mikie: "You might look online to see if you have the actual email account there & perhaps your missing mails are there ... Outlook.com" Thanks for the link. Yes, it looks like I do have an account there; but the missing emails aren't there, either - just the one 'welcome' type of email from Outlook. "Windows 8 has a Mail application in the new modern tiles ." Yep, I tried accessing that dozens of times; but each time I log in to set up a new account it says I already have an account. And this started before I even opened up the Outlook account. That's all I get from that page as I'm just stuck in a black hole after that. Not literally black, but just the page where it says set up your account, and nothing else - no backing up into the previous page, or going forward - such is Windows 8 - ha. As far as having the three malware programs; I have all 3 on my laptop and haven't encountered any problems with spyware/malware since installing them a couple of years ago - in combination with MSE. They all seem to work very well together. I put them on my laptop after having a couple of infections. Also, since uninstalling McAfee on W8 earlier today, the internet is now zipping along (knock on wood). Thanks for your advice everyone.

albert- If your wife used Add/Remove Programs in the Control Panel, it has removed most, but not all, of McAfee. (If she did something else, like only deleted the shortcut for McAfee, it's still there). You can go to the link posted above for the McAfee Uninstaller, download it, and run it to remove everything. I believe it works even if you have already done a partial removal, but not sure. At any rate it won't screw anything up to try it. Also, I've never seen McAfee automatically bill for a subsciption renewal without your consent. I suspect one of you clicked on a button somewhere - like in an email to you from McAfee, or in an update notice as the program approached the anniversary date - and that you agreed to renew your subscription, and probably had to enter your credit card info for the subscription. Lastly, reassure me that you are running some other kind of antivirus software on your computer.

Uh, oh, another unwanted download. You may have to have professional help to unload it, just as I did with funmoods. I recommend you go to the Lanzdown forum, register there, and ask for help. Just repeat what you wrote here about what it is and how you got it. Be patient, wait, and someone will be along to help you get rid of it. Here is a link that might be useful: Malware removal help

did they even go in to the event viewer and look at the error messages and codes with event ID? that should have given them some kind of idea. I would suggest fully uninstalling McAfee, use their tool too and remove all traces of it, I was amazed at the number of problems that McAfee had been causing on my pc when I took it off. be sure you use the mcafee removal tool after you have removed them from add remove programs or much will be left behind. I just removed McAfee from one of my computers. I had to go into msconfig and turn off all McAfee items from startup prior to trying to uninstall, just turning them off did not work it would say the program was still running. I then removed everything leaving Security center till last. Then used the removal tool, after that I went to Program Files and deleted all McAfee files. Also set Windows explorer to show all hidden files and folders and deleted the McAfee folders. I found the instructions on how to do this on the McAfee forums. 1. Uninstall all McAfee programs through "Add or Remove Programs" in Windows "Control Panel". 2. Use the MCPR tool, see this article: How to remove supported McAfee consumer products using the McAfee Consumer Products Removal tool (MCPR.exe). This will remove all McAfee remnants from your computer. (you must have Windows Vista, XP or 2000 SP4 to use this tool) 3. Launch Windows Explorer and delete all McAfee files in "Program Files" but especially in "C:\Document and Settings\\Application Data" and "C:\Document and Settings\All Users\Application Data". You have to set Windows Explorer to show all hidden files and folders (Tools > Folder Options > View tab). Just delete the McAfee folders even if they are empty in all the "Application Data" folders. Can be more than one! In Vista: C:\Program Files, C:\ProgramData and C:\Users\yourname\AppData\Roaming If you scroll down on this thread you will find these instructions given by EX Brit on how to use the removal tool and full removal and including this link. service.mcafee.com/FAQDocument.a···&lc=1033 forums.mcafeehelp.com/showthread···rus+scan