the C: /Qoobox folder is still there. That has just one folder in it which is BackEnv. When I rest the mouse on that folder, it says the folder is empty, but it won't let me open it to confirm. It tells me that C: /Qoobox/BackEnv is not accessible. Access is denied. I imagine this has to do with the quarantining of avg??

Alright, I will check out that guide and follow what I can to get those hidden programs back!

Alright this might be a problem of my lack of computer experience, but I can not find the %Temp%\smtmp folder. How would I get to view that so that I can copy its contents in their correct folders? I followed the steps on "how to see hidden files in windows," so they should be available now. Is this %Temp%\smtmp folder supposed to be in C drive somewhere??

you mean pasting "%Temp%\smtmp in the search bar" ? I tried that by searching all files and folders and having it look in local hard drives (C and D), and it doesn't find it!

nevermind, i see that you said to paste it into Start > Run. That didn't work either. It said that it can't find it. It refers to it as "C: \DOCUME~1/Jonathan/LOCALS~1/Temp/smtmp"

just to be clear, i should be pasting this exact text, correct?: %Temp%\smtmp

The only ones in that folder are the ones that actually show a sub-folder when i mouse over them through the start menu. For example, the Accessories folder is there and when i click start > all programs > accessories, it shows me everything in there, not (Empty)..

I see that for some for example there's an itunes.exe in the itunes folder. For others I don't an .exe in the folder such as microsoft office.

Once I see the .exe (such as the itunes one or the mozilla firefox one, etc, etc....) how do I recreate it??

Okay, got it.. What's going to make this a lot easier is that I have a lot of the shortcuts already on my desktop and I can just copy and paste them into the new folder after I make them in C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\Start Menu\Programs

However, I'm not sure how to do it for the programs I don't have shortcuts for.

Okay I got almost all of them done either by copying the shortcut from my desktop or copying the .exe file (not sure if file is the right technical word here) from the C: \Program Files folders and putting them in the newly created folders the C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\Start Menu\Programs.

I have almost all of them done, and pretty much all the ones that were really concerning me. Now it just bothers me that there are a few missing, and really as silly as it is since I can get them for free anywhere but taht the games folder is still (Empty)! LOL.

I will attack the others tomorrow as it is just past 2 AM now but I have three more quick questions..

1) I have been hanging out without an anti-virus protection since I had to uninstall it again to run combofix.. we are past the point where I would need to uninstall it again and so I can feel free to d/l an anti-virus protection again and not have to worry about uninstalling it shortly thereafter? (Don't worry, I haven't done any Internet surfing other than this thread and the link to view the hidden folders.

2) It is necessary to have the hidden folders still viewable? Is it safe and/or recommended to go back and set those settings to their default ones?

3) When I tried to delete the Thumbs.db icon that is grayed out on my desktop, it tells me that this is a systems file and that if I remove it my computer or one of my programs may no longer work properly. Should I remove it anyway, or since it is grayed out will it disappear if I disable the viewing of hidden files??

Thanks so much!