The problem is most likely due to a conflict of IP addresses. For example, many Zytel modems will use 192.168.1.1 as their default IP which conflicts with many Linksys routers.

To solve this problem you'll need to do 3 things:

1) Change the IP address on the router to something outside of the Zytel modem range. 192.168.1.254 worked for me although you could try 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.2.1.

2) Disable DHCP on the router. The Zytel wants to be in control of the DHCP.

3) Connect the Zytel to a regular port on the router instead of the internet port. This allows the Zytel to be in control of the DHCP and the router basically acts as a passthrough hub.

When I clicked on the program icon, it would ask what file I wanted to use to run the program. The "trick" that the virus used was to redefined how EXE files are run.

You have to go into the registry to fix this problem.

Run regedit and navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.exe. The value should be exefile. In my case, the virus changed this value to secfile. After resetting it back to exefile I was able to run EXE file.

In order to remove the rest of the XP AntiMalware virus, I did a search in the registry and removed all instances of secfile, VMA.EXE and AVE.EXE.

A final run of Malwarebytes AntiMalware removed the rest of the infestation.

More information on how to fix this problem can be found at this link:

http://windowsxp.mvps.org/exefile.htm

Cannot access the C drive. When you click on My Computer you don't get any results.
Cannot access any external drive. D, USB flash drives, external hard drives, etc.
Cannot access Regedit. This produced an admin privilege error.
Cannot access All Programs. This would show a gray box where you would normally see your programs and then the PC would lock up.
Cannot access the internet.
Cannot run programs such as Malwarebytes or SuperAntispyware. System would either lock up or the programs would just not run.
It almost seems like the user privileges to read/write directly to external drives was disabled.

Oddly enough, these functions were OK.

msconfig
My Documents
Right-click on My Computer to select Manage.

1) Backup data. Since the virus was somehow blocking access to the DVD writer as well as to any external drives, I was not able to copy any data off the system. So I created an Ubuntu boot disk and rebooted the system from the CD drive. From there I could copy the user data to an external drive without any problem.

2) Ran SDFix from Safe Mode. I was able to get SDFix onto the affected PC by opening a DOS window and copying the SDFix.exe file to the Desktop by using the command line.

After running SDFix Regedit was now usable and the system could also get onto the internet.

3) Ran ComboFix. I copied the file over to the PC in the same was as above, using the DOS window. ComboFix found a LOT of viruses and was able to clean them up nicely.

After that I was able to run Malwarebytes from Safe Mode as well as Super AntiSpyware. I could only use the Administrator logon as the user account was still having problems with executing programs and creating files on the C: drive.

Instead of fighting with that original account I decided to create a brand new account and that seemed to work OK. The new account is able to function properly.

Malwarebyte's Anti-Malware did not find any spyware, even after doing a full scan. I checked msconfig, regedit, and HijackThis -- all turned up clean.

I decided to run ComboFix and it turned up a rootkit virus that had infected atapi.sys. Once Combofix disinfected the file the problems were resolved.

http://www.combofix.org/download.php

This software is kind of devious in that it disables the task manager and also redefines Run > CMD so that you can't get to the DOS prompt.

Here's what I did to clean it up.

1) Make sure you have a current backup of any important files. Pictures, documents, music, etc.

2) Boot into Safe mode. Press F8 during power up and then choose Safe Mode with Networking.

3) Download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and Hijackthis.

http://www.malwarebytes.org/

http://free.antivirus.com/hijackthis/

4) Install and run Malwarebytes. Make sure you do an update first and then do a Quick Scan. This will remove the majority of the virus.

5) Install and Run Hijackthis. Look for references to windowsupdate86 and IS2010 and remove them.

6) Reboot your computer into Safe Mode again.

7) Run msconfig and remove any references to IS2010 or Internet Security 2010.

8) Open your Windows Explorer and manually remove the folder c:\program files\internet security 2010 or c:\program files\IS2010.

9) Run Regedit and do a search for Internet Security 2010. Remove any references.

10) Reboot to Safe Mode again.

11) Run Malwarebytes again doing a FULL scan.

At this point your system should be clean.

In the future, make sure you are running Firefox rather than IE.

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/

The other side effects you may encounter from this malware is that you cannot access regedit or access your computer properties menu.

You'll need two programs to remove this malware:

HijackThis - http://free.antivirus.com/hijackthis/
Malwarebytes Anti Malware - http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php

1) Download and install the two programs.

2) Boot into safe mode (press F8 during power up) and run Malware's Anti Malware program. Do an update and then a full scan.

3) Once that is completed, run Hijackthis and remove any references to plugie.dll, svchast.exe, svchasts.exe.

Boot into normal mode and the malware should be removed.

You can also find supplemental removal information at this link:

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/virus-removal/remove-windows-police-pro

Once I corrected the date and time, all the cert errors went away!

Sometimes the solutions are too easy...

Recently I ran into a problem with adding a new application for a file association. The customer recently installed Photoshop CS4 and wanted to remove the old Photoshop 7.0 from her XP system. Simply enough: Just uninstall Photoshop 7.0 from the Add / Remove Programs icon under the Control Panel.

However, when trying to associate JPGs and JPEGs to open with the new Photoshop CS4, XP did not allow it to be added to the file list. Even selecting the full c:\program files\adobe\adobe photoshop cs4\photoshop.exe did not add the application to the program list.

The answer is that the Adobe Photoshop 7.0 does not do a clean uninstall. I needed to navigate to the registry key

HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\APPLICATIONS\PHOTOSHOP.EXE\SHELL\EDIT\COMMAND and change the path to the new Photoshop CS4.

After making that registry change XP allowed the new CS4 to be added to the Open With application list.

Press 0 to get an operator and they will help you.

Note: If you have an OEM version installed then you'll need to contact your original dealer. The way you can tell if you have an OEM version installed is by going to the Help > About and checking the product ID. If there are any letters in the ID then you have an OEM version.

http://www.bdtools.net/how-to-remove-downadup.php

Pretty easy to run. Just unzip the download into a folder and run the gui program. At least you get a little peace of mind...