5 step virus removal error

Tanks!

And thank you again for the jusched fix, you truly are a Malware Innihilator!:approve:

Got the .Net 2.0 out of the way, everything is ready for SP3 or so i thought, freakin' computers, l luv'em but they drive me insane sometimes. Thru the windows update site it failed after looking like it was working. It does everything and installs the files and when it goes to update the register, the SP3 setup gets an error saying "access is denied". Been following the microsoft help page. Downloaded the SP3 from their download center and tried to install that way but got same error. Disabled avast & tried again, same error. That is where i stopped last night. Next step goes to the registry. I am working off this page;

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/949377

Breakfast is ready! Gotta go. I'll be back later. jimmy

I am installing from a downloaded copy and see everything, first it inspects, does an inventory, does backups of files, registry, creates a restore point and installs the files, then it goes to updating registry, a popup of 'access is denied' pops up.
The exact error message is 'access is denied', when clicking OK to that msg get;
Service Pack 3 setup error. Service Pack installation did not complete. Clicking OK to that uninstalls everything and auto reboots.

Here is the page i am working from;
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/949377
I did the two resolutions and the microsoft fix it wizard under Reset the registry and the file permissions, which they recommend if the two resolutions don't work. That finished OK, same error everytime.

Then, on this page, i got from microsoft knowledge database,
http://www.askvg.com/windows-xp-service-pack-3-sp3-setup-error-access-is-denied/
I created the SP3.bat file and ran it, which was nice cause it show everything as it did it. And i saw an Avast reg key 'RegSetKeySecurity' during resetting the acl.
I finally found the TroubleShooting tab under Settings in Avast and disabled the 3 items that were selected, boot scans and such, set the shields to disabled permanently and rebooted thinking i had it now. No such luck, same error comes up. I am thinking of uninstalling avast and trying that. Again, what am i missing with avast cause i believe i am not properly disabling it. Thanks, out of here probably for the night but i would really appreciate your help. jimmy

window opened & got 'junction is not recognized as an internal or external command,operable program or batch file.'

checked 'help' at command prompt, junction is not listed.

Another thing i saw each time i attempted the install, after it failed & recovered & rebooted. When i logged on, a cmd window would open, and i could only catch part of the msg as the window auto closed in a sec. Something was not found i believe the msg said but not sure, it closed real fast. Do you know if that is saved somewhere on the machine? Checked event viewer for system, did not see it there. Got a couple of errors in event viewer, maybe i should work on them first. One is a printer spooler service and another is the upload manager service failed to start, acct specified for this service is different from acct specified for other services running same process.

Thanks Broni, i totally understand. Just trying to take advantage of you!

A last update for ya, the machine is running excellent & i like Avast already. The install of the recovery console boot screen is way cool.

I uninstalled Avast, the SP3 install still got 'access is denied', so it is not Avast.
Then i nuked an old printer/scanner service in the registry with RegSeeker, i only use the search function as the rest of it scares me a bit. Upon reload, my Event Viewer was clean of errors, still nogo on install of SP3. Concentrated on trying to see the dataset that pops up in a cmd window after logging on after the uninstall of SP3. The dataset was C:\Windows\Installer\..... Client....... and the extension was .vbs, i think. Nothing in the Installer folder looked even close, no vbs extensions anywhere on my system. Gonna try microsoft, yeah, this ought to be good. Thanks again. jimmy

Last post on this thread. Started reading posts on windows/installer and the bad things that can happen and it all came back to me. A few years ago, i think i ran that Windows Installer Cleanup utility, it is all a blur now. They should call that utility Really Bad Things Can Happen! Gonna stop for now with SP2, this unit doesn't have much life left methinks. Thought for sure, the hard drive had bitten the dust, so, all in all, i am extremely happy with it as it is. later, jimmy

p.s. - read a post about it where the lady called microsoft support for help and things ended worse than she started. Guess i will not be calling microsoft!:grinthumb