We can also try this:
Turn on your computer, in Normal mode
Right-click on the bottom of the screen and Open Task Manager
Click on the applications tab and end the process
Open task Manager again and click on the New Task button
Type in - explorer.exe - and click OK
You should now be able to download and run mbam
thanks pete c
Sorry I've not responded earlier. Real life intrudes on my computer fixing hobby. Anyway, I finally got by the hijackware by using safe mode with the command prompt. I used the command prompt to run MSCONFIG to alter the startup menu and then went to programs and deleted things like agent.exe that many sites on the net said to remove.
That got me by the opening screen on a reboot into safe mode, only to discover that he'd been surfing for porn and items like that with only Windows Defender running on the system. No antivirus or anything else was on it, just the basic windows firewall and defender. That didn't bode well. Turns out he'd never updated it either and it had all the holes in Vista and Office never patched.
I got the computer connected to the net and got AVG and Spybot installed and ran the scans. More crapware (zlob and about 20 others) was installed than you can imagine. I deleted everything those found and and installed Ad Aware as well and scanned with it. More malware was found and deleted. Did an online scan from Kapersky and that came out clean.
Unfortunately, some part of the process, either the malware installation or deletion corrupted something in windows. The computer would lock up after running for about an hour and a half. I spent most of the last two days altering the processes and startup configuration (Going from nothing to the point where something would cause it to lock up) and discovered that I couldn't replicate the lockup by using any combination of startup items or services....
Oh well, I've had enough of this. At least I could now get the computer to run for long enough to back up the important stuff and do a system restore from the Toshiba disks, so I just finished restoring the computer to it's brand new configuration, installing hours worth of updates from Microsoft, added AVG 8.0, Spybot, Ad Aware, and Zone Alarm. He'll get the computer back with a working knowledge of how to use those 4 programs to protect his rear end when he chooses to satisfy his carnal desires via the internet. ;-)
Thanks for the help. Too bad I didn't get to try the stuff you suggest, but maybe next time. I've still got a 14 year old and an 11 year old using computers at home.