hello all, i am having a problem that i have only just realised is a bigger problem than i originally thought and i thought i had best direct it here. i was trying to install a game (rome total war) on my computer and it would not install, i kept getting odd error messages that i had never seen before. i contaced activision about it and they gave me some steps to follow that seemed very useful. this is part of it: "1. Click Start, and then click Run. 2. In the Open box, type msconfig, and then click OK. 3. On the General tab, click Selective Startup. 4. Under Selective Startup, click to clear the following check boxes: • Process SYSTEM.INI File • Process WIN.INI File • Load Startup Items 5. On the Services tab, click to select the Hide All Microsoft Services check box, and then click Disable All. 6. Click OK, and then click Restart. " when i tried to do this, i was told that some changes may not take effect as i don't have administrative control of my computer however, i only have 1 user. about a month ago, my computer started asking me to login everytime i start up. this was unusual as i hadn't changed any settings. now i'm really concerned about this because winpatrol pops up every 5-10 mins or so saying that these are trying to start: hp9421.tmp and hp9D2A.tmp i select no but they just keep coming back all time. these problems may be unrelated as this computer has had a mountain of problems. it's my brother's computer and i'm doing him a favour clearing it up for him. I have no idea what's going on here, can somebody please help me? Big thank yous in advance. Chris Buchli. The first step to wisdom is being able to admit when you don't know.

You have the infamous SpyAxe infection. HERE you can find this trojan's detailed description and removal instructions.

right you are! thank you very much, i'm just running spyware doctor now. i had already removed two of the processes that it opens, nvctrl.exe and mssearchnet.exe, which i found with hijackthis. now i can just tie up the loose ends. Thanks again. The first step to wisdom is being able to admit when you don't know.

gee thanks for recommending something i have to buy......... you might have mentioned that. if i wanted to pay for this, i'd have taken it somewhere to be repaired. The first step to wisdom is being able to admit when you don't know.

If you read carefully you saw manual removal instructions there. they work and they are free.

Not meaning to sound ungrateful. Some people are not keen to get inside the registry etc and start changing things that they do not understand......... I did resort to that, and it did help, so thanks for that. I'm not a total noob, but anyone with less computer knowledge than me (and mine is minimal) would have been stuffed. The first step to wisdom is being able to admit when you don't know.