ARG. I have been having the exact problems that bb is describing.
I have tried to (after many other things, including attempted full system scans) boot in safe mode, but the virus has taken control of many different apps. It effectively shut down many operations, including system task manager, so I can 'd even amnually end progs.
Seconds before it took over the page controls for internet explorer I was at the Trend Micro site and saw that the virus is "virut.32" something. My XP computer that is infected is now in "Norton Antivirus: Emergency Virus Repair" whatever that is. The screen looks looks a DOS screen from the eighties. : /
Rambling, sorry, but what the heck? My comp has been in that mode scanning for 14 hours now................
[edit: Clarified subject to reflect moved post.]