
Hi Dave,
Before we spend a lot of time trying to fix your malware issues. I'd like to make a suggestion.
As an ex ME user, I can tell you that you don't want to upgrade to XP, you want to reformat and start clean. I cannot tell you how many days I wasted trying to get XP to run well over my ME. It was a nightmare that I would like to spare you. :computer_
My suggestion is that you save all of your files, if you run Office and use Outlook, you will want to do a search for .pst and .rwz files, you will also want to save your Favorites file. (either burn to a cd, or save to an offline storage site such as Xdrive.)
Then print out the instructions for Installing XP from my signature. It is a brilliant tutorial written by our resident magician, Merlin, and I can tell you from first hand knowledge, it really keeps XP running smoothly.
Then, follow the instructions exactly, and reinstall your software.
The hours it could take to try to solve the malware problem isn't worth the time and energy. Especially since you want to upgrade to XP anyway.
Look forward to your reply,
TTFN
T