>>>>>>>>I think some virus or Trojan got into my computer and now I only see one drive C: whereas before I had drivers D: and E:. The drive C: only shows very little space left. When I run the Windows Security Essentials it says that it cannot clean the computer and recommends downloading the Standard System Sweeper from some site. Does this sound as legitimate?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>There is such an app from Microsoft Connect..although I've never tried it.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>This of any help?
>>>>>>>http://www.technobuzz.net/fix-missing-drive-in-windows-7/
>>>>>>
>>>>>>I am looking at my Task Manager and see many, many instances of SVCHOST.EXE running. Also I see the process PUAZEE.EXE that seem very suspicious. Do you know anything about these two?
>>>>>
>>>>>The SVCHOST.EXE's are probably OK as it's a generic host process name for services that run from dynamic-link libraries - although some trogans disguise themselves with such.
>>>>>http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/what-is-svchostexe-and-why-is-it-running/
>>>>>
>>>>>As for the PUAZEE.EXE - I'm not 100% sure about that one... but seems like I recall hearing about a virus with that name that screws up your explorer.exe - and based on your current situation I'd say this might be the culprit. Wouldn't surprise me if you went to taskmanger, killed it..and then it starts back up again on it's own (probably via one of the svhost.exe).
>>>>
>>>>Yes, you are right. I kill one of these PUAWZEE.EXE but it start again and again. Strange thing is once in while all of a sudden Windows Media Player starts playing either a sound or a video and sound file. So these are probably all related.
>>>>Strangely enough, I just went to the command prompt and see drives D and E. And at the same time I am doing full scan with MSE. Right now I would pay any money if I could buy a good AV program online that would help to clean this computer.
>>>
>>>You could check the Windows Services and see if anything in there looks fishy - but even if you do I'd say you're in for a rough fix. Generally these things have 2 services running, so you kill one of those or the .exe then the other one fires all the crap up again and recreated the files needed...etc. I've had good luck with the Microsoft Essentials Anti-Virus - however I'm having second thoughts about using it anymore because of this report http://www.guru3d.com/news_story/av_test_downgrades_microsoft_security_essentials.html
>>>
>>>Norton is a huge CPU hog - but it might fix your issue. You might just want to zap the whole machine, wipe all your partitions and reinstall the OS. Once you've been infected like this no telling what other jazz has worked its way into your machine - one virus/trogan/worm kinda opens the door for others quite often.
>>
>>I will finish this Windows Essential AV full scan. Then I will make another backup (I don't want to do it during the scan). Then, I don't know yet. Btw, I killed all the PUAWZEE.EXE programs (they all have description aaF0roP7Mk) and they (so far) didn't restart. All SVCHOST.EXE are also gone. You are right, however, the system is not stable. But to reformat, restore, and reinstall all application will take at least 3-4 days. What a PITA. Thank you for your help.
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>As others have said, set up and use an image backup program. Backup and Restore in some versions of Win7 includes a reasonably good image backup and system repair disc creation option. Another possibility is to do all browsing in a VM ("toilet paper computing"). The VM could be Linux for better security.
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>If you're not already verifiably sure of the cause of your most recent infection, you'll need to figure that out. If it was from the web, I think I've recommended FireFox with NoScript at least twice to you already; it's arguably more important than antivirus.

I am actually (right this moment) looking at UT from FireFox with NoScript. I don't like the look and feel of FF (as compared to IE) but I will have to learn to love it <g>