Hi Guys, Just need help regarding my problem with my computer at home. It has been infected with a virus and none of any AVs was able to clean it. Here are the things that are happening on my computer: 1. After the Windows Welcome Screen, I can see my wallpaper but there are no icons and task bar. Checking with Task Manager, explorer is running but even after ending and restarting the process still doesn't show it. However, when I go to Run a new task and type: %systemroot% rstrui.exe magically the desktop icons and the task bar appears. 2. No Network connections can be established. It says that the LAN is connected but there is no connection when you try to browse 3. Computer shuts down when you try to go to the command prompt 4. Safe Mode also has the same problem 5. In the windows folder, there are lots of .txt items with KBXXX (where X can be any number) 6. Booting with the Windows XP CD to try to repair the installation, error says that there are no IDE drives detected, but the BIOS detects the HDD. Booting normally into windows and putting the XP CD doesn't have any problems, but after after the files have been copied for update, the computer won't continue the process 7. USB ports are disabled and device manager doesn't show any devices. There are important files that I need to get from the computer especially work related ones. I just need to check if there is a work around for this temporarily so that I can back-up my files. Thanks a bunch for the help guys! Cheers, JaBrOnI

JaBrOnI, couple of thoughts. First is 'restore'. Did you disable it prior to doing the AV scan? If not, you're probably re-infected. A nasty will hide there and come back. Second has to do with your AV scan. Possible the nasty you had was so new your AV didn't recognize it? There're a few free online scans you can run (disable restore first), see: housecall @: http://housecall.trendmicro.com/hou... Panda @: http://www.pandasoftware.es/actives... there're others too, but... HTH. Ed in Texas.

JaBrOnI, sorta an afterthought. Sure you're fighting a virus? Could it be a Trojan? Be aware that a virus and a Trojan are similar, but not the same. Many times, an AV detects one it can't clean , other times, it gets missed entirely. If you need to clean one, Superantispyware can do the job and you can get it free @: http://www.superantispyware.com/ among other places. They have a Vista compatible version if needed. If it turns out that you need to use it, be sure to update prior to running and disable 'restore' (restart after cleaning) so it doesn't get put back. They just released a new update recently and it changes all the time. Things are in a constant state of flux. HTH. Ed in Texas.

Also, for future reference, Virus questions should be posted in the Security/Virus Forum. "So won’t you give this man his wings What a shame To have to beg you to see We’re not all the same What a shame" - Shinedown