Hi bluesfan

Adding to the link which Lara provided (which looks good to me) this one might also help in zapping the Trojan; http://www.antivirusgateway.com/how-...emoval-guides/ .

A LOT of the search results I found are marked as not safe by WOT.. (web of trust)
I would only get programs from well known anti virus sites in this case..

Have you tried Hijack this?
http://sourceforge.net/projects/hjt/
how to use it-
http://www.wikihow.com/Use-HiJackThis
http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tuto...se-hijackthis/

other free tools-
http://free.antivirus.com/us/#cleanup-and-prevention
http://usa.kaspersky.com/downloads/TDSSKiller

Thanks for this kiwi33 - read through it and although for a non geek like me it's quite complicated I think I may be able to follow it.

Thanks Jo*mar
Is WOT a program I can download onto my laptop - does it review sites before they're downloaded?
Thanks for the other sites - I had read some of the Bleeping Computer forum & info. I'll look at the various options later today and figure out which of them might be manageable for me to attempt.

It's times like these I get really frustrated with computer manufacturers. They've well & truly forgotten the K.I.S.S principle when it comes to making computers for non-technical customers.

[WOT is a free add-on for your browser

You can download the WOT add-on for Firefox, Chrome, Internet Explorer, Opera, and Safari browsers. It does not slow down your browsing experience, it is easy to use and free. Just click “Download”, and you are ready to go!]
https://www.mywot.com/

I've used it for years ...

How are you getting on with all this??

Hi Lara
Thanks for asking. Have found a local geek - uni student recommended to me - who's going to take a look at the laptop later today. Have been checking out the links everyone posted (thanks) and don't feel I have enough tech skills to deal with this alone. Also into day 3 of bad headache so struggling to deal with stuff -throw in second day of frozen water pipes and I'm just about ready to move to Brissie! Will post back later how I get on today.

Great idea to get someone to help.
Don't move here this week. They reckon it is going to snow a little out west this week in Qld. True story but it's rather funny as I'm still in bare feet and I always say that there'll be something seriously wrong with the planet if it snows here. [p.s. if it snows out in the granite belt, we'll be taking a day trip so my daughter can see snow for the first time in her life. Doubt it will happen though.]
Sorry to make light of your freezing weather. Keep warm and I hope you're feeling better fast and have that computer clean as a whistle very soon.