system
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Thanks Artras for the info and here is some info that might help - the virus(es) were totally disabling many of the features that would allow me to detect the virus. ZoneAlarm would not execute when installed, Windows Task Manager would close when launched, and I had some doubts about Avast being able to update properly. This machine was running Windows XP with the very most recent Avast version and virus file from 7/23/04. I basically had to launch the computer in Safe Mode and do some detective work. Avast DID catch a large number of the viruses present initially, but several including the avserve2.exe, msblast.exe, and smsc.exe where not discovered. There were a few others as well that I cannot remember off hand. Anyway, I finally got the machine cleaned and updated.