[jajmon]

My daughter's computer is experiencing this issue. XP Pro w/sp2. I have experienced this with IE, Mozilla and FF. I have run spybot and adaware, and hijackthis. Results are the usuall tracking cookies. Windows Update and Symantec Liveupdate both hang. I get the same when attempting to d/l any exe file. I'm looking for any other advice to try, I may just have to format.

[eaglescouter]

Look in your msconfig startup files listing for lien.exe (or is it lein.exe?). If you find it then you are suffering from a worm which can be rather difficult to remove.

I don't suggest removal via hijack this as it will leave the machine in its current non-functional condition. You want to use a worm removal tool from one of the major AV companies, but you will have to download the tool using a different machine since the worm blocks most AV websites.

The worm has many varients, be sure to use the removal tool specific to your varient.