Login with username and password (forgot your password?)

Full empathy for your nightmare.  I don't know if this works for Vista, perhaps the coder gurus here do, but
http://windowssecrets.com...nondestructive-reinstall/
might be worth a read.

Anyone know of a firefox or other addon to get rid of this garbage?

Try https://ssl.scroogle.org/index.html    Better yet, make a search plugin for FF.  Or get it from http://mycroft.mozdev.org...scroogle.org%2Findex.html
  Hope this is helpful.

[Aardvark__ AdblockPlus__ Answers__ CacheViewer__ ColorfulTabs__ CoolPreviews__ DownThemAll__ FirefoxShowcase__ Flagfox__ ForecastFox__ FoxLingo__ IETab__ ImageZoom__ Linkification__ NoScript__ SessionManager__ SkipScreen__ unMHT__ UserAgent Switcher__]

Aardvark__  AdblockPlus__  Answers__  CacheViewer__  ColorfulTabs__  CoolPreviews__   DownThemAll__  FirefoxShowcase__  Flagfox__  ForecastFox__  FoxLingo__  IETab__  ImageZoom__  Linkification__  NoScript__  SessionManager__  SkipScreen__  unMHT__  UserAgent Switcher__

[http://www.youtube.com/wa...&feature=channel_page]

OK, this'll be lost for sure, but here they are

            IMITATING THE GREAT CELLISTS__
    http://www.youtube.com/wa...&feature=channel_page

            More from the same fellow...not funny, but excellent cello playing.
    http://www.youtube.com/user/CINEMAN8           

Gentlemen,
    To avoid high blood-pressure simply press F5 and and change ALL settings to NO cleaning.  ESET is far and away the best software I've used.
    Also, be sure to change the firewall setting in SmartSecurity to "Interactive" mode so you have control.  Windows search function always tries to phone-home.  Just block it.  You're set. 
    You can add nuisance false detections to "exceptions".  hope this helps people not to be afraid to use the best product there is IMHO.

My .02c--
    My experience with APC batteries is they're really cheap and don't compare with Tripp-Lite quality.  Hope this helps.

Your knowledge of Office greatly exceeds my own.  I hope this link may offer some help:Removing references to network resources that have been permanently taken off-line

Office can be a bear for getting rid of anything.  It probably refuses to let the original file die.  I'd love to know why this happens on some users' machines and not others.

Great shot.