technical issue

[Bloodfire]

ok so i got this PC with xp pro on it. the user, despite my best efforts seems to always get it infected with some bullshit. I can't find the windows disc so, I am attempting to remove the malware using combofix, malwarebytes, and I am gonna install F-secure AV to see what it can do.

I have already run combofix and malewarebytes in safe mode and got rid of the plethora of infections that those programs can find. not sure if there are rootkits, and I don't have enough knowledge to identify what they look like.

now while trying to run in windows normally, it seems internet explorer will not start up or seems to just simply do an instant crash when I double click it or whatever. Firefox seems to be acting wonky GUI-wise and won't load any websites. I do plan on trying to reinstall it tomorrow. the PC does have a connection going out into the local network and the internet.

based on this information, can anyone tell me if combofix fucked something up?
why can I not get IE to start up?

[Isiolia]

Have you checked to make sure whatever malware was on there didn't put in some proxy servers? A lot of them recently have been. Also check your hosts file.

IE might have a BHO trying to load, or homepage set to a malicious page.

[chiyio]

if it was that messed up you're really, really better of just downloading a copy of xp and starting over. combofix can mess a lot of things up, that's why it's a last resort usually.

things to check are like Isiolia said, proxy server and also your dns entries. Seriously though, save yourself the pain and start from scratch, heh.

To keep the user from getting infected again, have them NOT login as an administrator, that'll keep most infections away.

[Mafai]

Also, many viruses are user account specific these days. Try creating a new user account and see if that one acts up.

If a new account fixes your issues, move your my documents over to the new account and delete the old account.

[Bloodfire]

fuck, i'll prolly have to reinstall windows... the whole user account things isn't a bad idea. I do have one question though, would perhaps installing sandboxie on the "normal" user account perhaps do better if not more to deter the user from "accidentally" getting malware? I could set it up to where to surf the web, sandboxie is the program that starts.