Boy, have I had some fun and games with my computer the last week or so. I had a problem that no anit-spyware or anti-virus programs could find, and after reading tons of forum posts, I finally think I've solved the problem.
The icons on the desktop and the explorer screen were flicking out of control. The hourglass on the mouse was going at 100 mph, and Thunderbird was checking constantly for mail. Both IE and Firefox were continually refreshing the pages, making a search for the problem nearly impossible. Opening the task manager showed the processes using 100% of memory, flicking from say 30 to 100 at astronomical speeds. Something was dreadfully wrong.
The file taskman.exe could not be deleted: it created a copy of itself in windows and system32 folders. The only way I could take rid of it it was starting safe mode, deleting all copies of taskman.exe and removing all suspicious start up programs in msconfig.
When I thought all was well, the problem switched to the Application Layer Gateway (alg.exe). I restored this from the windows disk, using the command line:
m being the name of my cd drive
Notepad.exe couldn't be deleted, it kept re-creating itself, the same with other files I thought were suspicious.
Finally I used the Security File Checker (sfc.exe), again from the command line:
This command will immediately initiate the Windows File Protection service to scan all protected files and verify their integrity, replacing any files with which it finds a problem. But, as usual, Windows couldn't find the source files, so checking the following:
I was able to change the drive letter for the cd drive. I've probably added a drive or two since the original install.
It's been a nightmare but I finally think everything is working okay now (I say this with my fingers crossed).
I have less than a year now to give up smoking, I promised the kids I'd give up before I turn 50. The count-down has begun.