PC wont open some programs, possibly spywear?

[infrared01]

Hello,

I am hoping someone can help me with a relatively minor yet bothersome problem I just started having. My computer and internet seem to be running just fine however I am unable to open certain programs such as instant messanger (i know its trivial but i like to stay in touch with family), and also most noteably my spy wear removal program which is spy eraser. I ran norton and it found nothing, I noticed in the running processes that whenever I start my computer there is 3 or 4 instances of iexplore.exe running all at around the same mem usage which is between 12-15k, despite my not having opened IE yet. I also have numerous instances of svchost.exe running, around 6-8 actually. I know thats a legitimate file in most cases but I also know it can be used maliciously which I am assuming is whats happening here.

If anyone can point me in the direction of a fix or a removal tool of some sort to avoid having to format this thing again I would be greatly appreciative.

Thanks a lot

 

[Bobo]

http://www.computerforum.com/24782-basic-malware-removal.html

 

[PC eye]

There are a few instances of svchost.exe that are normally seen at upto and not over 5 items in the task manager. Anything over a 5 count is a good indication of this particular malware. Symantec did have a removal tool available for that type of malware. It's a form of trojan that wears the mask of a valid system file while being found outside of the Windows directory and subs.