ARRGHHH Al this stuff is all good IF you can get it to work. Is there anything for the uneducated?

As a starting point, I suggest you get the self-extracting version of HijackThis from here (in line 2):
http://www.malwareremoval.com/downloads.html

Close any open browser windows, click 'Scan and Save Log' with hijackthis; when it's finished scanning, a notepad will pop up with the log, copy the log and paste it into this thread.

In addition to the uninstall program you used (per this thread: http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforum...ml#post114885), I think it would be a good idea to make sure you have gotten rid of it completely:

Boot into Safe Mode and do a search for these files (be sure your system is set to show 'Hidden files and folders'):

param32.dll
guninst.exe
popup_bl.dll
systr.dll
svrhost.exe

Delete those files (if found), reboot normally, and delete any HotOffer icons from your desktop.

Empty your Recycle Bin.

You can still post a hijackthis log too if you would like to make sure you don't have anything else lurking that shouldn't be