C:\Windows\system32\cmd.exe. running at startup.

[KateetaK]

Alright, so here's what's going on. I am not great at explaining things so I will do my best. BTW my OS is Windows XP Media Center Edition.

When I started up my computer today, a box appeared in the upper left-hand corner of my screen (while nothing else loads, not even the taskbar) and files began to appear in the box running very quickly. They were moving very quickly but I did see that most of the files began with "Deleted Files.." or something to that effect. I closed the box out since this had never happened to me before & I had no idea what was going on.

Then I opened my browser (Mozilla Firefox) to see if I could check around and see what the problem is and everything was gone from my browser...all of the bookmarks, add-ons, preferences set back to default - as if I had never used it before. After that, I closed the browser and ran an anti-virus scan along with a spyware scan. They did not detect a thing. Actually, when I started up my anti-virus program (AVG) it was as if I had never used that before either.

I then decided to restart my computer and the same box appeared doing the same thing as before. I immediately shut the window this time. Now my desktop picture isn't there either. I restarted Firefox and saw the same thing happen again - it was reset to default as if I were never there.

So, this is what the story is so far & I have not restarted since - I came directly to this site to find some help. I would really appreciate any and all help. Thank you for taking the time to read this message. If you need any more information on my problem or anything else I may have missed, please say so and I will supply it. Thanks again, everyone.

---Kate

[KateetaK]

Anyone? I could really use the help, I don't know what the command prompt thing is doing and if I should shut it off or just let it run. I'm a little freaked to make any changes to my computer then have everything go back to default after I restart it.

[ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb]

Welcome to the Windows Forum.

And sorry for not jumping to your help when you need it; some people are asleep at the time when you post on this forum.

Anyway, first suspicion: malware. Have you an active firewall, plus up-to-date anti-virus and anti-spyware applications installed? What exactly, and when did you last run a full scan?

Second, check your startup items for anything suspicious that wasn't there before; I suggest Startup Inspector.