The only problem with going down the Microsoft route is that most hackers target the company above all others. Of course, it is in Microsoft's best interest to ensure they are ahead of the game but it must be hard when you can only react to once a new threat is detected.

I'd loose Norton like a bad habbit George, your far better off with something like AVG as a free virus guard. Check out http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/ everything you need to know and more. Also check out Malwarebytes and it's forums, there some really knowledgeable lads and lasses on there.

George,

ideally u'd have to google the blue screen txt to find out more but my 1st would be to use scandisk from from the xp install disc or xp boot disc or additional hard disc.

Reset your computer to another date eg a day or two before the virus infected your machine it should work.

Best of luck

ECH

It would appear that I still have problems, thought it was too good to be true. Having shut the PC down for the weekend, I have returned to work today to find that the PC didn't shut down and two editor windows (Akelpad) open with Russian italics inplace of the usual file menu titles. After reboot all seemed normal but then when I came online using Firefox to view the forum, after several minutes the network was real busy. So it would appear that a backdoor has been created and accessed.

I have run the TDSSKiller and it has again found another route kit. I have rebooted an the route kit has been removed. I have now un-installed Firefox and deleted all of it's folders. I am browsing noe with Opera and and the network is stable with no activity.

At this point I do not know if I can trust that my PC is out of the clear. I am preparing back-ups with the intention of formatting my C: drive if things do not settle down.  It's now become a case of practicality and it simply isn't practical to spend another week trying to hunt this problem down.

Any further help or advice gratefully appreciated.

I'll check that out Chris, thanks for that.

Sadly, I do not have system restore as I switched it off some time back. It had created a file that was taking up the best part of 60 percent of my drive and had become fragmented. It's a long story but I had to switch off system restore to resolve the problem.