Solarmass I don't think removing Firefox was necessary,
Since I don't use Firefox, it was an easy decision, whether necessary or not. Things didn't start to go bad until I clicked on a normal-looking link to an article in a email from a news source I work with every morning. I don't have any idea where the exploit came from, or at what point it entered my system. Need I say, this all happened very fast?
It's possible that the email was compromised before it got to me, but I consider that unlikely. It's possible that recent updates of Thunderbird or Firefox were infected - something I consider HIGHLY unlikely. But since I don't know how my system got infected, I just know that it DID, somehow.
If I'd known to be more careful than usual when I clicked the link in the email that launched the browser, I might have avoided all this. That's why I posted this message. By knowing what happened to me, someone else might be able to figure out what happened before it happens to them. I wish I had more clues to offer.
