Right i'm really hoping some one can point me in the right direction. i have lost nearly all programs from my start menu, i have done a virus check (avast pro/all upto date) and spyware check (SUPERAntiSpyware pro/all upto date) this took 3hrs in total and only drew up 1 trojan (olgia) and 5 tracking cookies. i haven't installed any new prog's for about 3 months and have had no need to do a system restore. the system itself runs as normal and there is no change in performance than usuall. these programs just disappered over night now even short cutting them back into place don't work. i don't really want to format and start again as its a right pain. any thoughts??? Cheers dude, live long and prosper!

wraithguard, when you did the nasty scans, did you disable 'restore' first? The Trojan found is a red flag to me. Suspect that was the original problem and unless you disabled 'restore' prior to the scan(s), the nasty was simply put back. HTH. Ed in Texas.

nice point Ed in Texas, just one prob can't disable the restore point, its all faded out. i have full admin rights for this system, even remote admin from another system won't work. i feel it might be a format job (damn it)!! Cheers dude, live long and prosper!

wraithguard, I'm sorta tardy posting this, sorry, just didn't come back. Hope it's not too late. To disable restore in XP: 1. Right click the My Computer icon on the Desktop and click on Properties. 2. Click on the System Restore tab. 3. Put a check mark next to 'Turn off System Restore on All Drives'. 4. Click the 'OK' button. 5. You will be prompted to restart the computer. Click Yes. Note: To re-enable the Restore Utility, follow steps one to five and on step three remove the check mark next to 'Turn off System Restore on All Drives'. Hope that works for you. HTH. Ed in Texas.