I have a virus problem of sorts..

I am using NOD32 as my anti-virus scanning system. It's not free or anything, and i have found it to pick up on a lot more junk when compared to Norton.

It keeps alerting me every few minutes that i have a trojan in explored.exe on my D: drive, which is my secondary 30GB drive (My primary is 180GB). When i open up D:, all i have in there is the MSN messenger setup file. Nothing else.

I have searched for explored.exe, i have tried running other programs like spybot and adaware, and none of them turn up with anything.

Nos.

Finding one doesn't mean its installed. If you downloaded some bad software or something it's possible.

start --> run --> *type in: cmd* to run the dos command. Now type in:

netstat /a > netstat.txt and post the output. Most trojans stick to known trojan ports so you might see something there if it is running.

Well alot of those a bit less expensive programs aren't that good.
They find everything that even looks like a virus and wants to delete it.
...and you really have to check what adaware finds... if you just click ok it might delete alot of files that it shouldn't delete.
been there, done that...

To be able to see if you have that file "explored", go to the folder and choose (sitting infront of a finnish windows xp so I will try to translate, not sure if the words will be 100% right): tools -> folder options -> show (?) -> show all hidden folders and files...
Then it might show... if you actually have a virus there it usually makes it invisible to see unless you put a x in that option.

ALL this is for Win XP...

I am using NOD32 as my anti-virus scanning system. It's not free or anything, and i have found it to pick up on a lot more junk when compared to Norton.

It keeps alerting me every few minutes that i have a trojan in explored.exe on my D: drive, which is my secondary 30GB drive (My primary is 180GB). When i open up D:, all i have in there is the MSN messenger setup file. Nothing else.

I have searched for explored.exe, i have tried running other programs like spybot and adaware, and none of them turn up with anything.

Avast Antivirus, best free or non free virus scanner ever.

http://www.download.com/Avast-Home-Edition/3000-2239-10285256.html?tag=lst-0-1

Is norton really that bad? I purchased it for a year, my comp was running slow a few weeks ago and at Ed's suggestion, uninstalled it and installed AVG for the hell of it, and it did speed up a bit. I mean, now i'm reformatting, but is Norton really not worth the trouble of buying/owning?

I had Norton, and it is damn good, but according to many of the PC mags I read Avast is the best free/non-free anti virus program.

Nos, download HijackThis, and post your log here:

http://www.tomcoyote.org/hjt/

I just trust F-secure and Norton.
And I think there is a few bugs in f-secure, all computer that I fix at work uses that.
But I still recommend Norton.

Tired Avast.. It didn't pick up much. Still prefer Norton. But I'm not running any now.

I've never had a problem / infection in over 4 years of running Norton...

/me knocks on fake wood-like substance that makes up my desk.