serious problems with popups and IE

Hi
I somehow managed to end up with TopNetSearch and nasty popups and icons on my desktop. I searched the internet to try to correct the proble and read a few things about hijackthis. I removed some odd files on my computer but never have posted a log file for a professional to have a look at. The problem I am now having is an IE one when I open IE after connecting the page just stays open for ages. So I just use ctrl alt delete and open a new window of IE this allows me to go online but then if I'm using hotmail a lot of the links don't work. I have hijackthis and ad-aware SE personal (which only repairs some of the problems ie. 50 out of an approximate 450 problems can you help please I've had the problem for some time. I can post the log file of Hijack this and a log file of the problems with ad-aware.
Thank You for helping.