Hi averagegolfer,
Sorry to hear of the problems with your machine.
WOW! 36 hours is one heck of a time to spend on this, and if the combined resources of Symantec and Major Geeks haven't been able to provide a solution then you will need to dig in for a sustained and unrelenting programme of elimination, substitution, and advanced "Sherlock Holmes" type detective work.
"As always my first suggestion is to ensure that your back up/archive is 100% up to date, here is my standard recommendation on this:
"the first thing to do before anything else is to check that the back-up/archive of all your important files, including documents, photos, music, emails, address book, Favorites, your Registry and settings for Internet access , email and all your drivers and anything else on your computer that is important to you is 100% up to date, verified and reproducible. Make sure you know where your Application installation Cd's are (including your Microsoft Windows Installation disc and that you have an accurate note of all your Product Keys)
If you have disc imaging software like for example Ghost, Drive Image, Paragon , Acronis or similar, take a disc image, but take care not to overwrite any existing images you may have taken in the past. (at this stage it would be best not to attempt creating any new disc partitions so use an external USB hard drive for this)"
To rule out any malicious elements that may have penetrated your computers defences it would be sensible to visit:
http://forums.tomcoyote.org/HijackThis_Log…emoval_f27.html
A trained malware removal expert will analyse your HiJackThis log and provide specific and detailed advice and instructions on how to proceed. (As you are experienced in posting HJT logs in that forum I will leave it up to you to come back to this forum here when your machine has been declared clean.)
If your machine is under guarantee/warranty/service agreement then please be sure not to invalidate the terms and it would be sensible to notify them and register the malfunction with them to see if they can help.
After getting your machine checked for malware, when you post back, please give an outline of the steps you have taken already (I know you may need to "rest your typing fingers" a bit during this!… I still can't get over your 36 hours marathon.)
and please comment specifically on the earliest System Restore Date that is available, when the trouble started, if you are running from the main Administrator Account or one with Admin privileges, have already run the Windows System File Checker (SFC /scannow), if you have performed a non destructive repair installation of Windows and if you have reformatted your hard drive and reinstalled Windows from scratch (about 3 hours work)
Details of your hardware and operating systems need only include basic details of amount of RAM/CPU/Mobo and Video Card as I will be able to hop over to the malware removal forum, take a look at your HJT log which should provide me with a reasonable overview.
Regards
paws
