Hi Everyone!! Thank you all so much for replying to my question!!! :) You are all very sweet! I looked in the start-up tab under MSconfig and, besides seeing a bunch of weird named things, I saw something called PAV.EXE, which apparently opens C:Windows at startup. I unchecked it and it asked me to restart. I restarted, and the windows folder opened again. I returned to MSconfig only to discover that there was ANOTHER PAV.exe there that wasn't there at the beginning. So I unchecked that one, restarted, and still got the same thing. I went back to MSconfig, and the second PAV.exe remains checked. I've tried it 3 times now to uncheck it, but it just wont budge. I also tried Derek's and WhitPhils advice, but nothing came up :( I didn't know how to get to HKLM in the registry :( Thank you once again for all of your help! Have a great night!

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Get Spybot Search & Destroy or Ad-Aware 6. There's a piece of scumware out that keeps re-installing PAV.exe. It's undoubtedly another program that is loading on startup some place. There are programs available that can track dependencies to locate which program is being called by another and its name. I then use that to remove whatever is causing the proglem.

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Pav.exe is an email worm. http://securityresponse.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/w32.kitro.d.worm.html Update your virus defs and do a full scan. If for some strange reason you are not running an antivirus program continuously, run this online one. http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

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Hi Belle, Amit, Brian, Derek, WhitPhil, Don Miller, hi everyone, Belle, your question is very interesting and, as you can see, oodles of people are keen on helping you! ;-) - If you want to get rid of that damn window, you can search on the disk to find 'PAV.exe'; when you find it, copy it to a new folder. --- I said 'copy it'... then delete it from the original folder (I always prefer to copy and delete instead of move because some systems are able to fix the address to find it again!) --- I want to keep the program as in case of a mistake (if this program were necessary to the system -I think not-, we would have it close) --- this way, you won't get the window again but you'll get a message reading the file can't be found... perhaps better than having to wait for Windows window opening! --- now, the problem is still to find and erase what causes PAV.exe to start... see below >I didn't know how to get to HKLM in the >registry >>If you don't find anything, there's a key >>in the Registry that starts items not >>listed in Startup folder nor in MSconfig: >>HKLM\Software\CLASSES\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run - Sorry I should have written the expanded path: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\CLASSES\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run So, Start/Run/type RegEdit then click on OK You get the Registry Editor that looks like Windows Explorer: --- a left pane with kinds of folders, here named the 'Keys" --- a right pane with the content of the key selected on the left. In that right pane, you have kinds of keywords named 'Values' and figures, character strings, etc. named 'Data' (HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\CLASSES\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run) Look on the left: - click on the + sign before HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, then search for Software and click on the + sign before it, etc. till the entire path HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\CLASSES\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run When you can select 'Run', have a look at right pane and check what is started with Windows... everything here (rare) is not listed in MSconfig! Feel free to ask for explanations. Have a good day, Gérard from Paris, France

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Good Morning Everyone!!! You're all awesome!!! I really appreciate all of your help and suggestions! I followed WhitPhils advice and updated my virus scanner, and the good news is that it found the worm Kitro, but the bad thing is that it tells me it can't remove it. :( My brother was telling me that he's tried to remove it before, but it just doesn't seem to want to leave. I'm not at my home right now, so I will have to wait till the afternoon to try Gerard's suggestion. (I'm studying French by the way ;0 ) Once again thank you all for being so patient with me and for all of your help! Have a wonderful day~!

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Hi Belle, Amit, Brian, Derek, WhitPhil, Don Miller, hi everyone, Is Kitro the cause of your opening window? or do you have several malwares? Here are results given by Google -Kitro- ie several good links about Kitro... I give you the links immediately then will try to have a look myself. If your antivirus is not able to get rid of the virus, try to perform HouseCall -Trend-. I'm not surprised your antivirus doesn't clean your system! Know that I don't let an antivirus program get rid of viruses I find (I'm responsible for oodles of computers)! OK for protection, OK for detection and alert but when the virus is in the system, I prefer to look for an Antidote which is a small program written to get rid of specific viruses! Look at all of the links provided by Google and search for an antidote! >I'm studying French by the way ;0 ) Thank you for studying my language, Belle, I appreciate it a lot! I'm sorry it is that difficult! thank you! Have a good day, Gérard from Paris, France

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Hi Belle, Amit, Brian, Derek, WhitPhil, Don Miller, hi everyone, IMHO, here's the best site: Symantec -Kitro- but I didn't see any Antidote! I search on! Have a good day, Gérard from Paris, France

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