Is this a virus?

I received the following sad e-mail from my son:
"Well, I have come up with a problem with my computer at home. It's like a virus, but I've manually run my virus scan program (McAffee) twice and have come up with a clean slate. It may be a hidden program that was attached to a web site I linked to. I say that because that's what Lou thinks. I've been having a problem the last couple days. What happens is that when I launch Internet Explorer to go to my home page, it is redirected to a search site. When I close out of that, a pop up ad tells me my computer may be infected with spyware and offers a link to remove the spyware. When I close out of that, another pop up ad with most of the same info appears. When I close out of that, an add appears telling me my computer is infected with a program that regenerates itself. When I close out of that, it goes back to the first pop up ad and then the 2nd and then the 3rd, over and over. I've tried to end the program through Task Manager, that doesn't work. I can't get out of it without restarting the computer. When I go to Internet Options to view my home page address, I see that it has been changed to "about:blank" which sends it to that search site which starts the whole process over again. I don't feel comfortable even trying to send e-mail. I have found a program in Add/Remove Programs that I believe is the culprit. Unfortunately, I am unable to remove it. When I try, those pop up ads appear."
Can anyone help? Thanks.

 

You run Spybot and/or Adaware? sounds like spyware to me.

 

That has to be the fastest reply ever!! Thanks, Goldfish. I'll send the links to those programs to my son.