[stevelw]

Over the last few days I have tried 3 different AV systems (Kaspersky, Norton and ESET) to try to overcome some strange problems on my machine that would appear to indicate some form of infection. The symptoms of the problem are ...

1. IE will not load and produces an epplication error - other browsers (Firefox, Sleipnir) appear to work fine.

2. something prevents me from pointing my browser to the homepage of whichever AV package is currently installed and prevents updating virus definition files from the sites. Sites of AV packages not currently installed load fine, but cease to be available as soon as I install the relative package.

3. Full scans by all three systems report no infections.

Machine currently running XP Professional SP3.

Does anyone know of a virus/trojan that would produce these effects?

[Kaze_Senshi]

Aren't ur firewall blocking the IE and AV update programs? Try to close it and test them again. Also some virus cannot be removed when the OS is full loaded, u should try to do a bootscan.

[stevelw]

No. Programs are not being blocked by Firewall. Attempts to access the web site for ESET (the system currently installed) produce the following error in Firefox ..

"The network link was interrupted while negotiating a connection. Please try again."

I realise that some viruses cannot be removed when OS running, but none of the three systems I have tried have even identified the presence of a virus, much less tried to remove one.

Not sure ESET provides a facility for Bootscans - are there any good third-party tools around that will do this?

[Kaze_Senshi]

Well these programs are famous but i never used it, i only used the AVAST, and it has a bootscan function, anyway u can try to search in google about these AV bootscan functions.

[perfume]

Dear stevelw,
If IE is not loading "any"websites", you surely have an infection involving IE. I suggest you go to malware forum and post a "Hijackthis log"there. As cookiegal said this is not the place where the problem can be solved. Best Wishes!