Start-up icons continue to disappear - VERY discouraged now...

I just did a reformat/reinstall of Vista (Home), and yet still my AV/AS icon (MS Security Essentials, currently) disappear. I am also getting errors a couple of errors that I don't think I've ever seen before:

1.

"[JavaScript Application]

! Error: document.body is null"

2. (upon attempting to remove Windows Genuine Advantage "Notification")

"Remove WDA v.1.2 (http://www.firewallleaktester.com)

(X) Unable to find your Winlogon.exe process. Please check that no other security program is preventing RemoveWGA from accessing your processes".
.

Things are also seeming to begin to "hang" (slow-down) again, already.

What could possibly be going-on? I just did the reformat/reinstall three days ago, and have hardly surfed the web at all (and I never open strange emails and certainly not any strange/unexpected attachments).

Could whatever "bug" I "had" possibly have survived a reformat/reinstall??

I've even switched to the Opera Browser, and though it seemed quicker (than Firefox, which I've used for years) at first, it now seems to be slowing-down even more than Firefox??

Thanks in advance...

PS ~ These (start-up/security) icons were disappearing before the reinstall, and I was using Avast (5) and alternating between Spyware Terminator and Windows Defender for real-time A/S then...

 

So, I'm just now getting MBAM up and running, and here's what it found (in a 'Quick Scan'):

Hijack.Homepage
Date spotted:
First seen on 2008-06-03.
Last seen on 2010-08-25.

Unbelievable ... I've not been very far out on the web in these past three (FIRST three!) days (mostly here, downloading security, and a few other apps).

MBAM seems to have a new program...I can remove this as usual, but it's also popped-up a "Registry Editor" when I right-clicked on the malware found (and)> "Jump to Location" ... how best to handle this please??

This Hijack got past Comodo Firewall AND SpywareBlaster, as these were the very first two progs. I downloaded...