Problems with REALPHX and AIM

ok. My Internet Explorer home page has been set to REALPHX.com. somehow? i dont know. REALPHX is a porno ad and its very annoying. Ive tried changing the homepage manually and blocking the page REALPHX.COM. Neither of those have worked. I also downloaded the software at the bottom of their page that is supposed to get rid of all REALPHX ads. That didn’t work either. The real problem is with my AIM (aol instant messenger) Profile. Everytime i sign on my regular profile gets erased and a REALPHX.COM ad goes in its place.

Is anyone else having these troubles and can i get some help here PLEASE. straight dope people are the smartest in the world and i knew to come here first.

I’ll probably be pre-empted as the first reply, but get thee a copy of both Adaware and Spybot, and run them. They’ll get rid of most trojans, spyware, etc. etc. on your machine.

And BTW, do not run anything you get from a site that hijacked your browser in the first place. They’re scum! Why run their stuff?!?

P.S. - You probably wanna install the latest Windows updates too