Virus/Adware attacking desktop on XP Home

I am currently working on a computer and things start to load like normal. I see the desktop image for a second or so, it then is covered up by a giant banner about http://www.smart-security.info/ I believe the website was. This ad was located at c:\windows\web\desktop.html, along with all of it's picture files for the banner. I deleted all of the files, and am left with a giant white space covering up all but 1/2" of the desktop image on the bottom of the screen. I do run Adaware, SpyBot S&D, and a few others. I have deleted many adware/spyware/trojans, yet this problem seems to haunt me. For some reason the computer will not read any floppy disks either. Any suggestions?

 

Adding to XFlat's always sage advice, maybe shutdown system restore also before going to safe mode. The boogers often hide in the restore files.

 

A bit of the stinker is still loading in your startup. I use an old program called Startman to track such things down but it may no longer be available when Peter Forrest left the cyber world. I am sure there are other startup checkers available and there is probably a freebie available on this site. Check it out, because it seems to me that having deleted all the guts of the nasty, spyware etc can not recognise whats left over. Kill the startup entry generating the white space and that may solve the problem.
Cheers
Robert

 

Strongly agreed 'Flat. Spybot in advanced mode is a great help. Take a look at all the tools. The Hosts file protections are neat too. I team Spybot up with SpywareBlaster . They work hand in glove with each other.