Hi Newton...thanx fer the reply. In the way of a generic question, is WinMe (sans bugs) set up to automatically create set-points by default or does one have to enable that through user preferences? Secondly, concerning the suspected Avast bug that you referenced in the link, do you think that it could be the genesis of my OS corruption, rather than the trojan that Avast has identified onboard? BTW...I still can't confirm its existence! I'm appending my Avast log for it, maybe it's something that you or someone else will recognize. Thank you in advance...
Hello again,
1 - A new installation of Windows ME always sets up the automatic restore points by default. So you should not have to do anything and the restore points should be created automatically, at least one a day every time you open your PC.
2 - The Avast bug that prevents Win ME to create automatic restore points is certainly not responsible for your infection by a virus. But this bug now prevents you to try to restore your system when it used to work okay before the corruption happened. Of course, maybe the OS wouldn't be able to restore the system if it's in very bad shape, but it would have been interesting to try. That's the very reason why they invented the system restore.
3- The log report you attached shows a corrupted file in your temp directory. Unless you know for certain that you absolutely need the "AAWTMP" sub-directory in there, I would definitely get rid of that sub-directory (just delete it through the file Explorer and empty your recycle bin). In other words, only keep this sub-directory if you know that it's linked to the "whatever" application you have on your system that creates this temp sub-directory.
For example, the sub-directory called _Avast4_ in the C:\WINDOWS\TEMP directory is created and needed by Avast and should not be deleted. In your case, the AAWTMP may belong to some application beginning with the letters AAW (although it may be anything too). Otherwise, it's just a file not needed at all anymore and it can certainly be deleted.
A good trick here would be to simply move the subdirectory and all its content in another place. For example, create a directory on your disk called blabla, at the root (C:\blabla). Then move this AAWTMP sub-directory in the blabla one. Then restart the PC. If all your software and OS works fine, then delete the whole C:\blabla thing. No infected file anymore. Otherwise, if something stops working, you can always move back the thing through DOS with the Win ME boot-up diskette. If you don't have the boot-up diskette, you can create one through control panel/add or delete programs/boot-up diskette tab.
But usually, and I can tell you this from 11 years of experience with computers, 95% of the files gathering in the C:\WINDOWS\TEMP can be deleted without any problem.
In conclusion, you may have been infected, but if the antivirus don't see anymore viruses after a thorough scan, it may be simply that your OS is messed up. And believe me, you don't even need a virus for any version of Windows to start acting weird or get messed up.
So without any sign of infection, if I were you, I would re-install it as I mentioned earlier here on this thread. You have 95% of chances to solve the problem.