Whew! It was rough for a while there but I was able to get accurate information (thanks to Wikipedia and the referred site Bleepingcomputer.com) and their recommendation to use Malwarebytes Anti-Malware program to eradicate the nasty threat to my beloved Mildred.I am happy to report that the surgery was a success and Mildred is expected to make a full and speedy recovery!
But I do see the issue with the graphical purple and green dots, which seem to manifest during times of heavy CPU and/or memory usage, is still present. More tests will be needed to determine if this is software or hardware related. It seems to be more common if using Firefox. Not sure why.
Since this crisis hit, I am trying to shore up straggling issues with Mildred's performance that have been accruing for some time. I own PC Tools Registry Mechanic but had not run it in some time. After scanning today, it found over 600 errors. I'm already noticing a marked improvement in performance. I am slating time later for further registry clean up and consolidation and will follow it all with a nice, hot and refreshing defrag. She's due, and she's worth it!
Though I am still unable to find the OEM OS disc that came with this PC from Dell, I feel the actions taken to rectify her situation will be sufficient. And, thankfully, will have cost me nothing.
So, once again, Mildred and I thank the YouTube members, Wikipedia contributors and personal anti-spyware blogs out there in posting honest and helpful and, most importantly, no-cost information on how to thwart the efforts of these baddies out there and get back to normal.