Hi - Adware is what I ran last night. It found 666 files which I deleted. Then this problem started today.

I think I will run it again. This problem is a real pain.

Thanks for your note.

Based on what I found, I would download adaware and run it to see what it finds.

Turns out, I had vx2.betterinternet which is 'only' a tracker/popup pest.  But something about this variant of it was causing my problems.  Once I removed it (no easy task, took about an hour), the system is once again working fine.

Try running lspfix which can be downloaded from:

http://www.cexx.org/lspfix.htm

Steve

This is scary. If something goes wrong, will my windows restore put the registry changes back? Please let me know if I will be able to recover from these changes if something goes wrong. I would just rather be safe than sorry. I am waiting on an e-mail for a possible job so I am in a high risk situation.

Thanks.

Create a restore point just before you run anything or change anything. That way you should be safe.

Steve

I created restore point and ran ISPFIX. I unfortunately have the same problem. Any other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Here is what it found: Log for VX2.BetterInternet File Finder

Files Found---

Guardian Key--- is called:

User Agent String---

I did not do anything. There is something called Regedit. Do I need to use that? What would be the next step?

Thanks.

I strongly suggest that you download and run HijackThis, which is an analysis tool used to detect and remove spyware and other internet parasites.  See the instructions at:

http://tomcoyote.com/hjt/

then create a log from within HijackThis and copy and paste the log into a message in the Virus Information and Removal forum here on the Dell forums.  A HijackThis expert will look at the log and instruct you on what do next.

Steve

I would recommend downloading vx2finder and seeing what it turns up.

http://download.broadbandmedic.com/

I did the HijackThis and submitted the log yesterday. I have not heard anything yet. I did discover one other thing this morning. I was looking at the application error log and found this message:

Your computer has lost the lease to its IP address (gives numbers) on the network card with the network address (gives numbers). Does this mean anything to you?

I am thinking of restoring back to May 1 but I hate to do that since my PC is running so much better. I may have to do that if I can't get this resolved. I hope if I do that it will fix the connection problem. Then I may have to buy one of the clean up programs to get the full version. Would you suggest this as a way to recover?

Thanks.

I discovered something this morning. When I changed to the XP theme it started using a screen saver. Since I was getting that value creation failed error, I wondered if the screen saver had anything to do with it. I was beginning to notice that if I was idle but not long enough for the screen saver to go on, I did not lose the connection. I turned off the screen saver and left the machine idle for about 1/2 hour. I did not lose the connection. For now I will of course leave the screen saver off but I would still like to fix whatever is broken. If this gives any more hints, please help.

Thanks.

Is this a Windows stock screen saver or one that you downloaded or obtained from elsewhere? 

Steve

It was a Windows stock screen saver. I switch to the XP theme when I started getting the error. I did not have a screen saver running prior to the switch. I have no idea why the error started in the first place but the error stopped when I switched to the XP theme. The screen saver was the windows logo that just moved around the black screen. (I hope other people see this since there seems to be a lot of disconnect problems on the boards). I am sure glad I noticed this - at least I can stay connected now although I know something is still broke. I also notice that it looks like an error box flashes wheen I start up the PC but it doesn't stay so I can't even read it. Who knows what is lurking in this machine. At least it is running much better now that the spyware is cleaned up. I am sure there is even more. Can you recommend how often to run these clean-up programs?

Thanks.

I searched Google for "value creation failed" (including the quotes), and actually found quite a few hits. Here's a quote from one of them:

Here you go: Service Pack 1 Parser Message: Value creation failed" at line 472" error when add/remove programs is opened This error can occur after installing SP1 when you are running a non Microsoft visual style and the folder containing the customised styleshell.dll has a differing name from the themes name (as shown in the appearances tab). To get rid of this error you can switch back to a Microsoft Theme or go to /WINDOWS/Resources/Themes/ and rename the shell folder to the name of the visual style shown in the appearance tab. If you have a theme with multiple variations you must make this change for each subfolder containing a differing styleshell.dll file.

Also see this article in the same thread, and  this Microsoft article.

What a mess! The consensus in the thread seems to be that it's somehow spyware-related, but nobody is quite sure how.

Jim

Looks like I did the right thing. Also -Turning off the MS screensaver helped a lot. I have only lost the connection once since then. I know there is still something lurking but at least I can stay connected for longer periods of time. It is just crazy isn't it? I am still tempted to restore but I am afraid of the Norton/Windows updates I have applied being lost. I would re-apply but I am worried I would miss something. I would then have to clean up again which could cause the problem again ?? As you said it could also be some other spyware but who knows?

Thanks.