BleepingComputer.com: Blank Desktop + More

I'm on a Gateway Laptop, running Windows XP. I ran into a...pretty big problem.

My nephew, while trying to watch a show, downloaded a virus, disguised as some file needed for a video to stream. The next day, when I booted up my laptop, the desktop was completely blank(I can see my image, but no icons, no task bar, no start, nothing.) Right clicking doesn't work, however i'm able to run some programs such as firefox by using Task Manager. When I try to run anti-virus programs, the programs are either halted at installation, or can't update. The only one that has worked so far was Avira, but it didn't stop the virus.(And I can only scan once, then the virus somehow shuts it down and doesn't let me re-open.) I tried Anti Malwarebytes, but that only opens, gets 3 seconds into a scan, and shuts down and doesn't reopen. When I try to open anything that seems like it can help, I get the message, "Windows cannot access specified device, path, or file. You may not have the appropriate permissions to access the items." even though i'm on the Administrator account. I've tried every single anti-virus program I could think of, tried online scanners such as Trend Micro and Kapersky, nothing seems to work.

I even tried changing the name of anti virus programs before I ran them, but to no avail. Any help you could give me would be extremely appreciated.

Edit: And the "Windows cannot access", I can't manually boot explorer.exe, my disc drive, doesn't let me open anything.

This post has been edited by Michael D.: 25 August 2009 - 08:24 PM

This infection can be very tricky to remove. You need to head on over to the HijackThis forum for an in-depth look.

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