Last Sunday, my PC got a malware, posing as an 'anti-virus' programme, which just released a stream of pop-ups that made the computer unuseable.

I did what the manual calls a 'destructive system recovery' to get the PC back to factory settings and eliminate the Malware. (it was unremoveable when I attempted to delete it in the normal way).

I got internet connection back on quickly, but now my PC won't stream any audio from radio stations or programmes like Napster.

I e-mailed the Hewlett Packard helpdesk and they suggested resetting everything on IE through the Internet Options menu on Tools, but it is not just an IE issue.

I attempt to stream songs from Napster, I get the message 'Sorry, there was a problem playing this track, please try later'.

I attempted to listen live on a local radio station site: http://www.pureradio.org.uk
The programme clicked into Windows Media player, but the stream does not play, with the message saying
'Windows Media Player cannot play the file. If the file is located on the Internet, connect to the Internet. If the file is located a removable storage card, insert the storage card.'

The file is on the Internet and I AM connected to the Internet, yet it still will not play?!

So it is clearly not an Internet Explorer issue, as it is affecting all radio station streams on all programmes.

All these programmes were fine before my PC was hit by the virus and I had to do the F10 system recovery.

I have re-installed the most up-to-date versions of Media Player and Real Audio, and also re-installed the Windows XP Service Pack 2, yet none of this has helped.

If anyone has any idea what is going on, I'd be very grateful!
Otherwise - as I mainly use the machine to listen to various radio stations for ideas (I work part-time in the business) - I'm gonna have to get a new machine.

Thanks in advance.