cannot access hard drives through shortcut or my computer

[redeye jedi]

have 2 hard drives on my pc.my system is xp home version 2002 with service pack 3 and it is an amd sempron 2400+ 1.67 ghz, 1gb of ram when i try to open either of my hard drives from the shortcut or my computer (which have always worked up till now) get the message "C:\resycled\boot.com is not a valid win 32 application" can still use programs and can still access hard drive through diskmgnt can anybody help thanks in advance!

[stroyal]

sounds like a virus or malware.
c:\resycled boot.com is not a vaild

Do you trust your AV ? - Raymond.CC Forum

[redeye jedi]

have ran adaware and it came up with 24 infections all attempted browser hijaks removed them an still havin trouble hav got avg 8.0 but keep havin trouble connecting to the server to update so dont really trust it no do u know of a good av (a freeware or shareware 1 maybe?) u could recommend am on really tight budget at min do ui think it would detect the virus without a definitions update? if so an it does remove the virus will it automatically sort itself out or will i have to do anything to get them working again? sorry for so many questions never really had these kind of problems before and don't know nearly as much as u geniuses who help peeps oh an btw would just like to say what a great job u guys do helping people out!

[stroyal]

If you used the free adaware, I don't think it has been updated in over a year.

Spybot search and destroy
Malwarebytes
Avast anti virus
Hijack this

All free

Most people have viruses and adware and don't know it.

[redeye jedi]

used adaware pro but for some reason havin trouble connectin to the update server on that aswell could that be the virus affectin my updates as my internet seems to be working fine? will try those progs and will post results thank u for your time u guys are the best

[stroyal]

Yes viruses or malware can screw with your programs and prevent them from updating.