Judy:

At this point my main concern is to not lose my data files. Right now the files are intact even though it's a tough road to get to them. I just don't want to try anything that might destroy them. I'm thinking the above solution wouldn't hurt the files??? Wanted to see what you think before I give it a go.

I did find this also on the MS WinXp newsgroup where the gal described a problem that matched mine exactly.

http://kgiii.info/windows/XP/general/xprepair.html and then a malware scan was the response.

Unfortunately for her it didn't work & she ended up replacing the harddrive & making the infected one a slave to retrieve her files.

And, yes, I'm thinking Norton is not doing a good job at all!