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Thanks D! Now what do I do with the hijack log? I haven't touched it waiting for a reply. I read through some of the other posts about hijack but they don't seem to apply to my situation so will wait. I had some problems with Kazaa after doing the spybot and adaware so uninstalled then reinstalled but only lite. Just need to know now what to do....will wait for more help. Thanks.

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Right. I rather thought the S&V forum would reply directly on this link but I did get one response on what I posted there (#5), see this: http://computing.net/security/wwwboard/forum/8622.html The post got confused by someone else stupidly posting their "Hijack This" log on the same thread. It seems like it is suggesting that your "Hijack This" log was fine so maybe our assumption that this was spyware/malware based is incorrect. Despite this I still feel there is nothing lost in doing what I suggested downloading at least the ones I gave in #3. Even if they don't help this time they are likely to help in the future. The same applies to SpywareBlaster (afterwards) because this is an excellent free preventer. None of these use resources in the background. Did you try beansoups item 2 in #4? I think we'll leave the Help file problem for a bit - two things at a time LOL. As for your doubled control panel entries it goes like this. All of these are files that end with the extension .cpl and are normally located in c:\windows\system. The only exceptions may be the odd one in c:\windows\sysbackup. Windows will not allow two files of the same name in the same folder so the incorrect ones must either have a wrong name or be located elsewhere. Sorry if it's a bit long winded but I think the only safe way forward is as follows: 1. Indicate which CP icons are duplicated. 2. List out "all" the icon names in CP. 3. Type *.cpl in the Run box. This will list all of the .cpl files. Let me know what all of them are called and where they are located. Hopefully I can then suggest which ones you could try saving somewhere (for safety) then deleting. You can double click any .cpl yourself of-course. This will bring up the CP item which may be a help to you. Moving on, I think it might be worth trying a couple of harmless aspirins (LOL) that are harmless but have been known to fix many general problems: 1. Go to Control Panel/Add-Remove and double click the Microsoft IE & Tools entry. If this gives a repair option go for it. 2. "Shut down" to MS-DOS and type scanreg /fix (followed by Return key). This will rebuild your current registry which might help if it has got a little corrupted. Type exit (Return) to restart Windows. I think it would be worthwhile doing the latter 1 & 2 so that they are out of the way. Best to save thrashing around if the boring old fixes happen to help. Derek

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Ok I went to that thread. I have performed the scan/reg and it successfully fixed the reg. Onto the CP icons. I have paris of the mouse, display, keyboard, fonts. modems. network and printers. I went to run but there's a problem - it said it couldn't find the files *.cpl or one of it's components. So I went to FIND and it found these: Appwiz.cpl Desk.cpl Main.cpl Desk!!.cpl Maio !.cpl Modem !.cpl Netcpl0!.cpl Stygpl.cpl Modem.cpl Intl.cpl Joy.cpl Mmsys.cpl Netcpl.cpl Odbccp32.cpl Passwork.cpl Powercfg.cpl Sticpl.cpl Tweakui.cpl Qtw16.cpl QuickTime.cpl Speech.cpl Findfast.cpl s32lucpl.cpl bdeadmin.cpl Micfg32.cpl Slcpappl.cpl Themes.cpl Qtw32.cpl setnote.cpl prefcpl.cpl Inetcpl.cpl Sysdm.cpl Telephon.cpl Timedate.cpl Cmicnfg.cpl Joy.cpl Joy.cpl Cmicnfg.cpl coreldrw.cpl It's all mumble jumble to me but don't give up on me yet!!! It also seems like it's snowballing from one thing to another but I'm hopeful it will all get figured out. Thanks for your patience. Crackerjack

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Sounds complicated. Before we monkey around with .cpl files we should set ourselves up with some way to restore things to their current sitation if need be. There is a chance the registry may not approve all our changes. Make up a folder in C called CPFiles and a sub-folder CWS. Using Find, Copy/Paste all those .cpl files from "C:\Windows\System" into "C:\CPFiles\CWS" Now make up sub-folders in CPFiles (with meaningful names) for any .cpl files that are NOT in C:\Windows\System Get the idea? If you don't already know, you can block copy by highlighting a file at the start of a block, hold Shift key then click a file at the end of a block. They will then all highlight for copying over in one go. You can add odd extra files by holding Ctrl key and then clicking on them. OK, so we are now backed up. I can translate a few of your duplicates: main.cpl is the Mouse desk.cpl is the Display modem.cpl is obviously the Modem netcpl.cpl is Network joy.cpl is Gaming Options (Joystick). Using Find, note which ones above work from the .cpl files when clicked on. Arrange that any of these "clickable" ones are put in c:\windows\system and delete other duplicates unless they happen to be in C:\Windows\Sysbckup (in which case put a "clickable" one in there too). You then need to check that they funcion properly from the Control Panel itself. I note you have 3 joy.cpl files and also that you have some weird ones with ! after them. The latter will have to be renamed without the ! and replaced with "clickeable" copies if at all possible. After this we will probably be left with some problems to think about, as follows: 1. Those that should turn out not to be "clickeable" from any file (possibly requiring program re-install). 2. Keyboard, fonts, printers which are NOT .cpl files. Fonts is effectively a shortcut to C:\Windows\Fonts but unfortunately you cannot insert shortcuts into the Control Panel itself, nor delete the icons from there. To be honest the only sure way of sorting this all out is to reformat (shock horror) but we'll leave that on the back burner for now, unless you feel this might be easier than fiddling around with all this, which still might leave too many problems around. I'm none too convinced that just re-installing Windows over the top will clear these duplicates though I suppose it might end up worth trying if the only alternative is reformatting anyway. Let me know how you get on, sorry it's a bit heavy going.... D

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Well I have managed to get rid of every one except mouse (which it says the system is using so can't delete)fonts, keyboard and printers. I guess it's no big deal just a pain in my butt cause I can't seem to fix it! So I'll let it go. Now I'm left with not able to make up a start up disk (I go into Add/remove then click on the start up tab) and it won't let me......seems like problem #4. BTW - I have reinstalled Win 98 already but I still can't get an activity in the help files - problem #3. Off to a snowy day today....the snowball is getting bigger!LOL C

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Glad to see there has been "some" progress. Did you double click Maio!.cpl to see what you got? I'm just wondering if this is a corrupted version of Main.cpl (mouse). The .cpl files with ! in them are not normal - never seen those before. You could always bin Maio!.cpl and see what happens. If it produces a bad result restore it back out of the bin. As for the "help", I suppose it's just about possible that one of the files in c:\windows\help has got corrupted. These all appear to be involved so it could be worth just replacing the lot. Windows.chm Windows.chw Windows.cnt Windows.hlp Winhlp32.cnt Winhlp32.hlp You type sfc in the Run box, select file extract and get them off the W98SE CD. Go for the option to save the orginals (they turn up in c:\windows\helpdesk\sfc). If you see any of the originals with a date that is different to the majority of the files on your CD then this means that they have been updated. Put those back afterwards if at all possible by copying them over to c:\windows\help. In my case Windows.chw and Windows.cnt had both been updated. I did have problems with a corrupt Windows.cnt way back in my W95 days. As for the rest of your problems, I'll keep thinking but am fast running out of ideas. It all seems a bit of a muddle. Having got a tad further you could always repost your current problems to see if anyone else comes along with some bright ideas. I would normally advise you to install Windows in again over the top, but it sounds like you have already done that. Reformatting is the ultimate option but you would need to be absolutely sure you had all the drivers and programs available because everything would go. D

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We have made progress……I started up the computer this morning to check your message on what to do next and I went into “find” for the cpl files. I double clicked on the ! file and it won’t work so only could drag into the bin……my whole control panel is now back to normal and no doubles and everything worked!! Thank you so very much for solving this dilemma. I will start a new thread with the windows help file problem and see what comes of it.