Hi all,
Everytime my sister boots up her pc it looks as if its booting up in safe mode only.At the end of the startup a message appears saying-ptsnoop.exe has caused an error.She is running windows 2000.What is ptsnoop and why is it making the pc do this.When I reebooted I went on to the boot up screen and pressed 1 for normal but no good. any help will be greatly appreciated.
thanks. Meg.

It can be a part of the PCTel Configuration Tool for their brand of PCI modems or it can be a trojan depending on where it is and what it does.

F-Secure has a description of it here:
http://www.f-secure.com/v-descs/ptsnoop.shtml

Although Auditmypc has a different opinion of it:
The ptsnoop.exe process is required for your computer to successfully communicate with your PCTel modem. If you no longer have a PCTel modem installed, or do not use your PCTel modem, you should terminate this process.
http://www.auditmypc.com/process/ptsnoop.asp

The best thing to do would be the following:

Run both Adaware and Spybot Search and Destroy from safe mode, updating each program’s malware definitions before you scan and allowing both to fix what they find.

If you do not already have these freeware aps installed on your computer, you can get them at the following sites:

*AdAware SE: http://www.majorgeeks.com/download506.html

*Spybot S&D: http://www.safer-networking.org/en/index.html

Following that that I suggest you post a “HijackThis” log for expert assistance with your malware infection.

Read the pinned post in our “HijackThis” forum,
here http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic34773.html
Carefully read and follow all directions explicitly.

Following instructions create a HJT log, and POST THE HJT LOG YOU CREATED IN OUR HJT FORUM – not in this forum,
at this link.
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/posthjtlog.html
Include the specs for your computer (ie, processor, amount of RAM, brand or motherboard, etc, and briefly describe the problem you are experiencing.)

Unless you are expert at editing the registry, Do not use the Hijack This program to try to fix anything by yourself as even what may seem to be a small mistake can render your operating system inoperable.
Some files when in the correct folder for them may be fine while in another may be malware hiding.

A member of our expert HJT Team will analyze your log, make recommendations and offer assistance, walking you through the complete repair process.

It may take a period of time to get a response to the log you posted because the members of our HJT Team are kept very busy.
Please be patient as this team is manned by volunteers. They will help you in order received as soon as possible.

NOTE
Once you have posted your HJT log, please DO NOT make any additional posts in the HJT forum thread you created until you get a response from a member of our HJT expert team, and do not make any changes to your system (changes, including any attempted repairs, will make your computer to be different than displayed in the log you posted and therefore make your log inaccurate).

The first criteria the HJT Team has when looking for logs that need replies are posts showing 0 replies. If you make an additional post, it will show as having 1 reply.
A team member, looking for a new log that requires help might well assume another HJT Team member is already assisting you and might not open the thread to respond.

So, post your HJT Log in our HJT Forum (not here in this forum) and wait for a response from a HJT team member.

After you post your log, please do not make any changes to your computer. Discontinue trying to delete anything with any program as changes will make your HJT log obsolete and waste valuable time spent by our HJT experts analyzing the log made innacurate by changes and therefore their plan formulated to address the problems will also be obsolete.

If after 5 days you still have gotten no response, then post a re-request and a link to your HJT log HERE.
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/topic14717.html