The Dell tech assured me the "infections" were gone and that the added RAM would do the trick, but I do trust your research. I've already bought the extra 4 Gigs of RAM, so I guess I'll go ahead and install it and see if the computer comes up to specs again. If not, we also bought a MAXTOR 700+ Gig removable storage device. So, now that begs the question that, if I do decide to reformat the hard drive, can I first safely clone the C: drive or copy it out to the removable storage without also bringing over whatever is currently slowing my computer to glacial pace? ----- Original Message ----- From: "Don Penlington" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Sunday, January 04, 2009 9:52 AM Subject: Re: [PCSOFT] Internet Explorer pop-ups. > Michael wrote: >>a horribly = >>sluggish system to the point of being intolerable. We're going to add RAM >>= >>(from 1 G to 4) and see if that speeds things up. >> > > > That's like putting the ambulance at the foot of the cliff. Band-aid > solutions like adding RAM won't fix existing problems, and most likely > won't improve anything. Much better in the long run to fix the problem, > even if the fix is as drastic as a reformat, rather than try to patch it > over. > > Of course, if you've cloned your hard drive, then that's the quick and > easy solution to any of these sorts of problems---but presumably you do > not have that solution available to you. > > Save your money and reformat your hard drive. In many cases with that > particular infestation, reports from many readers in several forums > indicate that there's no effective alternative. As you delete the bad > files they simply regenerate themselves with random names, so it's almost > impossible to track them down. You'll end up spending many fruitless hours > chasing your tail, all to little avail. > > In 3 cases I've seen of this family of malware (I don't think Antivirus > 2009 is properly classified as a trojan) the only solution I found to work > completely was to run a newly-updated Malwarebytes from a BartPE boot > disk. That seemed to work quickly and efficiently. The update must be done > on another computer. > > I'm not sure whether Malwarebytes would work if the nasty has already been > partly removed, but it's worth trying---your Dell tech would doubtless > have a boot disk from which to run it. (Or maybe he's already been down > that road). > > Don Penlington > > "Hold No Punches.." Rode brings you great shareware/freeware > programs with his honest opinions in this weekly column. > http://freepctech.com/rode > > > > > E-mail message checked by Spyware Doctor (6.0.0.386) > Database version: 5.11510 > http://www.pctools.com/en/spyware-doctor-antivirus/ E-mail message checked by Spyware Doctor (6.0.0.386) Database version: 5.11510 http://www.pctools.com/en/spyware-doctor-antivirus/ The NOSPIN Group Promotions is now offering our special coffee cups and mouse pads with the PCSOFT logo... at a great price!!! http://freepctech.com/goodies/promotions.shtml