originally i was going to do a clean install of Vista in order to get rid of the excess and unwanted programs that came pre-installed. but i was told that the restore disc's from HP will only put everything back as they were, so i'll have to remove things manually. more time consuming but oh-well. already i see quite a few things to remove.

Logfile of Trend Micro HijackThis v2.0.2

Scan saved at 11:43:35 PM, on 9/30/2007

Platform: Windows Vista (WinNT 6.00.1904)

MSIE: Internet Explorer v7.00 (7.00.6000.16512)

Boot mode: Normal

Running processes:

C:\Windows\system32\Dwm.exe

C:\Windows\Explorer.EXE

C:\Program Files\Synaptics\SynTP\SynTPEnh.exe

C:\Program Files\Hp\QuickPlay\QPService.exe

C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\HP Quick Launch Buttons\QLBCTRL.exe

C:\Windows\system32\taskeng.exe

C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\HP Wireless Assistant\HPWAMain.exe

C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\HP Wireless Assistant\WiFiMsg.exe

C:\Program Files\Avira\AntiVir PersonalEdition Premium\avgnt.exe

C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\sidebar.exe

C:\Windows\ehome\ehtray.exe

C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\wmpnscfg.exe

C:\Windows\System32\rundll32.exe

C:\Windows\ehome\ehmsas.exe

C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\sidebar.exe

C:\Program Files\Internet Explorer\iexplore.exe

C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\Shared\HpqToaster.exe

C:\Windows\system32\SearchFilterHost.exe

C:\Program Files\Trend Micro\HijackThis\HijackThis.exe

R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896

R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://www.yahoo.com/

R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL = http://ie.redirect.hp.com/svs/rdr?TYPE=3&a...n&pf=laptop

R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Search_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896

R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896

R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://ie.redirect.hp.com/svs/rdr?TYPE=3&a...n&pf=laptop

R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,SearchAssistant =

R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,CustomizeSearch =

R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar,LinksFolderName =

O1 - Hosts: ::1 localhost

O2 - BHO: Adobe PDF Reader Link Helper - {06849E9F-C8D7-4D59-B87D-784B7D6BE0B3} - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Acrobat\ActiveX\AcroIEHelper.dll

O2 - BHO: Spybot-S&D IE Protection - {53707962-6F74-2D53-2644-206D7942484F} - C:\PROGRA~1\SPYBOT~1\SDHelper.dll

O2 - BHO: SSVHelper Class - {761497BB-D6F0-462C-B6EB-D4DAF1D92D43} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_02\bin\ssv.dll

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [synTPEnh] C:\Program Files\Synaptics\SynTP\SynTPEnh.exe

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [QPService] "C:\Program Files\HP\QuickPlay\QPService.exe"

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [QlbCtrl] %ProgramFiles%\Hewlett-Packard\HP Quick Launch Buttons\QlbCtrl.exe /Start

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [HP Health Check Scheduler] C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\HP Health Check\HPHC_Scheduler.exe

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [hpWirelessAssistant] %ProgramFiles%\Hewlett-Packard\HP Wireless Assistant\HPWAMain.exe

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [WAWifiMessage] %ProgramFiles%\Hewlett-Packard\HP Wireless Assistant\WiFiMsg.exe

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NvSvc] RUNDLL32.EXE C:\Windows\system32\nvsvc.dll,nvsvcStart

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NvCplDaemon] RUNDLL32.EXE C:\Windows\system32\NvCpl.dll,NvStartup

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NvMediaCenter] RUNDLL32.EXE C:\Windows\system32\NvMcTray.dll,NvTaskbarInit

O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [avgnt] "C:\Program Files\Avira\AntiVir PersonalEdition Premium\avgnt.exe" /min

O4 - HKLM\..\RunOnce: [Launcher] %WINDIR%\SMINST\launcher.exe

O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [sidebar] C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\sidebar.exe /autoRun

O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [ehTray.exe] C:\Windows\ehome\ehTray.exe

O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [WMPNSCFG] C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\WMPNSCFG.exe

O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-19\..\Run: [sidebar] %ProgramFiles%\Windows Sidebar\Sidebar.exe /detectMem (User 'LOCAL SERVICE')

O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-19\..\Run: [WindowsWelcomeCenter] rundll32.exe oobefldr.dll,ShowWelcomeCenter (User 'LOCAL SERVICE')

O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-20\..\Run: [sidebar] %ProgramFiles%\Windows Sidebar\Sidebar.exe /detectMem (User 'NETWORK SERVICE')

O4 - Startup: OneNote 2007 Screen Clipper and Launcher.lnk = C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\Office12\ONENOTEM.EXE

O8 - Extra context menu item: E&xport to Microsoft Excel - res://C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~3\Office12\EXCEL.EXE/3000

O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_02\bin\ssv.dll

O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Sun Java Console - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_02\bin\ssv.dll

O9 - Extra button: Send to OneNote - {2670000A-7350-4f3c-8081-5663EE0C6C49} - C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~3\Office12\ONBttnIE.dll

O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: S&end to OneNote - {2670000A-7350-4f3c-8081-5663EE0C6C49} - C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~3\Office12\ONBttnIE.dll

O9 - Extra button: Research - {92780B25-18CC-41C8-B9BE-3C9C571A8263} - C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~3\Office12\REFIEBAR.DLL

O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {DFB852A3-47F8-48C4-A200-58CAB36FD2A2} - C:\PROGRA~1\SPYBOT~1\SDHelper.dll

O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Spybot - Search & Destroy Configuration - {DFB852A3-47F8-48C4-A200-58CAB36FD2A2} - C:\PROGRA~1\SPYBOT~1\SDHelper.dll

O13 - Gopher Prefix:

O23 - Service: Ad-Aware 2007 Service (aawservice) - Lavasoft AB - C:\Program Files\Lavasoft\Ad-Aware 2007\aawservice.exe

O23 - Service: AntiVir PersonalEdition Premium MailGuard (AntiVirMailService) - Avira GmbH - C:\Program Files\Avira\AntiVir PersonalEdition Premium\avmailc.exe

O23 - Service: AntiVir PersonalEdition Premium Scheduler (AntiVirScheduler) - Avira GmbH - C:\Program Files\Avira\AntiVir PersonalEdition Premium\sched.exe

O23 - Service: AntiVir PersonalEdition Premium Guard (AntiVirService) - Avira GmbH - C:\Program Files\Avira\AntiVir PersonalEdition Premium\avguard.exe

O23 - Service: AntiVir PersonalEdition Premium MailGuard helper service (AVEService) - Avira GmbH - C:\Program Files\Avira\AntiVir PersonalEdition Premium\avesvc.exe

O23 - Service: CyberLink Background Capture Service (CBCS) (CLCapSvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files\HP\QuickPlay\Kernel\TV\CLCapSvc.exe

O23 - Service: CyberLink Task Scheduler (CTS) (CLSched) - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files\HP\QuickPlay\Kernel\TV\CLSched.exe

O23 - Service: Com4Qlb - Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. - C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\HP Quick Launch Buttons\Com4Qlb.exe

O23 - Service: HP Health Check Service - Hewlett-Packard - C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\HP Health Check\hphc_service.exe

O23 - Service: hpqwmiex - Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. - C:\Program Files\Hewlett-Packard\Shared\hpqwmiex.exe

O23 - Service: InstallDriver Table Manager (IDriverT) - Macrovision Corporation - C:\Program Files\Roxio\Roxio MyDVD Basic v9\InstallShield\Driver\1050\Intel 32\IDriverT.exe

O23 - Service: LightScribeService Direct Disc Labeling Service (LightScribeService) - Hewlett-Packard Company - C:\Program Files\Common Files\LightScribe\LSSrvc.exe

O23 - Service: RoxMediaDB9 - Sonic Solutions - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Roxio Shared\9.0\SharedCOM\RoxMediaDB9.exe

O23 - Service: SBSD Security Center Service (SBSDWSCService) - Safer Networking Ltd. - C:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy\SDWinSec.exe

O23 - Service: stllssvr - MicroVision Development, Inc. - C:\Program Files\Common Files\SureThing Shared\stllssvr.exe

O23 - Service: Symantec Core LC - Symantec Corporation - C:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\CCPD-LC\symlcsvc.exe

O23 - Service: Vongo Service - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files\Vongo\VongoService.exe (file missing)

O23 - Service: XAudioService - Conexant Systems, Inc. - C:\Windows\system32\DRIVERS\xaudio.exe

Your log is clean, though I would recommend using avast over Avira.

i usually use Avast but now and again i'll try something else for a bit but always i'll end up with Avast. and thanks for looking at the log