Help with Spyware/Virus?

Symptoms:
IE will not launch - get an hour glass for a sec, then nothing. Task manager shows Iexplore.exe running, but cannot end task
Cannot run Symantec Antivirus Scan - stops responding after clicking Scan
Cannot run Norton Ghost 9 (for restore)
Windows Update will not install KB896688 (2 other updates installed OK seperately)
Windows will not shutdown or restart - multiple tasks not responding.
One of the tasks that come up as not responding is ECDInvisibleWindow - a search on the net came up with About:Blank variant. Key in HKLM\Software\MS\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\Windows\AppInit_dlls is empty and all settings in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main look fine.

Tools Used:
I use a WinPE boot CD (clean WinXP from CD) to get rid of nasty problems like this normally.
From WinPE, I ran updated McAfee Virus scan - nothing found
ran AdAwareSE - nothing found
Loaded Registry hives and checked HKLM & HKCU \SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run, etc - nothing found there.
Checked for recently created DLLs, EXEs or hidden files in C:\windows and C:\windows\system32 - nothing found
Checked program startup groups for files or shortcuts - none found

From SafeMode:
Ran Symantec Antivirus - nothing found
Ran PandaSoft ActiveScan - nothing found
Ran QOOLogic tool - nothing found
Ran HiJackThis - nothing unusual found
Ran SysInternal's Rootkit detector - nothing found except Norton Protected Recyle Bin

Most tools only run once - if I try to run them again, they stop responding
Hardly any program will close properly - stops responding

Any clues on where to go with this? I attached the HJT log just in case, but I didn't see anything there...

 

Your HijackThis log is clean.

Run the following scans and post their logs when fininshed.

Running Ewido Security Suite

Running Spy Sweeper