How do I trace a program that displays itself in the taskbar and remove it?

Question

I had a virus on my computer and I deleted it. However, it left behind one thing. There's this fake icon in the far right side of the taskbar (Windows XP) that constantly displays a bubble that says "You have a security problem!" and if you click the body of the bubble you're redirected to a website full of gunk. My question is, how do I locate the source of it? I tried looking through my program files, temp, WINDOWS, and I can't find anything. I don't want to just hide the thing either; I want it gone. Please assist. Thanks.

Answer 1

I usually use adaware to remove some harsh files like that, i believe there is a free trial on their site. You might want to try and use that and see if it is able to pick it off for you. Might want to go to safe mode and disable your internet so there is no chance for communication.

Answer 2

HiJack this is the easiest way to whack unwanted startup programs.  It's free.

You can do it with 'msconfig' which is built in to the OS, but it's not intuitive.    

Answer 3

Follow the instruction on the link below to clean your computer

10 easy step virus and spyware removal using free software

http://www.review-ninja.com/2008/08/10-e...

Just do the scan