I hope someone can help me here. I currently have windows xp installed with the service pacs and all appropriate microsoft updates. a "friend" of mine added ram, but thats not the only thing that changed, its like windows is the subsytem of something else that I can't identify. when my computer boots it has this virtual drive that loads that takes up a couple of sectors of my hard disc. My system bios setting are all differnt now. I have this acpi some kind of advanced configuratin interface. There are a bunch of wierd permissions about remote access and alot of new drivers that laod before windows loads. In my device mgr I have drivers like terminal service mouse and keyboard drivers. Remote access stuff. I have read for the last three weeks about what I could do to get control back. It says I have administrator privledges but there is the parent/child permission stuff. I have tried to format the hard drive, I have converted back to fat32 file system and back again. I have ran f disk, but all these drivers load prior to any command prompt so I can't seem to get my hard drive clean. I downloaded ms baseline security analyzer and it said my computer wasn't found. I have a dsl connection with a 2wire home portal modem that requires a ethernet adapter which I have installed. I literally unplug my lan line from the modem and the lights all stay on. HELP ME Please!! I am barly computer literate obviously. Can someone help me out here?

Hey Man Sounds like a nightmare. Have you ran Ad-aware and spybot to remove spyware installed on your system? They are both Great Free programs. Also you can download a program called window washer which gives you a free trial that will remove tons of files you don't know have been installed while you search the web. Last and most important. Dig up your XP cd and then go to start/run and type in sfc /scannow. This will repair any system files that have been altered since initial install. Try these suggestions and then post back.

Even though you said you reformatted, there is no way. A clean install of the OS is not going to be doing what you describe. You need to reformat again (make sure it's done correctly...do a search on this forum if you're unsure how) and do a clean install of XP. I only give that advise as a last chance, worst case scenario, and it sounds like that's what this is. =) -=Bryan=-

Would be helpful for you to know what your friend installed, what program it was, and I presume it was with your permission. Could it have been malicious? Not likely, but sounds more like a botched attempt to do something by your friend If I read your post correctly, it sounds as if your chief complaint is the program your friend installed and you would like it UNINSTALLED? Anyway, the first issue is to get Windows up and running properly. You can use the WIN XP CD and run the sfc /scannow command to restore any critical files that are missing. After that you need to get into START > CONTROL PANEL > ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS and look at ALL the programs listed there and properly UNINSTALL the ones that do not belong. Pay close attention to the program names, before uninstalling. A good download to do this also is REG CLEANER from www.jv16.org. But if you use it, BE CAREFUL, as it will modify your WINDOWS REGISTRY and you could cause even more damage. But the program presents very detailed listings of ALL your resident software, especially recent botched UNINSTALLS and DELETES. Assuming that goes well, you are then in a healthy state as for the software, hopefully. If you cannot UNINSTALL then try entering SAFE MODE ( tap F8 on boot) and retry the UNINSTALLS. Then you need to run a full virus scan with your virus scanner software and preferably a full trojan scan too, for safety sakes. Ad AWARE and SPYBOT are good downloads for the detection of spyware, that may be involved here. Also, did any of the changes involve your PC now becoming a SERVER? Have you been using P2P Networking like KAZAA? If yes, then the problems may be big, as the solutions may be huge too, but not necessarily having to re-format. Hold that till the very end, after trying everything else, UNLESS, you are OK with losing ALL your DATA on the PC, then go ahead and do FDISK and reformat, sooner, rather than later. As for your DSL connection, if no router or hub or switch is involved, just the digital modem, the PC and connection to the wall jack, then you need to look at the set-up again, both physically and the software, like if TCP/IP / PPPoE, check your NETWORK CONNECTIONS in XP CONTROL PANEL. The lights all staying ON, are they the POWER, SYNC and READY and/or ETHERNET lights, (depending on your modem) ? If yes, that may be OK, as it could be indication good SYNC, the ability to get on-line. Your best bet after this would be to post here with the results next and be as detailed as possible, including your PCs specs, your DSL specs and names of software involved and any error messages you get and a good description of the symptoms, or if they have changed.