Does anyone know about rootkit exploits?

I have a malware virus and it has disabled the task manager and when I go into the registry the file where you would disable it in XP is gone. I read that malware rootkit exploits can hide files from the API in windows. What is an API...I am not familiar with that acronym. Any help appreciated. I also heard microsoft has a rootkit scanner that is free. Where do I go and what do I do to kill the rootkit exploit?

You need a whole battery of programs.

First, go and get Firefox from Mozilla's website. Install that and use that as your web browser from now on. You can also download and install Opera and use that as well. Never use the Internet Explorer ever again.

Go to Comodo and download their AntiVirus, BOClean AnitRootkit, and Firewall software and install that on your machine. This should start to help you. Run the AntiVirus to clean up what it can find, reboot the computer and the BOClean remove any rootkits it can find and remove. Use the Firewall to block any unwanted network traffic - only Firefox should be allowed to have network traffic, unless you are running one of these security programs and it needs to download an update for itself.

Then install CounterSpy and XoftSpy free versions and run those to try to clean up the trojans and close the back doors.

Finally, get Registry Mechanic and run that to fix your registry settings on your computer and restore things, then install Security Task Manager and Spy Protector to help with anothe r layer of protection.

Most of these things are free to find and use. In the end, your computer should be mainly restored and protected. You should also download and install Thunderbird and use that as your eMail program. Abandon Outlook if you are using that as well.

Try this
http://siri.urz.free.fr/Fix/SmitfraudFix...

rootkits are among the hardest malware to eliminate .Try Sysinternals at :
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinte...