explorer.exe & SVCHOST.exe gone crazy

After starting WinXP, nothing would respond to mouse clicks, and mouse moved very slowly if at all on desktop. Cntl Alt Del revealed that explorer.exe and SVCHOST.exe were using all the CPU. Usage was at 99-100 % and all of it was between these two processes. No applications were running. Multiple re-boots produced same result. Additionally, multiple copies (2-8) of Pahffa32.exe were randomly spawing and ending. Messages pop-ed up saying that Pahffa32.exe was experiencing problems and had to close. Same for iexplorer which I don't even use !!! I use Mozilla. I was able to fix by doing a system restore but any idea about what's going on here. My system was completely useless! HELP

 

Welcome to the board Cavitt99

Very possible virus / spyware. I can't find any information on Pahffa32.exe.

I suggest you do the following.

Make sure you have the up-to-date versions of Spybot (v1.3), Ad-aware (build 6.181) and HijackThis. All are free and available bellow.
Download Spybot, install, update and run Spybot. Delete all it finds that is prechecked. Then download Ad-aware, install, update and configure Ad-aware for a custom full scan and run, deleting all it finds.
Full Scan:
Click on the Start Button, Tick Use Custom scanning options, Customize

Scan Within Archives
Scan Active Processes
Scan Registry
Deep Scan Registry
Scan my IE favorites for banned URL’s
Scan my Hosts file
Under Click here to select drives + folders, choose:
All of your hard drives
Click on the Advanced button on the left and select:

Include additional process information
Include additional file information
Include environment information
Include additional object details
Click the Tweak button and select:

Under the Scanning Engine:
Unload recognized processes during scanning
Include basic Ad-aware settings in logfile
Include additional Ad-aware settings in logfile
Under the Cleaning Engine:
Tick Let Windows remove files in use at next reboot

Click on Proceed to save the settings.

Click Start and on the next screen choose Activate in-depth Scan at the bottom of the page and then choose:

Use Custom Scanning Options
Click Next and Ad-aware will scan your hard drive(s) with the options you have selected.

Save the log file when it asks and then click Finish

When finished, mark everything for removal and get rid of it. (Right-click the window and choose Select All from the drop down menu and click Next).

Download HijackThis from link in my signature. Save it to a permanent folder (I create a new folder in C:\ named HJT). Open and hit scan, then save log. Once it is saved it will open in notepad. Select all from the edit button, copy and paste the results here. Post a HijackThis log.
Don't fix anything with it yet! Someone experienced with the logs will advise you.

 

You were infected, restore may have eliminated the worst, but you should check further. Suggest you use the advice on this thread and post back a hijackthis log (after cleaning all you can with your antivirus, spybot and adaware as indicated in the thread.