Somehow, I ended up getting roped into fixing a friend's work computer for them, but now, well, I'm a bit... stuck.
The computer itself is a Windows XP that reeks of trojans. Firstly, it's infected with AntiSpy Spider. That's probably the main malware issue, slowing the computer to a crawl, while hijacking the desktop wallpaper and displaying popups ad infinitum. I've also found traces of a few other minor nuisances, like OuterInfo and such... which brings me to my next point.
The real problem is that the trojan seems to have damaged its internet capabilities. It's primarily a wireless laptop and very few packets are being received, no matter what I try. Even a DSL connection isn't changing that problem. Furthermore, since I can't get a connection, I can't get rid of OuterInfo, since its uninstaller is downloaded from the website. Nor can I even get a HijackThis log assembled.
And the final issue is that the Task Manager is disabled. I've done about half-a-dozen workarounds to try to change the registry, and while the registry *says* it should be operational, it's... just not. I've even looked at other computers in the same group, and none of them had Task Manager disabled. I'm forced to conclude that this is the result of the malware.
Please, any help at all will be appreciated. I just need out of this loop.