think i know where i went wrong when i got the '404' code re. adwcleaner. most of the time when i want to activate a link in an email or a web page etc., i copy & paste it into my browser for no other reason other than habit. this time, i failed to see that this one for adwcleaner was a shortened version of the url thus the error. when i just clicked on it, it quickly opened the correct page.

when i downloaded the same programme a couple of days ago, it acted very differently apart from having the same gui.
this time, it was very quick while it did its work but unfortunately after i rebooted a couple of times, it didn't manage to shift esurf.biz so i'm now resigned to re-format etc. at least, it will clear out all the junk including esurf and work a bit faster which i'm quite happy about.

by the way, the article on yac made interesting reading. i'll certainly avoid that in future.

many thanks for your various comments ... they're very much appreciated.