You cheered me up and I'll take the advice about getting another AV program. But, the thing I don't get is can another AV find the one that is presently stored in Avast's "chest."
And, can they get rid of it?

The computer is working all right now, but I feel like I'm carrying around a vial of NG.

Oh, and btw I scanned all of my shared files, and nothing turned up there.

Thanks again.