Have you made any significant updates to your machine since this began, ie service-pack upgrades to Windows XP? The NT Kernel is the brain of your computer, though "Kernel System" is backward, it is usually "System Kernel" which makes this a bit suspicious. I've included a link to a discussion of possible virus infection by the Bolzano virus, if it has recurred in some form, though it is years old and not especially dangerous at this point. Otherwise, I asked about changes such as Service Packs installed since those might actually have changed your kernel. Under normal circumstances your kernel will not change (this can amount to brain surgery for your computer, so is not undertaken often).

I would, since it's a good idea anyway, run a full virus scan using a couple products. If you have anti-virus software already, you can supplement it with a scan using AVG Anti-virus (http://free.avg.com/) or ClamWin (http://www.clamwin.com) both of which are free versions. You should also probably run separate scans for malware/adware. I still use Spyboot Search and Destroy, and there are other free products out there that will also work. Running different products is important, because no one has 100% effectiveness in scanning or combating every piece of malware. If two products both individually have 95% efficiency, collectively they top 99%.
Source(s):
http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=15500
http://www.symantec.com/security_response/writeup.jsp?docid=2000-121515-414...

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