[Dudley Doo-Write]

After other family members visited several celebrity web-sites, i had
fourteen different virus. re-loaded symantec AV & got that under control.
Now I notice that when I boot up, my firewall turns OFF by itself after
about a minute. (And, unless you open & look at it, you will not know that it is off).
Cannot turn it back on! says the setting is controlled by "Group Policy"
This is my home machine..... not on a network.....
runing Windows home edition XP, Symatec AV & Spyware Doctor.
Anyone know what malware got in there & how to fix??

without totally reloading XP? Frustrated in Southern Ca.

[Phantom010]

If your computer is infected, you should start a new thread in the Malware Removal forum.

[Cookiegal]

The General Security forum is only for general questions regarding security software and things of that nature but not for actually removing malware as we have qualified helpers who are the only members who are authorized to assist with those matters. You can easily identify them as they have either a gold or blue shield beside their usernames. Please refer to this excerpt from the rules:

Log Analysis/Malware Removal - In order to ensure that advice given to users is consistent and of the highest quality, those who wish to assist with security related matters must first graduate from one of the malware boot camp training universities or be approved by the administration as already being qualified. Those authorized to help with malware issues have a gold shield next to their name and authorized malware removal trainees have a blue shield next to their names. Anyone wishing to participate in a training program should contact a Moderator for more information.

I'm going to close this thread and ask you to repost in the Malware Removal & HijackThis Logs forum for the proper assistance.