[Anonymouse]

It sounds as if you have some sort of rootkit on your hands. Very difficult to kill without the right software...but a doddle to kill with it.

I suggest you try Blacklight Beta - excellent app. I had a rootkit a few years ago - I was always redirected to Microsoft.com regardless of what browser I used, IE6 was somehow downgraded to IE5, so I couldn't even run the repair tool, and McAfee was somehow disabled. Spybot & Ad-Aware were baffled. Luckily I had an uninfected laptop, with which I conducted desperate research. I discovered Blacklight, put it on the case, and voila!

Try it. The worst that'll happen is that it won't work.

One thing I always advise when someone's buying and setting up a computer: always set up two accounts, not one, even if you are the only user, and then downgrade the one you're going to use to access the Internet from Administrator to User. That stops most malware in its tracks because it can't install. Never use an Admin account to access the Internet unless you know the site is safe; only use the Admin account to install/uninstall software. It annoys me that this is never explained by either the setup manual or the store you're buying the computer from. For anyone not all that tech-savvy, there's a simple analogy between Administrators and Users: it's the difference between having a ticket to a concert and having a backstage pass.

If this advice had been given out routinely 10 or more years ago, the malware problem would be nowhere as prevalent as it is. If it were given out routinely now, the problem would perhaps not get any worse.