Risanna,

What OS are you using? That is the one thing you did not mention.

I have a tremendous amount of Windows experience along with a good bit of Linux experience (mostly RHEL related distributions).

It would almost seem that in your case--sans a good technician--you would be best doing a full reload of your system. However, there is are caveats to which needs to be adhered. Just as there is a wrong and right way to do a multitude of things, there is a wrong and right way to reload a system. Depending on what you choose to do, I will elaborate later.

If you have a Trojan horse infection, you may have BIG problems as the resultant--to include personal bank information--of your “computing experience” may be sent to an unknown third-party. Be careful and practice restraint and good judgment. If you are not sure as to how to remove the Trojan horse, then I would recommend that you do a full system reload giving the caveats that I described earlier (checking your files, making sure you have all appropriate drivers prior, etc).

Although amani suggested that you totally shift to Linux, depending on what you like and want to do, that may not be a really viable option. Linux, OSX, and Windows all have their places in the OS world. At present, there is not one OS that totally replaces the need for the other; however, that depends on the user and his or her needs.

Most importantly, good luck.

The OS I am using is Windows XP.

I've been trying to back up all my files and programmes on a new portable hard drive, but I am having difficulties and i'm not sure whether its because of the viruses I have i.e. Trojan Horse and Worm. Just to refresh you that i have lost my programmes in the Start section.

Thanking you for previous advice.

Anna

The best way to get rid of them is re-installing the system. If you have the sunday off - most of the guys here have windows experience also, and probably have nothing better to do. So you could just backup and attempt a reinstall, and look for help here along the way. It's probably your best option. Then the first thing you should do once the system is back up and running is you install avast - http://avast.com/ - the personal edition is free. I had much better experience with this than with mcaffee/norton. I used to use avg, a tech guy I trust told me to switch to avast. They're probably both good.

If all goes well you might want to try ubuntu on the side. (This is a linux forum after all )

If you have a Linux live CD handy, you can use that to mount your Windows drive (don't worry - the malware will be inactive) and then copy the files over to the new drive.

This guide can help you with that:
http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntucat/...ng-your-files/

What difficulties are you having?