missing function, and adware

Hello; I am having problems removing some nasty adware. I keep getting advertising home pages, no matter how often I re-do the home page, I also am plauged with pop ups, dispite Popup Stopper (which used to work great)

I have run CW Shredder, and spybot, and registry mechanic, all to no avail. (although they did find and fix somethings) My computer is running very slow now.

Also on "my computer" "control panel", the "add / remove program" icon does not open anymore. I suspect one of the spyware has hijacked it, to not allow me to remove it. Also under C drive, tools and programs, there are some hidden programs (as per what the screen indicates in lower left corner) I cannot seem to remove these hidden ones (nor even identify them), and I suspect they might also be a probelm.

1. What is the hidden functions or programs, and how to remove?

2. How can I recover my "add / remove programs" icon function?

This is on Windows 2000.


thanks dave

 

Thanks for the info, I do not have a zip program, so how do I go about opening a zipped file?


thanks dave