Hey Tim - Great news mate!!

We have been a little lucky to 'pick' the culprit early on in the piece, and just as lucky that it turned out to be something which was relatively easy to deal with.

Anyway, pleased to hear all is well now.

Cheers....Jim

Oh, by the way: did you manage to save your 'favourites' OK, as per my guide? Even though the list of favourites was not needed this time it's always handy to have a backup of them.

Tim,

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[quote="Clubofjacks":1w3eh2f6][u:1w3eh2f6][b:1w3eh2f6]Dave,[/b:1w3eh2f6][/u:1w3eh2f6]
One question...having already purchased AVG, are there likely to be compatibility issues with Microsoft Security Essentials etc resulting, if I was to re-install it as a secondary 'reinforcing anti-virus,' or, because it didn't identify my 'problems' previously, is it worth re-installing anyway? To expand upon this issue, in your opinion, is it worth having 'secondary, back up' software to support existing anti-virus or system efficiency products?[/quote:1w3eh2f6]
Tim,
I would not install AVG. You should only run one antivirus program. Microsoft Security Essentials is more than capable of handling your antivirus needs, and has shown itself (in your case) to be more capable that AVG. AVG used to be a great free product, but in the last few years their product has gone downhill in my opinion. It is less effective than many other offerings, including MSE, and the program uses too many resources.

I suspect the problem has to deal with the kids being on the internet (not that it is a bad thing). Kids are a little more likely to visit places or click things that adults wouldn't. I would keep MSE and install SuperAntispyware along with MalwareBytes. You can set MSE to do scans daily and do manual scans with SuperAntispyware and Malwarebytes weekly. That should keep you pretty clean!

[quote:1w3eh2f6][u:1w3eh2f6][b:1w3eh2f6]Ziggie[/b:1w3eh2f6][/u:1w3eh2f6]
Yes, my cable modem is directly connected into my computer. I wasn't aware there was any need to safeguard at that point, although thinking about it, logic dictates it's a sensible place to 'protect.' I would appreciate some suggestions as to what type of 'Firewall' (hardware/software?)I should buy to facilitate this?[/quote:1w3eh2f6]
I'm not Ziggie, but since I'm here I'll throw in my 2 cents...

You can look at a router as a splitter. It splits your internet connection so you can use multiple computers on the net at the same time. A side effect of this is something called NAT, or Network Address Translation. You can read more about this at - https://davescomputertips.com/articl ... rity_2.php. Most of the good routers also have an SPI firewall, or Stateful Packet Inspection. SPI forces the router to reject any communications that were not initiated by your computer.

I prefer D-link products, but Netgear and Linksys are also good brands. Here are a few examples:
D-link - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6833127091
Linksys - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6833124001
Netgear - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6833122008

If you need to have wireless access there are comparable products that offer that feature.

Hope that helps!

Hey Tim - Ah, she who must be obeyed...not a problem me ol' china plate, I would not tell you any porkies, just follow this simple rule.... [i:16gcuwix]always[/i:16gcuwix] do exactly as she says!!

LOL