Desktop\HijackThis.exe

R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://www.cknw.com/
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://www.cknw.com/
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Local Page = \blank.htm
O2 - BHO: HomepageBHO - {e0103cd4-d1ce-411a-b75b-4fec072867f4} - C:\WINDOWS\system32\hp6565.tmp
O3 - Toolbar: &Google - {2318C2B1-4965-11d4-9B18-009027A5CD4F} - c:\program files\google\googletoolbar2.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [vptray] C:\PROGRA~1\SYMANT~1\SYMANT~1\vptray.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NvCplDaemon] RUNDLL32.EXE C:\WINDOWS\System32\NvCpl.dll,NvStartup
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [nwiz] nwiz.exe /install
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NvMediaCenter] RUNDLL32.EXE C:\WINDOWS\System32\NvMcTray.dll,NvTaskbarInit
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [TkBellExe] "C:\Program Files\Common Files\Real\Update_OB\realsched.exe" -osboot
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [QuickTime Task] "C:\Program Files\QuickTime\qttask.exe" -atboottime
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Jet Detection] "C:\Program Files\Creative\SBLive\PROGRAM\ADGJDet.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [HPDJ Taskbar Utility] C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\drivers\w32x86\3\hpztsb04.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [P2P Networking] C:\WINDOWS\system32\P2P Networking\P2P Networking.exe /AUTOSTART
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SunJavaUpdateSched] C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_06\bin\jusched.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [KernelFaultCheck] %systemroot%\system32\dumprep 0 -k
O4 - HKLM\..\RunOnce: [SpybotSnD] "D:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy\SpybotSD.exe" /autocheck
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [PopUpStopperProfessional] "C:\Program Files\Panicware\Pop-Up Stopper Professional\PopUpStopperProfessional.exe"
O8 - Extra context menu item: &Google Search - res://c:\program files\google\GoogleToolbar2.dll/cmsearch.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: &Translate English Word - res://c:\program files\google\GoogleToolbar2.dll/cmwordtrans.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Backward Links - res://c:\program files\google\GoogleToolbar2.dll/cmbacklinks.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Cached Snapshot of Page - res://c:\program files\google\GoogleToolbar2.dll/cmcache.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: E&xport to Microsoft Excel - res://C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~2\OFFICE11\EXCEL.EXE/3000
O8 - Extra context menu item: Similar Pages - res://c:\program files\google\GoogleToolbar2.dll/cmsimilar.html
O8 - Extra context menu item: Translate Page into English - res://c:\program files\google\GoogleToolbar2.dll/cmtrans.html
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_06\bin\ssv.dll (file missing)
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Sun Java Console - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_06\bin\ssv.dll (file missing)
O9 - Extra button: Spyware Doctor - {2D663D1A-8670-49D9-A1A5-4C56B4E14E84} - C:\WINDOWS\System32\shdocvw.dll
O9 - Extra button: Research - {92780B25-18CC-41C8-B9BE-3C9C571A8263} - C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~2\OFFICE11\REFIEBAR.DLL
O9 - Extra button: PartyPoker.com - {B7FE5D70-9AA2-40F1-9C6B-12A255F085E1} - d:\Program Files\PartyPoker\PartyPoker.exe (file missing)
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: PartyPoker.com - {B7FE5D70-9AA2-40F1-9C6B-12A255F085E1} - d:\Program Files\PartyPoker\PartyPoker.exe (file missing)
O9 - Extra button: Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Windows Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O16 - DPF: {0EB0E74A-2A76-4AB3-A7FB-9BD8C29F7F75} (CKAVWebScan Object) - http://www.kaspersky.com/downloads/k...an_unicode.cab
O16 - DPF: {17492023-C23A-453E-A040-C7C580BBF700} (Windows Genuine Advantage Validation Tool) - http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=39204
O16 - DPF: {2BC66F54-93A8-11D3-BEB6-00105AA9B6AE} (Symantec AntiVirus scanner) - http://security.symantec.com/sscv6/S...in/AvSniff.cab
O16 - DPF: {644E432F-49D3-41A1-8DD5-E099162EEEC5} (Symantec RuFSI Utility Class) - http://security.symantec.com/sscv6/S.../bin/cabsa.cab
O20 - Winlogon Notify: NavLogon - C:\WINDOWS\System32\NavLogon.dll
O23 - Service: DefWatch - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Symantec_Client_Security\Symantec AntiVirus\DefWatch.exe
O23 - Service: ewido security suite control - ewido networks - d:\Program Files\ewido anti-malware\ewidoctrl.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec AntiVirus Client (Norton AntiVirus Server) - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Symantec_Client_Security\Symantec AntiVirus\Rtvscan.exe
O23 - Service: NVIDIA Display Driver Service (NVSvc) - NVIDIA Corporation - C:\WINDOWS\System32\nvsvc32.exe


Anyhoo, there ya have it. Any help would be greatly appreciated. And seriously, after hearing that there's almost 200 infected files can the operating system still be reliable. I'm not as knowledgeable about the guts of windows as I used to be about DOS (no I'm not over 40!).

Regards, JohnSmith7145