"Well, that's all fine and dandy", you're likely thinking to yourself, "I run Windows XP. You can't read it from DOS." True. You can't read NTFS hard disks from DOS. However, you can use Barts PE.

Barts PE is effectively a stripped version of Windows XP. It boots completely from a CD, and loads a simple graphical user interface. Coupled with plugins, McAfee, for example, you can scan your entire computer without fear that your nifty little infection has somehow loaded.

For more information on how to setup Barts PE and McAfee within it, visit:

http://www.tweaksforgeeks.com/Setup_Barts_PE.html

http://www.tweaksforgeeks.com/Barts_PE_McAfee_Setup.html

Once you have aforementioned software downloaded, installed, and updated then you're going to want to boot to safe mode. Why not scan now immediately? Cause adware is still running. You can't delete a file that's in use. That said, safe mode is less effective than it used to be, but it still may work.

To get to safe mode: Reboot machine, press F8 repeatedly once it restarts until a menu comes up that has "safe mode" listed. Select it, and press enter. Windows will load nothing but essentials.

As soon as safe mode is loaded then go ahead and do a full system scan with Ad-Aware and Spybot or whatever you happen to have. Following that, reboot and see how your computer runs. If it still has issues, then HijackThis will be neccesary. In order to use this tool, you'll need to have a pretty good grasp on what should and shouldn't be loading in startup, as well as a grasp of what Browser Help Objects you need. (Technically, none, but some software you have installed may use them)

You can get HijackThis help, but if it eludes you then you really should have an experienced user have at it.