[gtoman]

A friends PC slowed to a crawl so he called a PC repair company to come out and fix his PC. He said he wasn't running an antivirus and spyware program and the tech found loads of viruses and spyware on this hdrive. If these things are already implanted onto the hard drive will installing antivirus and spyware software at that time, if it could even be installed, remove and fix the problems or is it too late and he would have to fdisk and reinstall XP Home?

[Pancake]

It may be best to clean up the bug before you install a virus and a firewall program.

We can have a look at it if you wish...

Please download HijackThis.  It will create a directory folder for you in C\Program files. Run a scan and save the log file.  Post the whole log file here.  Do not fix anything since most of them listed there are harmless (some are system required).  This program will help  determine what,if any, spyware/malware is on your computer.