Trojan.Win32.Qhost.df is removed by PestPatrol but always comes back. PestPatrol says it is in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/software/microsoft/windows/currentversion/ruins. This location deoesn't even show up in regedit. How can I get rid of the trojan for good, and how can I set regedit so I can view supposedly hidden locations?

"... currentversion/ruins"? There is no 'hidden' regedit setting as you describe (what you see is what you get), but spelling is a consideration If you get people asking the wrong questions, you don't have to worry about the answers

I beg your pardon - that is (after all) correct according to their link Still, not all entries are necessarily going to be present, particularly if there have been cleaning attempts. If you get people asking the wrong questions, you don't have to worry about the answers

I can boot up my machine, verify that it isn't listed in the registry, and then PestPatrol will still identify it. If I look at the registry again before I tell PestPatrol to remove it, I still isn't listed.

If it's not there, it's not there. While I have no personal experience with this specific trojan, as you can see from the link, there are multiple components to the infection - generally, an absence of one component is not terribly indicative. Perhaps a safe mode scan would be more productive, or else see if an online scan (such as Panda) will take care of the problem If you get people asking the wrong questions, you don't have to worry about the answers

There can be a problem with system restore where it actually keeps the virus and backs it up. Even when the virus doesn't show it will come up in a scan and when you do a system restore it will come back. I don't know how to fix that, exept to turn off system restore was recomended. I have a problem now where I think the web root is changed in system 32 and it won't allow me to do a system restore because it's not there I guess. I'm not very up on this, but I learned a little that may or may not help. I could use help of my own, though my zone alarm seems to be keeping the problem at bay (a system 32 application keeps attempting to access the internet every time I start up and zone alarm denies it).

Well I have an update. I had an attack by a byte verify and downloader trojans which norton took out quickly. I also had some kind of worm that put per.exe in my registry and was prompting a computer share program netsh.exe which zone alarm was blocking. I did a search through every exe to see what was put in as of the 28th and later and found some malicious stuff, including that per.exe and it's mignions which are little files it started up in windows 32 with it which I couldn't get out, but I stuck it all in a folder and that stopped it's attempting to access the net and stopped the netsh.exe. I started looking around the internet for help, and I found true sword, an anti spy ware/worm virus program. Well the free version of that program dug up all these nasty executable programs and registry corruptions left 2 days ago and also some left from past battles with Trojans and virus. It also identified net sheriff as a malicious entity which I had recently downloaded for help, then didn't buy because it stunk. I already have Microsoft anti spyware, Norton, Spy sweeper, and I think they might have been bound up by the malicious entities, because they sure didn't find the problems that true swords free down load did. Wish I'd have stumbled on that before I spent a couple of days attacking the virus in my feckless way (though I did disable it by changing it to version compatible with windows 95 and putting the bad stuff in folders in the file so it wouldn't stop me and wouldn't work it's purpose. I hope these ramblings helps some one, maybe the OP.