several sudden problems XP no system restore etc

[midnight-turkey]

running XP pro sp3

system restore will not run with message 'system restore cannot protect your computer'
loss of internet access
I cannot move or copy files to external hard drive (in case i need to do reload entire os)
loss of sound.
windows installer will not function to uninstall from control panel
bottom toolbar changed colour to grey and stuff shifted about on it.

several other things too.

i do suspect that it has something to do with Office 2003 which again suddenly told me it was not genuine although i thought it was!

help needed here

[laurentio]

To me it sounds more like a smithfraud infection (conform to your description)
did you try running an antispyware software, e.g malwarebytes?
do you know how to run and post a hijackthis log?
http://free.antivirus.com/hijackthis/
Pls advise.

[midnight-turkey]

Hi there
After being in a bit of a non confront state and not needing to use these computers (yes it was two that seemed to go at about the same time) I have addressed the problem last week. Having no access to net and not reading usb sticks I managed to sort of down load hi jack this and spyware es to computer but neither would run either from hard drive or cd rom.

I have bitten the bullet and run update installations from a new XP sp3 disc having managed to back up data from them.

All seems very good now. no loss of data etc.
Issues with net - i.e. icons on desktop screen like ebay, amazon etc. were whited out and did not link.
this solved by installation of IE 8 and banishing google chrome.

I have also run both computers through scan with AVG 9 full version and they now appear clear. do you think that AVG will pick up all nasties or any other precaution you would reccomend?

Thanks for your support as ever

Jon o the midnight-turkey

[laurentio]

Well done Jon.
I would use a different antivirus solution as AVG has been disappointing for the last 2 years. Try the new Panda Cloud (still beta) or, even better, Kaspersky Antivirus (only if you have 4Gb of RAM)
regards,