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This message has been cross-posted from alt.privacy.spyware.

Hello,

I recently was having a look at a friend's computer; Windows XP SP2, it was
obvious that he wasn't very careful and had accumulated a bunch of spyware,
which I removed.

During the removal, I ran MSCONFIG, and two of the entries listed only Asian
characters: sorry, I didn't make a point of transcribing them. I un-checked
them, rebooted, and then saw messages saying "The program [here insert Asian
characters] could not be found, check the program's location", etc. etc.,
for each of the entries that I un-checked.

(I also ran HijackThis, and found similar entries, which I then deleted)

A few days later, my friend was still having trouble, I went back to his
place, and in MSCONFIG, both of those entries were still un-checked;
however, two NEW entries containing the same Asian characters had
re-appeared... I repeated the process...I un-checked them, rebooted, and
then saw messages saying "The program [here insert Asian characters] could
not be found, check the program's location", etc. etc., for each of the
entries that I un-checked.

I can only expect that there's some type of imbedded spyware/adware/scumware
etc. that's embedded somewhere down in the OS or the Registry. A scan with
AVG with the latest defs turned up no viruses.

I tried, but was unable to Google this problem, "Spyware Asian Characters"
did not find what I was looking for.

Can anyone here point me in any direction? I know that the next step will
be a thorough, deep scan with several different scumware removers, and, that
failing, an OS re-install, but is there a "quick-and-dirty" solution?

Thanks, Sincerely

smackedass