Is it or isn't it??

Every time I boot up my machine (OS is XP Home) Norton tells me that a particular application is trying to communicate from my PC to the internet. The application consists of 3 letters with a figure 1. The size of the application is always 422kb. I have tracked it down to C:/Documents and Settings/Chris/Local Settings/Temp. Every time I tell norton to permanently prevent entry to the internet, the same application will try again on next bootup but with 3 different letters and the figure 1. The application sits in Task manager processess and will allow me to terminate it from there. But as I say, it returns on next bootup. The icon in the temp folder looks like a blurred blue planet with a grey/silver band going through the middle. There are a few of these in the temp folder due to the previous ones being denied access to the internet and another being created to have another go.
This may be something or nothing but any thoughts or ideas are most welcome............TIA.....foxman

 

Sounds like it's probably spyware of some sort.

Download and run Ad-aware then update and next run it. Delete everything it finds.

Download, update, and run Spybot. Delete any it has marked as problems. Leave the remaining items for now. They aren't spyware and some are needed for your PC.

Then run the spybot immunize feature - you will stop lots of spyware from making it's way onto your system.

If that has taken care of the problem, you don't need to do anything else. If not, spybot also offers a list of all the auto-start apps it finds on your PC. Most will have an explanation of who/where/what if you click on the item. Included will be if the item is probably essential for operation of your PC or not. Uncheck all the ones listed as not critical and see if your critter is gone then. If so, just a matter of adding startup items back in until you find the baddie.