I'm just going to give up the ghost and install windows 7. Not sure what the source of the conflicts are that Ive been dealing with, but after reformatting my hard drive and reinstalling everything I'm right back to the trouble I had to start with.

Such is the realities of the computer. Sometimes it faster and easier to reinstall everything then to figure out what the problems are. In my case, it doesn't appear to be a virus or malware, but rather some conflicts caused by various programs I have installed.

Now is as good a time as any to just dive in to windows 7. I have all of my data, music, photos, etc backed up and I'm ready to go.

My apologies if I've left anybody hanging for trades or sales. I think I have everyone taken care of. In not...please drop me an email and let me know.