Lose Explorer connection after about 1min.

You are pretty well-infected there with either virus or trojan files. Many of these programs are not what they seem. You may need to re-install Norton, as it does not seem to be actively running/protecting you.

tlambregts: Create a new thread for your log. Do not post it here!

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Please print out or copy this page to Notepad. Make sure to work through the fixes in the exact order it is mentioned below. If there's anything that you don't understand, ask your question(s) before proceeding with the fixes. You should not have any open browsers when you are following the procedures below.

Go to My Computer->Tools/View->Folder Options->View tab and make sure that 'Show hidden files and folders' (or 'Show all files') is enabled. Also make sure that Display the contents of System Folders' is checked. Windows XP's search feature is a little different. When you click on 'All files and folders' on the left pane, click on the 'More advanced options' at the bottom. Make sure that Search system folders, Search hidden files and folders, and Search subfolders are checked.

For the options that you checked/enabled earlier, you may uncheck them after your log is clean. If we ask you to fix a program that you use or want to keep, please post back saying that (we don't know every program that exists, so we may tell you to delete a program that we think is bad to keep).

Turn off system restore by right clicking on My Computer and go to Properties->System Restore and check the box for Turn off System Restore. Click Apply and then OK. Restart your computer. After we are finished with your log file and verified that it's clean, you may turn it back on and create a new restore point.

Download AboutBuster and unzip it to a folder on your the Desktop. Do not run it yet.

Please download Ad-aware SE and install it if you don't have it already. Make sure it's the newest version and check for any updates before running it. Also go here to get the plug-in for fixing VX2 variants. To run this tool, go into Ad-aware->Add-ons and select VX2 Cleaner. Then click Run Tool and OK to start it. If it's clean, it will say Status System Clean. Otherwise, you will have to click on the Clean button to remove the VX2 infection. Also make sure to customize the settings in Ad-aware for better scan results. Run the scan and fix everything that it finds.

Run an online virus scan at TrendMicro. Just follow the instructions on the site to run the online scan.

Reboot into Safe Mode (hit F8 key until menu shows up). Make sure to close any open browsers. Go into HijackThis->Config->Misc. Tools->Open process manager. Select the following and click Kill process for each one if they are still listed (they shouldn't be - but double check it):

C:\WINDOWS\system32\smsss.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\vgacard.exe

Run a scan in HijackThis. Check each of the following and hit 'Fix checked' (after checking them) if they still exist (make sure not to miss any):

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [start uploading] smsss.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [wmiprv] wmiprv.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Windows Compliant] mixies.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [VGA Startup] vgacard.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [kalvsys] C:\windows\system32\kalvwgi32.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\RunServices: [start uploading] smsss.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\RunServices: [wmiprv] wmiprv.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\RunServices: [Windows Compliant] mixies.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\RunServices: [VGA Startup] vgacard.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [start uploading] smsss.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [VGA Startup] vgacard.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\RunServices: [start uploading] smsss.exe
O4 - Startup: PowerReg Scheduler V3.exe

Run AboutBuster and follow the prompts to scan (choose Yes/OK for all). It will ask you if you want a second scan, choose Yes. Save the log file and post it here.

Delete the following Files/Folders (delete folders if no filename is specified) according to their directory (if none, just do a search for them) and delete them if they exist:

C:\WINDOWS\system32\smsss.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\vgacard.exe

Also delete ALL those EXE and DLL files (in their corresponding directory) listed above in RED.

Reboot into Normal Mode and run new HijackThis scan. Save the log file and run HijackThis Analyzer in the same folder to get the result.txt log. Just post the contents of the result.txt file in the forum.