I am pretty sure I have some pretty clever malware. Second time in 9 months. Last Time I caught the bug downloading abandonware...i learned my lesson. I now only download from sites like cnet, softpedia, etc.
So although I downloaded several softwares in last 30 days, can't say what it was that contained the malware. I dont click on random links in email, use gmail and think I usually do a great job of avoiding such issues. Obviously not this time.
I am running XP SP3, and access the net via USB tethered jailbroken iPhone 3G with firmware 3.1.2 that is spoofed to show 3.1.3. I use files from iTunes 8-something to access from the pc side.
I have privacyware personal firewall 7 installed and passed an internet based security scan with flying colors the day before I lost all access to net, so i think worms are ruled out. There seems to be a redirect/hijack issue as IE does not have any tool bars, menus, etc now, & cannot access inetcpl.cpl. As of today there are lots of other cpl's i cannot access. I cannot restart lots of critical services related to network connectivity.
When it was only the apparent hijack, I believed I could take care of things myself and bagan fooling around with the registry and services...that's how you learn, right?

Also have spybotSD/teatimer/SAS installed and have run various scans. Also HJT and the "manual" version of HJT, dont remember the exact name, not at my desk.
I'm typing on an iPhone, so I can't give tons of info right now, but I will answer questions as necessary to get basic internet access. so first thing I'm looking for is help getting online to update malware defs and post logs to this site.
Hope to hear from someone soon.
Gary