OK I was stupid.  I reformatted my HD and failed to install ANY antivirus.
After a couple weeks I now have a Virus (I didn't know until yesterday that I had the virus for the past several weeks.

I was booted off line yesterday and I couldn't log back online at all.  I called my ISP and was told that i have the Bugbare Virus and that i have been e-mailing "major corporations" as they put it.  
They told me that THEY were being told to fix the problem or they would loose THEIR access to the internet as an ISP.

What was happening to me is after about 3 hours of being online my HD would go into spasms and the whole computer would slow down where I couldn't even shut it down.
I checked my firewall and there were 5 files that I didn't reconize.
I did a properties check on the files it came up with NO or UNKNOWN created date and a 1970 updated date.. [b]1970?[/b]
I tried to delete the files but I couldn't do it, I got a message saying that Windows is using this file and I couldn't proceed past that.

Last night I bought Norton 2003 and installed it.  I did a scan on Everything I couold think of, scanning the c drive about 4 times total, and every file seperately ect...  I went for total overkill and still it came up with nothing.

Today I called my ISP and told them that I got Norton and the scan came up with nothing.  they asked me if I got a recient update online (DUH) I told them that "you won't let me online!"
So they did, I did, and Nortin did.  I rebooted and Norton found that all 5 questionable files were the virus...

SO for all of you out there that might not be up to date on your updates, or don't have a antivirus program at the moment.
do a scan for the following files and try to delete them if you can, or remove them from your Win.INI
Marco.scr
Scrsvr.exe
Brasil.pif
Instit.bat
Alevir.exe

This IS NOT a copy of an e-mail that I have recieved, this isn't a joke or an attempt to get you to remove an important file needed for running your computer.  this is real and it has been what I have been doing for the past 2 days.
One way to check if the file doesn't belong is to check the file dates.  All of my Windows 98 files have been created May 11,1998.


BISHOP

You need to check for virus updates everyday if your VP doesn't check for them automatically every time you go online.

Trend Micro will scan your PC for free: http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

These are just the identified viruses for the last 10 days.

WORM_WINEVAR.A  Medium  Nov 27  397  

WORM_HOBO.A  Low  Nov 26  396  

VBS_FOPHACK.A  Low  Nov 25  392  

CHM_TALORM.A  Low  Nov 25  392  

BAT_BONG.A  Low  Nov 24  390  

BAT_DGAM.A  Low  Nov 22  375  

WORM_BRAID.B  Low  Nov 20  390  

WORM_FREGIT.A  Low  Nov 17  388  

WORM_FREGIT.B  Low  Nov 17  388  

WORM_FREGIT.C  Low  Nov 17  388

If anyone else is interested on this virus, here [url]http://www.ikarus-software.com/news/tanatos.html[/url]

This site is a great resource for ridding oneself of the virus, hijackers, worms and other parasites picked up on the internet.

http://www.spywareinfo.com/yabbse/

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nevermind...I read it wrong. :)