A complete reinstall eh? That's a pain in the neck.
I've just had virus problems advised initially by freeware which held potentially, nay, lethally dangerous consequences. My email took about five minutes to load but I was more worried about safeguarding personal info. Also, a box appeared, purporting to be an AVG warning which I checked on after deciding I didn't like the look of it and found that it was a spoof. If I had pressed the button to quarantine it...god knows what disaster might have followed. AVG freeware and CC cleaner got rid of some but a free scan by Webroot Spy Sweeper revealed more which they had missed: TROJAN R-BOT ADWARE SABOTCH TROJAN BACKDOOR PRODAV TROJAN COGNAC TROJAN ZOEKEN INTERNET WASHER DEPENDENCY ROGUE SECURITY PRODUCTS
Without rooting deeply I could see that Zoeken had infected hundreds of files and R-Bot could have been hi-jacking my email to a remote PC at least. After buying the Spy Sweeper and Anti-Virus package online, the programme cleared all to quarantine with the exception of the last listed. Apparently that one is installed by anti-virus companies who want to convince you that you have some viruses which urgently need removing when in fact you haven't! As an additional safeguard I have changed all passwords and most user-names which I'm sure should be done regularly, especially on sites like Ebay, PayPal and personal banking.
So, all back to normal I hope, and Zoe, Ken, and all the rest can get stuffed.
Moral: Freeware is very useful but nowadays you need more protection.
'Find your enemy and shoot him down - everything else is unimportant.'
