Trojan Horse?

From: Vecchia (anonymous_at_discussions.microsoft.com)
Date: 04/17/04 

Date: Sat, 17 Apr 2004 14:56:03 -0700

My computer has been developing new problems every time I restart it, and I think it is being caused by a Trojen Horse. Can anyone tell me if I am right and how to remove it?

My firewall has a "missing" .dll file and cannot be opened and my cd drives won't work. The computer is slowing down and is having problems opening and closing programs. In trying to track down the problem, I found a file named USER - the properties indicates it is a read only, hidden , unknown application that began on 4/6 (C:\WINDOWS\USER.dat.) When I tried to open a read-only version I got the message that it "may be an e-mail improperly decoded."

I've been keeping up with the security patches and downloads, but I keep finding nonrelated files that seem to hitch a ride along with the download. I don't open e-mail unless it is from someone I know - everything else is deleted. I have McAfee Firewall and AntiVirus software running whenever I am on-line. I don't know how to fix this problem or how to prevent it from happening again.