I updated to the AE edition this morning and IMMEDIATELY afterwards started getting problems:

I cannot type the following by simply holding down the shIFT key (but they work with CAP LOCK:

Exclamation mark
Capital s
Capital r
Capital h
tilde

These just don't type at all until I put caps lock or or type a lower case letter instead

As I type all day for my work this is INCrEDIBLY FrUsTraTing

Also - and even MOrE frustrating is the fact that I'm getting multiple 'search boxes' from nowhere which are impossible to click out/close down without closing the programme via task manager.

similarly (intermittently) I get a drop down box in excel with 'paste table/list' which is IMPOssIBLE to close by simply clicking the 'X' or 'Cancel'

I'm using Vista and I've already run 3 system restores - none of which did anything

I have now 'uninstalled' AE but am sTILL getting the problems

Has anyone ANY idea what this is and how the dickens I can get rid of it???

Thanks

That's weird the ! and ~ work with the caps lock, which is only supposed to capitalize letters, not act as a shift key.

Anyhow, are you sure you downloaded Lavasoft Ad-Aware and not some rogue program/malware? The installer file should have been Ad-AwareAE.exe downloaded from http://lavasoft.com/products/ad_aware_free.php or one of the mirror sites (grey bar below the green download icon).

The symptoms you describe sound like you're infected with malware. I'd recommend following the instructions in my signature to post in the HijackThis forum where somebody can diagnose your system and help with malware removal if necessary. This can take up to a week, so your IT dept may be faster.

Also FYI, Ad-Aware Free is for personal home use. Businesses requires a license, which also gets direct support from Lavasoft. If you use your personal home computer for work, it's not a good idea since you risk company data in cases of a malware infection.