I have gone through the preliminary steps including running an online virus scan and running SpyBot multiple times. I have run it three times and Pipas.a continues to be detected. The Kill and Clean "spyware application" continues to show up as well.
The SpyBot scan takes nearly 24 hours to complete and I don't know why.
I have the latest version of HijackThis as well. I have even tried to follow other posts thinking that certainly this very same thing has happened to someone else. I ran the Fixwareout.exe and still I've got problems. My system is degrading and the whole bit.
A couple of questions; I've done some searching to see what these nasty buggers do but I couldn't really find anything. Should I minimize time online? Are my files at risk of being lifted?
Also, is there any reason to believe that reformatting my hard drive wouldn't get rid of the problem? If I'm not 100% certain that it is gone I may go this route.
Thank you in advance for your help.