Help dealing with suspected trojan horse

[soozee]

I have just returned from a 3-week vacation. When I turned on my home computer, everything looked great. Unfortunately today, when I restarted, I got a mysterious message -- "winlogon.exe is unable to locate a component -- sfc__os.dll is missing." I was prompted to reload this file.
I eventually restarted the computer using my xp disc, and it loaded okay. I did a search for the "missing" file and it appeared to be (back) in my windows\system 32. However, just to be sure, I restarted again, only to find the SAME problem. In addition, I discovered the computer seems to have lost all printer/peripherals information.
This is my first experience with a virus, and my husband sagely suggests that a trojan horse has most likely made its way into my computer.
Can anyone provide advice as to how to fix this? I am trying not to panic, but fear I am losing the war.......

 

[mars24]

Have you tried running an anti spyware program.

I use:

Spybot Search and Destroy
Search for it on google.

It is completely free and provides real time protection. Check For Problems then fix any that come up.

-Mars

 

[Blind Dragon]

Hi soozee,

Welcome to Techspot!

My name is Blind Dragon and I will be helping you with your Malware problem. During the course of our interactions please be sure to follow all instructions carefully, and ask questions if you are unsure of how to proceed at any point.

Please have a read here-> Is your system infected? Read this before Cleaning or Formatting

If you decide to clean your system please follow these Viruses/Spyware/Malware, preliminary removal instructions and post back in this thread with the requested logs. There should be at least 3.

1)MBAM or SAS log
2)Combofix log
3)Hijackthis log (Step 15)

This thread is for the use of soozee only. Please don't post your own virus/spyware problems in this thread. Instead, open a new thread in our security and the web forum.