C:\Windows\System32\protector.exe

All -

Good evening. I've just been handed a laptop from work, previously used by an employee who's now left us, and Norton is popping up about every 10 seconds with a "High Risk" warning regarding a program called "protector.exe" and it's attempts to connect to the internet. Furthermore, I cannot connect to the internet via any means but IE - Firefox, AIM, etc are all acting as if there's no active connection. I have attempted to DL Spybot S&D, but the moment I try to connect to the server it gets stuck.

I can't find this program anywhere in the active processes, nor can I find it in any folder. My computer savvy extends to running msconfig.exe and other such things, but I am by no means a techie.

PLEASE HELP! Thanks.

INFO:
Windows XP
Toshiba Satellite laptop

 

Welcome to MajorGeeks.com, please follow our standard cleaning procedures:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/images/grenade.gif Run ALL the steps in this Sticky thread READ & RUN ME FIRST Before Asking for Support

• Make sure you check version numbers and get all updates.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/images/grenade.gif Very Important: Make sure you tell us the results from running the tutorial...was anything found? Were you unable to complete any of the scans?...Were you unable to download any of the tools?...Did you do the on-line scans as suggested? etc.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/images/grenade.gifAfter doing ALL of the above and you still have a problem, make sure you have booted to normal mode and run the steps in the below thread to properly use HijackThis and attach the log:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/images/grenade.gif Downloading, Installing, and Running HijackThis

• Make sure you also rename HijackThis.exe as suggested in the procedures. Use analyse.exe for the new name. This is very important due to some new infections going around..

http://www.majorgeeks.com/images/grenade.gif In your next post, please make sure you attach the following logs and that you have run these scans in the following order:

• CounterSpy - ONLY IF you were not able to run Windows Defender
• Bitdefender - from step 6
• Panda Scan - from step 6
• runkeys.txt - the log from GetRunKey.bat
• newfiles.txt - the log from ShowNew.bat
• HijackThis

NOTE: You can only attach 3 files in a single message so it will require that you use two messages to attach all of these logs!