HarryTri

When did you install .NET Framework 3.5? Is it still there (check if it is listed in the Add/Remove Programs tab)?

Perhaps the malicious software had already done its "job"... Also running Windows XP SP3 on a 1 GHz Pentium III with 256 MB RAM with no problems.

Windows XP don't have the TRIM command but there must be some software that can do it instead of Windows.

I reinstalled Windows XP on 18th of September, I had no problem with Windows Update.

The answer in both cases is yes. They are required individually by different programs each.

Sorry for the delayed response, I was out of the web for some days. Thanks for the information Tripedacus, I also don't think that it is something bad, it mostly looked weird to me. AVG also scans for rootkits, the whole thing seems to be benign anyway.

I downloaded and installed AVG Free 2014 and it performed a first-time optimization scan. Here is the result (copied to a text file): Does anyone know what these IRP hooks are? The file is the one of SP3, version 5.1.2600.5512, size 574,976 bytes, CRC32 for data 84B0A6F3 (by 7-zip). I performed a shell extension scan and a command line single file scan (with avgscanx.exe) afterwards that showed no infection.

The Service Pack doesn't increase the needed memory for running Windows XP. I run Windows XP SP3 on a Pentium III 1 GHz with 256 MB RAM with no problem. When I firstly installed Windows XP on it it only had 128 MB of RAM and there still was no problem.

Allright, you are probably right, it's OK.

Well, it may be so, perhaps you are right. Yet I would use an antivirus program for Windows to check a Windows partition, just to be sure.

Yes, but this omission can be the sheer truth and the other stuff "political" nonesense. Anyway, I don't know... The only thing that I know by common sense is that there isn't and won't ever be virus-proof OS and noone can persuade me for the opposite.

Oh, I don't know. It just seemed logical to me that an antivirus for Linux would check for linux viruses (there must be some of them too I suppose). From the reffered page: It doesn't say something like that for AVG.

Yes, but it will scan for threats that affect Linux.

Hello compatriot! AVG Free for Linux is detecting Linux viruses, not the Windows ones, you must use AVG Free for Windows to check your Windows partitions (by the way I also use AVG Free and I think it is a really good antivirus program).

Maybe Andromeda43 wanted to type "Windows-98" and the "9" was missed?

NX or DEP is from preventing the execution of malicious code that can seize the whole memory. It renders a part of the memory for data storage only and if a program tries to execute code in it it just crushes. The only problem that I am aware of is with programs that doesn't respect the DEP restrictions (usually old ones).

No, it doesn't (I know it from personal experience).

I mean that if you do a repair install it must restore the basic keys of the registry in order to repair it.

And what happens if you delete almost everything? Some things will have to be restored, won't they?

The %errorlevel% is of the previews "set pwd=Admin" command? Which is supposed to be the default password? Maybe the correct syntax would be "if "%adminpwd%"=="" set %adminpwd%=Admin"? I think that as it is writen if %adminpwd% is null it remains so and pwd becomes null also.

Windows XP CD has the option for a repair install. I did it once and it is the same with the Windows 7 thing as Charlotte describes it. It restores the default Windows files and registry entries (which means that you loose any service packs or updates installed) without affecting other files and registry entries as those of the several installed programs.

I run Windows XP SP3 on my 512 MB Pentium M laptop and my 256 MB Pentium III desktop with no problem. As for the NTVDM problem, it is probably the one that has to do with the later NT OS kernel patches, there is a solution for this, have a look here: http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/163182-solution-for-the-ntvdm-crashing-problem/

I still have and use my Pentium III 1 GHz desktop (once in a while). I mostly use my Pentium M laptop, it still does the job. I have Windows XP on both.

By the way Recovery Console is supposed to be contained in the Windows XP installation CD, isn't it? I think you can even install it on your HD.

@technoid It's the answer to your last question: The problem probably has to do with "system" since the windows inicialization stops there and you don't get into safe mode (as far as I understand correctly), yet a disc check will surely not harm. Edit: RC is the recovery console, I thought you were talking about Windows, sorry.