This is a lengthy report. I used a Windows XP cd (Microsoft Windows XP Professional for OS 5.1.2600, which is compatible/identical with the original program on my PC) to reinstall Windows XP on my computer. However, when the startup wizard appeared which read "Welcome to Microsoft Windows XP, What do you want to do", I clicked "Install Windows XP", but nothing happened because my computer only responds to certain links now, which is all confusing to me. Since it responds to some links and not others, I've been having trouble connecting to shortcuts, programs, etc. and I definitely can't connect to my system restore settings option.

Here is a short story of how my computer came to be in the state that it's in: Before the Lavasoft Ad-watch pop-up encounter, I was trying to install my EA Sports MVP Baseball 2004 Demo (this is a demo of a baseball game for PC). However, One of the .exe files in the games folder read "MVP 2005", a newer edition so I decided to double click on it. It started to load the game's opening screen because a loading bar showed, but then it crashed (probably because it was trying to run all of the older version's applications since the games were in the same folder). This caused my computer to crash as well, so I rebooted my computer with a restart. I feared that this game cause a potential problem to my PC so I uninstalled it completely. Shortly after this incident (about 5-10 minutes later), "something" was detected on my Lavasoft Ad-watch monitor. I am unsure if there is any correlation between the two, but I'm just telling you the sequence of events of what happened.

As far as what happened with the Lavasoft Ad-watch pop-up, I can't really describe what happened. All I remember is that "something" was detected, which I don't have a name for, and the program asked me if I would like to block it or accept it. However, I was prompted to read more about this detection, before making a decision. I did not read because the report was somewhat lengthy like this one , and I chose to block whatever was detected to be on the safe side. Shortly after this, my computer started acting a fool, and it has remained in this vegetative state. I then ran a system restore at this time because this function was working propely at the time, but it did not change the functioning of my shortcuts, or programs back to normal.

You can see my HijackThis log below. I ran HijackThis again in Windows, normally (not Safe Mode) and my report probably is the exact same thing. Why it is short, I cannot explain.

As for the Administrative Tools control panel, I can get all the way to the Event Viewer, but it is a .LNK file like everything else is now. I have figured out a way to access other .LNK files/shortcuts by creating a shortcut for the file and then finding the program in a default list or its subfolder, by going through "My Computer". However, I can't get this procedure to work for the Event Viewer program, therefore I can't access any log info from it.

Thanks for the help thus far and I'm sorry for the lengthy detail, but I felt that this might be of some use, or not.

Logfile of HijackThis v1.99.1
Scan saved at 12:43:32 PM, on 12/26/2005
Platform: Windows XP SP2 (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP2 (6.00.2900.2180)

Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\Ati2evxx.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\CTsvcCDA.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\eHome\ehRecvr.exe
C:\WINDOWS\eHome\ehSched.exe
C:\Program Files\ewido anti-malware\ewidoctrl.exe
C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
C:\Program Files\Intel\Intel Matrix Storage Manager\iaantmon.exe
c:\program files\mcafee.com\agent\mcdetect.exe
c:\PROGRA~1\mcafee.com\vso\mcshield.exe
c:\PROGRA~1\mcafee.com\agent\mctskshd.exe
c:\PROGRA~1\mcafee.com\vso\OasClnt.exe
c:\program files\mcafee.com\vso\mcvsshld.exe
c:\progra~1\mcafee.com\vso\mcvsescn.exe
C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\VS7Debug\mdm.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\McAfee\SPAMKI~1\MSKSrvr.exe
C:\Program Files\Alcohol Soft\Alcohol 120\StarWind\StarWindService.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\dllhost.exe
C:\Program Files\Elaborate Bytes\VirtualCloneDrive\VCDDaemon.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe
c:\program files\mcafee.com\agent\mcagent.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\McAfee\SPAMKI~1\MSKAgent.exe
C:\PROGRA~1\McAfee.com\PERSON~1\MpfAgent.exe
C:\Program Files\HijackThis.exe

R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Bar = http://mysearch.myway.com/jsp/dellsidebar.jsp?p=DE
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http:///??
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Bar = http://us.rd.yahoo.com/customize/ie/...ch/search.html
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page =
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,SearchAssistant =
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,CustomizeSearch =
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Local Page =
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Local Page =
R3 - URLSearchHook: (no name) - _{4D25F926-B9FE-4682-BF72-8AB8210D6D75} - (no file)
R3 - URLSearchHook: (no name) - {4D25F926-B9FE-4682-BF72-8AB8210D6D75} - C:\Program Files\MyWaySA\SrchAsDe\deSrcAs.dll
O2 - BHO: AcroIEHlprObj Class - {06849E9F-C8D7-4D59-B87D-784B7D6BE0B3} - C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 7.0\ActiveX\AcroIEHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: McAfee AntiPhishing Filter - {41D68ED8-4CFF-4115-88A6-6EBB8AF19000} - c:\PROGRA~1\mcafee\SPAMKI~1\mcapfbho.dll
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {4D25F921-B9FE-4682-BF72-8AB8210D6D75} - C:\Program Files\MyWaySA\SrchAsDe\deSrcAs.dll
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {5C8B2A36-3DB1-42A4-A3CB-D426709BBFEB} - (no file)
O2 - BHO: DriveLetterAccess - {5CA3D70E-1895-11CF-8E15-001234567890} - C:\WINDOWS\system32\dla\tfswshx.dll
O2 - BHO: SSVHelper Class - {761497BB-D6F0-462C-B6EB-D4DAF1D92D43} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_06\bin\ssv.dll
O3 - Toolbar: McAfee VirusScan - {BA52B914-B692-46c4-B683-905236F6F655} - c:\progra~1\mcafee.com\vso\mcvsshl.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [MCUpdateExe] c:\PROGRA~1\mcafee.com\agent\McUpdate.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [MCAgentExe] c:\PROGRA~1\mcafee.com\agent\McAgent.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [MSKAGENTEXE] C:\PROGRA~1\McAfee\SPAMKI~1\MskAgent.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [MPFEXE] "C:\Program Files\McAfee.com\Personal Firewall\MPFTray.exe"
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [ctfmon.exe] C:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe
O4 - Startup: LimeWire On Startup.lnk = C:\Program Files\LimeWire\LimeWire.exe
O8 - Extra context menu item: E&xport to Microsoft Excel - res://C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~4\Office10\EXCEL.EXE/3000
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_06\bin\ssv.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Sun Java Console - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_06\bin\ssv.dll
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {39FD89BF-D3F1-45b6-BB56-3582CCF489E1} - c:\PROGRA~1\mcafee\SPAMKI~1\mcapfbho.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: McAfee AntiPhishing Filter - {39FD89BF-D3F1-45b6-BB56-3582CCF489E1} - c:\PROGRA~1\mcafee\SPAMKI~1\mcapfbho.dll
O9 - Extra button: Real.com - {CD67F990-D8E9-11d2-98FE-00C0F0318AFE} - C:\WINDOWS\system32\Shdocvw.dll
O9 - Extra button: Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Windows Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O16 - DPF: {17492023-C23A-453E-A040-C7C580BBF700} (Windows Genuine Advantage Validation Tool) - http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=39204
O16 - DPF: {6414512B-B978-451D-A0D8-FCFDF33E833C} (WUWebControl Class) - http://update.microsoft.com/windowsu...?1130266793890
O16 - DPF: {6E32070A-766D-4EE6-879C-DC1FA91D2FC3} (MUWebControl Class) - http://update.microsoft.com/microsof...?1132318523125
O16 - DPF: {EB387D2F-E27B-4D36-979E-847D1036C65D} (QDiagHUpdateObj Class) - http://h30043.www3.hp.com/aio/en/check/qdiagh.cab?326
O16 - DPF: {F04A8AE2-A59D-11D2-8792-00C04F8EF29D} (Hotmail Attachments Control) - http://by108fd.bay108.hotmail.msn.co...x/HMAtchmt.ocx
O18 - Filter: text/html - (no CLSID) - (no file)
O23 - Service: Ati HotKey Poller - ATI Technologies Inc. - C:\WINDOWS\system32\Ati2evxx.exe
O23 - Service: Creative Service for CDROM Access - Creative Technology Ltd - C:\WINDOWS\system32\CTsvcCDA.EXE
O23 - Service: ewido security suite control - ewido networks - C:\Program Files\ewido anti-malware\ewidoctrl.exe
O23 - Service: ewido security suite guard - ewido networks - C:\Program Files\ewido anti-malware\ewidoguard.exe
O23 - Service: Intel(R) Matrix Storage Event Monitor (IAANTMon) - Intel Corporation - C:\Program Files\Intel\Intel Matrix Storage Manager\iaantmon.exe
O23 - Service: InstallDriver Table Manager (IDriverT) - Macrovision Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\InstallShield\Driver\11\Intel 32\IDriverT.exe
O23 - Service: McAfee WSC Integration (McDetect.exe) - McAfee, Inc - c:\program files\mcafee.com\agent\mcdetect.exe
O23 - Service: McAfee.com McShield (McShield) - McAfee Inc. - c:\PROGRA~1\mcafee.com\vso\mcshield.exe
O23 - Service: McAfee Task Scheduler (McTskshd.exe) - McAfee, Inc - c:\PROGRA~1\mcafee.com\agent\mctskshd.exe
O23 - Service: McAfee SecurityCenter Update Manager (mcupdmgr.exe) - McAfee, Inc - C:\PROGRA~1\McAfee.com\Agent\mcupdmgr.exe
O23 - Service: McAfee Personal Firewall Service (MpfService) - McAfee Corporation - C:\PROGRA~1\McAfee.com\PERSON~1\MpfService.exe
O23 - Service: McAfee SpamKiller Server (MskService) - McAfee Inc. - C:\PROGRA~1\McAfee\SPAMKI~1\MSKSrvr.exe
O23 - Service: Intel NCS NetService (NetSvc) - Intel(R) Corporation - C:\Program Files\Intel\PROSetWired\NCS\Sync\NetSvc.exe
O23 - Service: Pml Driver HPZ12 - HP - C:\WINDOWS\system32\HPZipm12.exe
O23 - Service: Remote Packet Capture Protocol v.0 (experimental) (rpcapd) - Unknown owner - %ProgramFiles%\WinPcap\rpcapd.exe" -d -f "%ProgramFiles%\WinPcap\rpcapd.ini (file missing)
O23 - Service: StarWind iSCSI Service (StarWindService) - Rocket Division Software - C:\Program Files\Alcohol Soft\Alcohol 120\StarWind\StarWindService.exe
O23 - Service: SVCLOAD - Unknown owner - c:\windows\system32\dllcache\sys32\winlogon.exe
O23 - Service: SVCMGR - Unknown owner - c:\windows\system32\dllcache\sys32\winlogon.exe