[Coda]

The advice is sound, and you don't need to go to Geek Squad.

A full system restore is like getting a new computer. It will erase EVERYTHING and rebuild it just like it was when it came from the factory. This will get rid of all of the corrupted files -- and everything else. You will have to reinstall all of your software afterward, and all of your data will be deleted, so make a backup first.

I recommend AGAINST making backups of SOFTWARE, though -- reinstall from the original media or re-download the installer. This is a defense against viruses that may have infected the program files before you make the backup. Infecting existing programs isn't as popular of a technique as it used to be, but as a protective measure it doesn't hurt.

It's actually not likely that you've got a virus, though. It's more likely that something just messed up and damaged some data on the hard drive -- the power going out while saving data, for example, or a bug in some low-level piece of software, or possibly just a spot on the hard drive that has a manufacturing defect. (A full restore will usually be able to work around the defective spot if this is the problem.) The other unfortunate possibility is that the hard drive itself is failing; this happens, and if your problem comes back after the full restore you should take it back to where you got it (NOT Geek Squad!) and get a hard drive replacement under warranty.