C:\WINDOWS\system32

[RJ_Paton]

The warning from Microsoft is typical safety belt approach .... there were some problems with early versions of SP2.

Spybot S & D and Adaware are perfectly safe to download and use ... if the report by your defender program is accurate then "something" appears to have infected your system ... it may be a false alarm but without knowing what is causing the problem we can't start looking for a possible solution.Both of these programs will scan your system for different problems and may highlight some ... if you're not sure you do not need to give the programs the goahead to get rid of anything.
(I tend to run both programs about once a week.)

I believe that this is a seperate problem from the SP2 "difficulty" but SP2 may prevent further recurrences ... it was brought out to address a number of security issues.

Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) is a free update for Windows XP. It offers enhancements and better protection against viruses, hackers, and worms.

[downside]

Have I lost the plot or something?

Did Brian not say that Windows Malicious Software Tool had detected something it could not remove?  The word Defender was being used but I assume this is not a reference to Windows Defender as he has not reached that upgrade stage.

I do not see what is wrong with the Sunday Times article.  Surely the problem Brian first encountered about a month ago was to do with WGA?  I'm not sure why cynacism or distrust is being levelled at this article as I found it it quite informative.  Has the journalist written a falsehood?

Brian you can download SP2, preferrably after you have done a scan with Spybot or Ad-Aware (it's up to you).  Windows maybe over-reacting, afterall you should theoretically have a clean system if you have just reinstalled.

When Windows downloads SP2 it creates a restore point so you can recover from any potential problems.  The main thing is that this is a big download - about 75mb and it takes a long time to install.

Brian I forgot to ask.  Who installed your first copy of Windows XP (5 years ago) and has your IT guy installed a different copy this time around?

Regards

downside

[RJ_Paton]

I do not see what is wrong with the Sunday Times article.  Surely the problem Brian first encountered about a month ago was to do with WGA?  I'm not sure why cynacism or distrust is being levelled at this article as I found it it quite informative.  Has the journalist written a falsehood?

The Sunday Times article appears to be an amalgam of a number of alarmist stories which were found to be inaccurate and factually incorrect on several points.   

The windows malicious Software removal tool has now been incorporated into the Windows defender system and is why I referred to it as such

It is possible that the WGA update which highlighted a potential problem with the original installation may have either been running at the same time as another problem or the reinstallation of Windows Xp without the security levels of SP2 has allowed "something" in .... without further information anything would be guesswork concerning the removal of the detected program.

While purely a personal opinion, I believe that we need to sort out this problem BEFORE going onto SP2 .....after that we can then deal with the potential problem which may be caused by WGA .... Microsoft provide a removal tool for it.

[downside]

Hi Falkyrn

Please enlighten me on the factual inaccuracies in the article.  Who found them to be inaccurate?  Why did rootschat members start a topic a few weeks ago stating Microsoft had told them they did not have a genuine edition of Windows?

Windows Defender cannot be installed until after SP2 has been installed.  There are also a number of of security updates that have to be installed as well.

downside

[RJ_Paton]

 

[Ticker]

Downside

Can we draw a line under this 'off topic' discussion now please?

I'm afraid I will have to remove any further posts on this thread which do not help Brian out with his original problem.

Ticker

[Ticker]

Brian

So I think what the advice boils down to is:

1.  Install Service Pack 2 from http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/sp2/default.mspx

2. Install Spybot from http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html

3. Install Adaware from http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/

Perhaps if you let us know how you get on at each stage we will be able to help with any issues.

Good luck and best wishes

Ticker

[RJ_Paton]

Personally I would suggest steps 2 and 3 before step 1 

However that aside .... the original problem was an error message appearing which would possibly point to a boot up error ... what we failed to establish was

1) was there anything else with the message .... usually this message points to the program/file called.

2) If it caused any further problems during usage of the system if it did then I believe that the problem needs to be addressed before brian goes any further. If it didn't it is possible to go to steps 1,2 & 3 as laid out by Ticker.
SP2 may introduce its own problems but rather than trying to 2nd guess ourselves perhaps we should wait until brian has taken this step and then deal with any problems as they occur.

[Ticker]

Brian

Ok - revised sequence of actions per Falkyrn's advice: 

1. Can you post up full details of the error message?

2. Did you experience any other problems when using the system after you got the message?
Dependant on the results of the above.

3. Install Spybot from http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html

4. Install Adaware from http://www.lavasoftusa.com/support/download/

5.  Install Service Pack 2 from http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/sp2/default.mspx

Hope it helps setting it out like this.

Ticker