Yea, if the problem isn't persistent in safe mode it is most likely a virus. You could try running a virus scan in safe mode. Viruses are less likely to be able to avoid detection in safe mode. I've had malware that was able to avoid detection from multiple different scans even in safe mode though. The only sure fire way to completely delete a virus is to completely reinstall the OS
If you know someone who knows a lot about computers you could ask them to look at it. Or pay a technician to come look at it. As you mentioned the only way someone could fix this would be to physically sit down at the computer. Communicating over a forum isn't adequate for this kind of problem. GL to ya.