The MBAM and McAfee scans both came back clean.

The computer is running faster than it has in a long time. I had added a gig of RAM last month and was disappointed that performance didn't seem all that much better. This clean-up has made a huge difference! Best of all, I am no longer getting the Fatal System Error message, and I am using Internet Explorer with no pop-ups.

I have updated and re-enabled McAfee's virus protection, spyware protection, SytemGuard, script scanning, firewall, and e-mail and IM protection. These are all part of the free version of McAfee provided by AOL. What else should I run to safeguard against another infection like this? Do I need a better set of tools than McAfee?

I now have HijackThis, ATF-Cleaner, MBAM, Ad-Aware, and Spybot S&D saved on my desktop. How much of this should I keep/purchase/run?

During startup I am still given the choice of booting into System Recovery. Can I get rid of this now? If so, how?

Internet connection has not been a problem, but I will save the troubleshooting links that you sent me for future reference. Also, I will start attacking all of the programs running at startup. I knew about using msconfig, but I had no idea what I needed to keep and what I could turn off. Your links will help greatly.

Here is the Uninstall List generated by HijackThis:

Ad-Aware
Adobe Flash Player ActiveX
Adobe Flash Player Plugin
Adobe Reader 7.0.8
Adobe® Photoshop® Album Starter Edition 3.0
ADS Tech Master Installer V3.6
ADS Tech V3.6.1 DVD Xpress CapWiz
AOL Coach Version 1.0(Build:20030807.3)
AOL Coach Version 2.0(Build:20041026.5 en)
AOL Deskbar
AOL Pictures Tools (version 10.6.0.4)
AOL Toolbar 5.0
AOL Uninstaller (Choose which Products to Remove)
AOL You've Got Pictures Screensaver
Apple Mobile Device Support
Apple Software Update
ATI - Software Uninstall Utility
ATI Control Panel
ATI Display Driver
Audacity 1.2.6
Bonjour
Call of Duty(R) 4 - Modern Warfare(TM)
Call of Duty(R) 4 - Modern Warfare(TM) 1.2 Patch
Call of Duty(R) 4 - Modern Warfare(TM) 1.3 Patch
Call of Duty(R) 4 - Modern Warfare(TM) 1.4 Patch
Call of Duty(R) 4 - Modern Warfare(TM) 1.5 Multiplayer Patch
Call of Duty(R) 4 - Modern Warfare(TM) Demo
CH Control Manager
Dell ResourceCD
Dell Support 3.2.1
DesignPro 5.0 Limited Edition
ESPNMotion
GemMaster Mystic
Google Earth
Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer
Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer
Google Updater
Google Video Player
Graphics and Imaging
HijackThis 2.0.2
HouseCall 6.6
HP Image Zone 4.0
HP Scanjet 4070
HP Software Update
Intel(R) 537EP V9x DF PCI Modem
Intel(R) PRO Network Adapters and Drivers
iPAQ WebReg
iTunes
J2SE Runtime Environment 5.0 Update 10
J2SE Runtime Environment 5.0 Update 11
J2SE Runtime Environment 5.0 Update 6
J2SE Runtime Environment 5.0 Update 9
Jasc Paint Shop Photo Album 5
Jasc Paint Shop Pro 9
Jasc Paint Shop Pro 9.01 - (9.0.1.1)
Java(TM) 6 Update 10
K-Lite Codec Pack 2.85 Full
Learn2 Player (Uninstall Only)
Macromedia Shockwave Player
Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
McAfee SecurityCenter
Mozilla Firefox (2.0.0.17)
MSXML 4.0 SP2 (KB927978)
MSXML 4.0 SP2 (KB936181)
OpenAL
Pacific Fighters
Pagis Viewer 2.0
Picasa 2
PowerDVD 5.5
QuickTime
RealPlayer
Snapshot Viewer
Sonic Encoders
Spybot - Search & Destroy
Time Zone Data Update Tool for Microsoft Office Outlook
Ulead Straight-to-Disc SDK
Update Rollup 2 for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005
USB Driver
Viewpoint Media Player
WebCyberCoach 3.2 Dell
Windows Installer 3.1 (KB893803)
Windows Internet Explorer 7
Windows Media Encoder 9 Series
Windows Media Encoder 9 Series
Windows Media Format 11 runtime
Windows Media Format 11 runtime
Windows Media Player 10 Hotfix - KB894476
Windows Media Player 11
Windows Media Player 11
Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 KB925766
WingMan Software
WinZip 11.1
Yahoo! Toolbar