Internet Security 2010/Can't access desktop

I have a dell desktop running windows xp that is infected with Internet Security 2010. I am fairly savvy in removing malware and viruses but this one has me completely stumped. When I boot the computer up, it not show anything on the desktop. There are no icons, I can't right click, or anything. The internet security warnings pop up and I cannot close out of the programs. I cannot even access the desktop. I cannot access task mgr, and the start button and menu bar are missing, so I can't run any programs. I tried going into safe mode with networking had the same issue. The only thing I can do is open a firefox browser by clicking on the microsoft privacy link that shows up on the internet security window. I tried running trend micro housecall via Firefox and it got blocked.

Is there any hope or will I have to reformat? I am posting this from my laptop. Thanks.

Please download ComboFix from BleepingComputer.com

Alternate link: GeeksToGo.com

Alternate link: Forospyware.com

Rename ComboFix.exe to commy.exe before you save it to your Desktop

• Disable your AntiVirus and AntiSpyware applications, usually via a right click on the System Tray icon. They may otherwise interfere with our tools A guide to do this can be found here
  
• Click Start>Run then copy paste the following command into the Run box & click OK "%userprofile%\desktop\commy.exe" /stepdel
  
• As part of it's process, ComboFix will check to see if the Microsoft Windows Recovery Console is installed. With malware infections being as they are today, it's strongly recommended to have this pre-installed on your machine before doing any malware removal. It will allow you to boot up into a special recovery/repair mode that will allow us to more easily help you should your computer have a problem after an attempted removal of malware.
  
• Follow the prompts to allow ComboFix to download and install the Microsoft Windows Recovery Console, and when prompted, agree to the End-User License Agreement to install the Microsoft Windows Recovery Console

Please note: If the Microsoft Windows Recovery Console is already installed, ComboFix will continue it's malware removal procedures.

Once the Microsoft Windows Recovery Console is installed using ComboFix, you should see the following message:

• Click on Yes, to continue scanning for malware.
  
• When finished, it shall produce a log for you. Please include the contents of C:\ComboFix.txt in your next reply.
  

My whole problem is that I CANNOT ACCESS the start button, or any part of the desktop or any program as the internet security has made the start button and the menu bar as well as all my program icons on the desktop disappear. It is the same when I boot into safemode. Is there a way to get around this?

Use Task Manager.

Unfortunately, as I stated in the original post, I also cannot access task manager. When I try it says that access is denied. I'm thinking that a reformat may be my only option but if you have any other suggestions I would be more than happy to hear them. Thanks for your help.

Avira AntiVir Rescue System is a Linux-based application that allows accessing computers that cannot be booted anymore.

• Download The Avira AntiVir Rescue System from Antivir.de.
  
• Just double-click on the rescue system package to burn it to a CD/DVD.
  
• Then please use that CD/DVD with Avira Rescue System to boot your computer.

You'll get a boot option to either boot from hard drive or AntiVir Rescue System.


Press the number 2 on your keyboard to boot into AntiVir Rescue System.

Please wait until drivers are loaded and Main menu shows. Then please select the second option “Scan your system with AntiVir” and hit Enter.


Under Configuration, please select Scan all files, Try to repair infected files and Rename files if they cannot be removed?.


Then please start the scan.

The Avira AntiVir Rescue System wil now

• repair a damaged system,
  
• rescue data,
  
• scan the system for virus infections.

Thank you very much for your assistance, however we opted to just reformat windows since we didn't have any unbacked up data on the machine in question, nor many programs we needed to install. I will make a note of the program in question however, in case of future need.