unfamiliar files in startup

I was noticing some slowdown when starting up and while trimming down the start up I noticed several unfamiliar files...unfamiliar in that instead of characters (numbers or letters) all that shows is a series of boxes...I'm not the brightest bulb in the pack but it looks fishy... so just to test it out I disabled them. When I rebooted I got a message the the files _ _ _ _ etc (all boxes) couldn't be found. I was going to go back in and enable them agaiin but now instead of two of those files....I have four anybody have any clues (of course virus, worm, etc are words that come to mind, as well as a few experlatives...lol) I just don't want to delete something important.

thanks!

 

Hello tsindir,

Read thru this thread. Similiar?

http://www.windowsbbs.com/showthread.php?t=34352&highlight=move

Regards - Charles