Re:My wife's notebook is one of them (Score 1)

sounds like a rootkit... and they are a pain to get rid of... i've been dealing with one lately as well. avast! has some ability to remove them but most antiviruses and anti-spyware don't. try out avast! and have it do a boot time scan. if it takes care of it... great! if not.... just make sure you don't just reinstall. if it's rootkit you'll need to repartition and reformat as well. i ended up repartitioning and reinstalling last night. good luck to ya