Thanks again. I ran OTL in the way you said. Logfile attached.

(At that time I wasn’t home so the laptop wasn’t connected to my normal router.)

On return home, I found that I could reach Facebook and GMail so I could get the news out how to contact me.

Followed your instructions with AdwCleaner. “Scan” produced several lists of things to clean (I presume PUP items) so I didn’t clear any checkboxes before hitting “Clean”.

After reboot, no files opened, but I found two in C:\AdwareCleaner\

I’ve attached those. I’ve also attached the AdwCleaner Quarantine.txt file.

After the reboot when I started Chrome to browse here, I got a message that my Chrome preferences were not available and indeed they aren’t loaded.

Now I can’t have the malware problem again since that reboot.

Sorry, but I’m slightly worse off even though just before the end I managed to make contact with the world. Incidentally, today while I was out I met someone who has exactly the same problem on their computer at home.

Three questions:

  1. If it might be an infected router, why don’t I just removed it from the phone line and LAN, reset it to factory settings manually and then set it up again with a direct connection to my laptop? After disconnecting, but before connecting it direct to the laptop, I could redo the steps in your last post. It just seems quicker to do that than to

  2. Should I repeat the instructions in your last post except with the laptop connected to my home router?

  3. Once all this is done, is there a way to get my Chrome preferences back?

Thanks.