http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/combofix/

This might help. It's my weapon of choice. It's ComboFix, a powerful benevolent virus that takes control of your computer to rip out other viruses. Make sure you get it ONLY from this website.

Additional notes: ComboFix is a very powerful program, but is very small. It can be downloaded and then transferred to an affected system, but preferably a computer the program is being run on should have an active internet connection so ComboFix can both update itself and install the Microsoft Recovery Console (which it requires to fix most serious problems).

The virus will take control of your system, defeat your virus scanner if it's still active (no, it will not damage it as far as I've seen - just hold it at bay), install the recovery console (it's an optional component of Windows) and begin a 50+ stage deep system scan. Everything is automatic; anything that's found is automatically destroyed. You won't be asked for any confirmation. It's POSSIBLE that ComboFix might destroy something that could end up keeping a program from working properly, but in all the time I've used the program this has NEVER happened.

ComboFix might deem it necessary to restart your system. Just let it, and do not interfere. It does this when it thinks it needs to load into memory before anything else does - to facilitate tearing out the infection(s) on your computer.

ComboFix is only finished when it brings up its report window. This will be a raw text file full of gobbledegook detailing everything that was destroyed. At this point, it's best to restart your computer to see if you notice any differences.

Finally: As I said before, get ComboFix ONLY from Bleepingcomputer.com. The reason (that ComboFix itself will warn you about) is that the program has several fake copies at some sites like combofix.org and such. These are not ComboFix - they're actual viruses. Download only from the link I provided.

Let me know if you have any problems, fellow drakitty. I'm a professional computer tech and I'll do what I can! :)

Well thank you very much, I will get it from the link you provided and try it out and let you know what my results were.
Do you know if a virus can affect a dvd disc drive, or maybe a coincidence it died around the same time?

I think it possible that the virus might block access to the drive, making it appear that the drive doesn't work. Basically, the thing to do is to let ComboFix do its work and then see if the drive works again. If it doesn't, either ComboFix couldn't kill the infection (which can happen) or the drive's problems are mechanical.

If in the case that ComboFix can't completely clear out the infection, the thing to do is take advantage of the removal of what viruses it CAN kill and salvage as much data as you can. Hopefully your optical drive will be online at that point so you can burn some CDs. Failing that, get as much off the computer as possible - excluding the Windows directory. (Basically, your documents, artwork, important data, etc.) Then you'd best nuke the system and bring it back to a fresh configuration.

Don't lose heart if you have to do this. Yes, you might lose some data, but this is actually the ONLY reliable way to reverse the effects of what we IT techs call Windows Rot - basically Windows' natural tendency to gradually slow down over time. It has to do with inefficiencies in how Windows manages memory (inefficiencies that it's high time Microsoft dealt with... geek rant! :P)

At any rate, by all means contact me again if you need additional help! It's what I DO! I've always held that tech help should be free. I'll do what I can to get you back up and running!

Fantastic advice, I just spent a week offline, our internet provider reset our password and didn't tell us. Grr! Right now my pc doesn't appear to show any signs of infection, but the drive is still dead. I haven't run combofix yet, I feel I should backup my data first before trying that. But I will have to send my data to online spots for now.
I am so ready for a format, the system is really bogged down.
I will be formatting and re-installing the OS no matter what.
I will let you know how things go friend.

Best of luck. The only real sure-fire way to get rid of Windows rot is a reformat, so yes, I recommend it. ComboFix has never damaged any computer I've run it on, so you should be safe there.

I think combofix did the trick, everything seems to be working fine now. :) Thanks for the great advice friend!

Fantastic! Let me know if anything else goes wrong!

Will do buddeh, will do.