Sorry to use the list for this purpose, but I'm spending too much time with these viruses. For the past 2 days I've tried to deal with this problem. Many listmembers have been very helpful: you guys know who you are. THANKS! However, things on the ol' Dell are not right as of yet and it's so f*cking frustrating that all I want to take this laptop and chuck it the pond across the street. I realized I was infected 2 days ago via that badtrans something/or/other. If I owe anyone on this list a reply for anything from the last week or so, I hope I can do it before too much time passes. Next week we go to Baltimore for the 'Cross Natz so I'll be away off and on for almost 2 weeks. Against several recommendations, I bought the Norton AV software, (the free download took more than 2 hours, so FUNK THAT!). I've tried to run the updates on the installed program that came with the software, did the badtrans update download and all that, and it shows a clean bill of health. But at least 2 of the files here are infected and the best the software can do at this time is quarantine them. Actually, I think one was a badtrans infected file. So much for updates. If you got this far, thanks for reading. I'll lay low for a while. e-RICHIE shopworn and worn out