[SOLVED] NT Kernel System

I turned on my laptop late this afternoon after shutting it down last night and had this pop-up window from my security software. "Network Threat Protection 10-1-2011 5:54:28pm. Here's the message "NT Kernel System has changed since the last time you used it. This could happen if you have updated it recently. Click Detail to see more iformation. Do you want to allow it to access the network?" I don't think I updated anything and not sure what to do. I am running Windows 7 (32-bit). How should I proceed on this? I have never seen this message before.

It is warning you that your OS, specifically the kernal, has been changed. If this was changed by a virus then it's a problem, if it was a windows update then it's fine.

Your best bet is to stay off the network and run a complete virus scan. You may also want to run RKill & maybe install the freeware portion of malwarebytes (do not activate the free trial though as that part might conflict with your current Anti-virus software. Links to RKill & Malwarebytes can be found in our Freeware DB

You might also want to try a system restore to an older restore point.

I'm curious, what is your security software?

I tried to go to Start and check if possibly an update was the culprit but the system froze up on me. I decided to click on 'allow access' and then I rebooted my pc but it wouldn't shut down so I took the battery out and restarted it. Then after my desktop came back up, I ran Previx and it came back clean. I suspect it was an update because the last update occurred this morning. My pc seems to be fine now. I do have Malwarebytes but sometimes when I run it, it will tell me it's clean but when I run Previx, it tells me I have a virus and it will clean it. I have Norton. Thanks for the advice.