ok i have a computer and it runs WIN xp prof.

anyway everything is running fine and IM playing quake4.

then that crashes. then i am about to burn a cd with some work for SCHOOL. NERO won't open.

i open the task manager to see if there's an instance already open. each time i click on the process or networking tab in the task manager it shuts it down. so i go to run norton to do a scan. norton won't open.

i go to spybot, it opens but finishes the scan in 2 seconds and says there is nothing wrong. now it won't open either.

i run Hijack this. it doesn't turn up anything suspicious.
now i can't open that either.

then the internet explorers go. both IE and firefox. so now the computer is just a shell basically that lets me browse through my files but not open them.

please help and tell me there is another way than formatting.

would safe-mode work and if so what is the interupt key??


ok it opened in safe-mode and everthing is working. so im scanning in norton.

i'll let u know if anything turns up or not. i really hope something does turn up. cause its even worse if u don't know whats wrong.If you can't get it clean, follow these steps.

Download, install & update...
CLEANUP
Ccleaner
ANTI SPYWARE
Ad-Aware
Spybot S&D
Microsoft Antispyware (W2k & XP)
ANTI VIRUS
AVG Free (Set options to 'scan all files')
ANTI TROJAN
EWIDO (W2k & XP)

Turn off System Restore if applicable. (ME & XP users)

Run Ccleaner
Run Ad-Aware
Run Spybot
Run Microsoft Antispyware
Run AVG Free
Run Ewido

Re-start in Safe Mode
Re-run AVG Free

Re-start in Normal Mode
Turn on System Restore if applicable. (ME & XP users)will do if norton doesn't pick up anything. its taking a long time to scan. but its got over 100GB to scan so it will.

thanks for the response anyway.  

edit:   ok well norton turned up nothing. so im trying the programs u suggested now. i'll tell u how it goes. just a quick question though. is anyone sure its a virus? i haven't downloaded anything for a couple of weeks now except for 3DMark05 from the official site and the computer is scanned regularly. COULD it have been some sort of failure with windows because its all working fine in normal mode now as well.well the other scans picked up some trojans and adware. and now its running fine thx for the help.  Make sure you have a Firewall running, an Antivirus running and 2 Antispyware programs running all in real time.
Don't open email  or messenger attachments unless you are 100% positive they are safe.
Happy computing  wiil do. thx