Like dating sites, malware (used to be called "spyware" back in the day) shows up with a nice bright and shiny profile or user interface for you to look at... then when you try to get involved in the process because you are generally interested in what the profiles have to say, there are occassionally bad things that happen... for example, the malware can misbehave... this is usually obnoxious, frequently sarcastic, and above all not very helpful... perhaps that sounds somewhat familiar...

I used to be a Program Manager at a major software development company... the best advice that you have gotten to this point is to research a reliable spyware detection (and imunization) application... some of these are associated with anti-virus packages, but one that I have found to be helpful on Vista or XP and that actually allows you to innoculate your system... the one that I like and recommend is actually free to download, although the product is good enough that you might consider donating to its maintenance and development... it's called "SPYBOT SEARCH & DESTROY"... google the name, and it will direct you to a download site...

Things to do when you down load the app:

1) When you donwload the app, unclick TEA TIMER and RESIDENT... they aren't needed, and in some cases might cause you soe minor problems... this is a challenge with app developers trying to do too much with a simple app... keep it simple and use SPYBOT for spyware protection...

2) After you download the app, use the UPDATE button to make sure you have the most current spyware and other signatures...

3) After you download the UPDATES, use the IMMUNIZE button to allow it to work through your registry and IE plug ins...

4) After you IMMUNIZE, go to the MODE on the menu bar and set to ADVANCED... then select TOOLS on the left hand side... make sure RESIDENT is turned off (unclicked)...

5) Use the SEARCH & DESTROY button... this will perform a good scan of your system and will help you identify where you might have picked up the SPYWARE... not that you can do anything about it now, but if SPYBOT found the problem, it will immunize against it...

6) And for good measure when you are done with the scan, IMMUNIZE again just to make sure that SPYBOT was not prohibited from immunizing because you had a SPYWARE issue...

SPYBOT does not automatically update for you... so you will need to go out and UPDATE and IMMUNIZE every so often to keep up with new spyware signatures and definitions...

I hope this helps...

PolishedGeek