thanks for the help, been mega busy so the pc has been silent
installed windows xp recovery and ran combofix, but combofix doesnt seem to be doing anything.
the "preparing to run" image pops up then goes away and nothing,
looking on task manager, combofix creates a process which runs but disappears when the screen disappears, how long does combofix take to get to the disclaimer screen, am i just not being patient enough?
also do i leave my pc connected to the internet with all the firewalls and anti-virus/spyware disabled? is that not asking for trouble?
regards paul