Linux (specifically BackTrack) for Spyware Removal?

So here's the problem:

I recently put a fresh copy of XP onto my desktop. Yesterday, I managed to finally get the internet working. After I figured it worked, I didn't use the net at all and played some games offline. After about an hour of being connected, my windows all suddenly closed down and I got a message about spyware being on my computer. (Note - I did not have any protection programs on at the time, since it was still a brand new Windows and I'd been planning on getting the programs (HijackThis, Spybot, etc.) off the net as opposed to downloading to a separate computer and transferring via USB.)

XP promptly shut itself off, and when I tried to log back in to get rid of whatever it was that had messed up the system, I found that I couldn't access Task Manager (at least not as an admin; I could under regular accounts, but as the admin I got this message: "Task Manager has been disabled by the Administrator" or some such thing...), Control Panel (computer would simply shut itself off), or System Restore ("System Restore has been turned off by group policy" or some such thing).

It eventually got to the point where I could barely log in - after logging in (with any account), I got to the desktop background and nothing else. No explorer.exe started up. No icons on the Desktop, no Windows bar, nothing.

Even in Safe Mode, I couldn't get past this background screen. (I could access the Task Manager using the Administrator account - as opposed to my "Admin" account - but I couldn't do anything else.)

So I figured I'd use Linux to help and get rid of it. And thus far, i've come up with a few options.

1.) Use BackTrack to fix the problems. I know less about BackTrack Linux than I do about Ubuntu, though, which is to say, nothing.

2.) Use the BackTrack/Ubuntu/etc. LiveCD to manually go through the drive and delete things I deem are malicious. This would undoubtedly do more harm than good, though, since I don't know much about the Windows infrastructure.

3.) Remove the hard drive, put it in an enclosure, and connect it to my Linux laptop, which I could use to download AVG or some other antivirus/antispyware programs to scan the drive and remove any nasty programs on there.

Any tips? Any and all help would be greatly appreciated on this, as I'm pretty much at a loss as to what to do and how to proceed. Thanks a lot, MG. And if this should go into the Linux section, feel free to let me know.

 

Right you are. This time around, I made a plethora of mistakes. Such as the keeping the computer connected to the net thing.

And the not installing protection beforehand thing.

So basically this entire installation has been a big relearning process for me.

As for Spybot, I've always heard that it's been a rather good program.

And yes, I tried all I could through Linux, and I'm just going to reinstall Windows. The plan is this:

0.) Backup any files I still need through Linux. (Should I scan them? The only things I really need are a VisualBoyAdvance folder and some pics of the kids.)

1.) Reinstall Windows. It won't be able to connect to the net without the driver installed yet.

2.) Install whatever programs I had before, and some new protection programs.

3.) Create a restore point. (Maybe a disk image, too.)

3.) Install the ethernet driver.

4.) If all goes well, install the other necessary drivers and go from there.

That sound like an okay plan?

 

...NIC = ?

Either way, there was absolutely no connection (even with my cable plugged in) until I installed the driver, so whatever type of card it is, I got everything to work okay.

But yeah, everything should be alright now. Thanks for the help.