Thanks Stoat.
We've been having problems with our computer, and our repairman is even stumped... very frustrating.
You're quite welcome :-)
If your repairman is indeed qualified and is truly stumped, it might be faster, simpler and less expensive to back up your data and reformat the hard drive. The reformatting process 'should' squish any viruses or bad stuff, but you will need to reinstall all of your software applications. The benefit of this is that with a newly-cleaned machine you can set it up better for security, such as adding a firewall and spyware blocker as well as a modern antivirus program.