Problems with win XP

[ruth29]

First of all the computer is an HP Pavillion a700n .
It came as a pgk deal with no disks.
It is my grand childrens computer so am not saying they didn`t do something to it but it sure did some strange things.
First of all when you pressed on the mouse to get into avg it woukld come up for a second than disappear put you right back to the desktop. This happened to several programs.
I tried to do a restore but as soon as you pressed that said you needed an administer domain I couldn`t get into that part of the computer either. On the internet as long as it had nothing to do with security you could get in ok soon as you wanted a virus scan , tried to download another virus protector no luck. it just shut down and took me right back to the desk top.
I did phone hp they will not help unless I pay this big fee.
The computer has automatic updates for windows. So it was up to date and also tried to do things in safe mode couldn`t get anything opened there either.
I tried to send things to the partioned drive so I could do a recovery I copied and put them on it I also had the recovery files in this partition I guess I should have put them in a separate file as now that whole drive is locked and I can`t get into it at all says it is HP recovery big pad lock on it.
That is another part of my problem. I did do a recovery on the main drive so its back and running but I have a 40gb partion in which I can`t get into plus would like to know what happened to the computer or windows to go this way.
Would be nice if I had my own copy of the XP but no such luck. If you can understand this it is I guess a two part question one to get into the locked part the other just want to know what happened and what to do if it happens again.
Also is there a way I can keep a copy of the hard drive after I get it set the way we want it this would probably help if It happened again.

[pam123]

You've been hacked and very thoroughly.
Call HP and pay whatever they want for a recovery cd.
Then wipe the computer and start over again.
When you're back up and running have a talk with the grandkids about where they go on-line and what they download.

[ruth29]

I have the recvovery disks I did a recovery on C drive than did a virus scan it seemed to be alright, do you think I should do it again. The partioned side with the locked recovery files I tried to do a virus scan as well showed it doing it but am not sure. Anyway think I am going to have to format that drive and start again.
Think that will be ok or should I redo the whole computer again.

[pam123]

Redo the whole computer.
Once you use the recovery disk, it's the equivalent of fdisk and format, there won't be anything left for a virus scan to find.

[ruth29]

Ok will do and thanks for the help.