That is oh so not true. Used it many many times on many many pc's and it's removed the variants that spybot and adaware leave behind.
Exactly I hear people complaining all the time who have dialup or even broadband connections but are flying naked (i.e., no firewall). Then they compound the error by one or more of the following - not keeping up with security updates, not using a popup blocker like the one in Google's toolbar, not using anti-virus software, using low security settings for their browser, and/or downloading crap off the internet. Then they're surprised and pissed (at someone else) when their computer gets compromised.
I hardly fall into that category. I am the only one that uses this PC, have always practiced safe surfing and, lo and behold, I was compromised. (Not the first time in my life.) The solution could be some simple little change to the registry - I'm just not capable of executing it. ArchAngel, your turn will come.
Launch REGEDIT from the Start menu's Run dialog and navigate to the key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Active Setup\Installed Components\{89820200-ECBD-11cf-8B85-00AA005B4383} In the right-hand pane, double-click on the DWORD value IsInstalled and change it from 1 to 0 (no matter whether you choose Decimal or Hexadecimal). Close REGEDIT and go to the Windows update site: http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com This should allow you to "update" IE and, with luck, fix the problems. (maybe )
Fine, I get it. I now have ZoneAlarm and SpywareBlaster fully enabled, and am using Firefox instead of IE (which still won't work). Everything else seems to be running okay, including Esignal, which started working again after I rebooted out of safe mode. So thanks to all the experts for the helpful advice. Just wondering if there's anything else I should be doing going forward to avoid a repeat of this problem (other than not using IE).