OK... here's a VERY interesting problem. When I load Windows XP, Internet Explorer immediately spawns many, many instances of itself. Up to 52 I have seen. If I close a window, it reopens. I have tried all the spyware, antivirus, malware and adware programs out there - both free and paid to no avail. I did a completely new reinstallation of Windows XP (partitioning the drive and doing a full format) and even without ANY applications on the system, the problem continues. Out of sheer frustration, I tossed windows XP and installed Ubunto (www.ubunto.com). The installation was successful, BUT... I continue to have the same problem... file folders as well as automatic spawning of Firefox. Any creative suggestions as to what is going on here? My next step is to discard the drive altogether, purchase a new harddrive then reinstall Ubunto. Thank you in advance for any any all suggestions.

I think you have a ghost.

I'm thinking it is a boot sector virus. Just ran fixmbr from the Windows recovery console. Now, reinstalling the OS to see if that does anything.