I've run Spybot Search and Destroy.
I've run Spyware Blaster.
I've run Ad-Aware.

None of them seem to be catching this thing. This irritates me. I wonder if that early Saturday morning Google glitch (where every site you searched for was claimed to be a malicious site) was actually some kind of hack-attack and it compromised my computer - because it was only after that (and after I went over to Yahoo to search seeing as Google wasn't working) that the problem developed.

I don't know. All things in good time, I guess, but it bugs me when things don't work right. It's more than a "this is inconvenient" sort of being bugged; it almost but not quite rises to a "there is a disturbance in the Force" sort of being bugged.

So, I'm going to call the local computer place today, explain the issue to them, see how long it would take them, and either drop my computer off this afternoon or sometime tomorrow.

****

I'm still working on different things despite the fact that everything around me seems to be breaking. I'm pulling out various "stalled" projects (like the Ribbon Lace scarf) and trying to finish them.

I'm thinking of getting the color-bar blanket (the one that looks like the old tv test pattern) out again and working on it - in honor of the digital tv transition (and PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE an end to the ads going, "Hey, if you've been living under a rock for the past TWO YEARS and you are too cheap for cable or satellite dish, your tv is gonna stop working soon!" And yeah, Ellen Degeneres' claim that "tv is better than chocolate" - not so much.)

Actually, you don't see that color bar test pattern much any more (unless the satellite feed goes wonky); most channels never go off the air - they just show infomercials (and don't get me started on THOSE) all night long instead.