That could be a part of the problem.

Got an idea here... Let it run (let it connect) chances are that it's going
to do anything that it would do on it's own when (if built with any degree
of sophistication/capability and this does apply to malware too) it detects
you have a network connection. The run netstat from a command prompt and
find out where it's trying to connect.

From reading this post I've decided two bits of advice are in order my good
sir.

First being that no one application is the be-all-and-end-all of all
security. When in doubt get a second opinion. AntiVir or AVG are free and
reputable. Download them, update them, scan in safe mode. Prevent them from
running in real time by disabling their startup prompts so they don't
interfere with each other. One should never run two full time anti-virus
applications so make sure you disable one of them but, of course, not both.
Scan with that. The same thing applies to your anti-spyware. There are a
number of free options out there and Spybot is highly regarded in the
community. I'm not as nice as Chris :P You'll have to Google it on your own
as I seem to have lost the link somehow.

Anyhow, on to number two. A firewall serves multiple purposes. First it
keeps the bad guys out if it's properly configured. Second, if it's any
good, it lets you know what's trying to get out and gives you the option to
prevent it before it allows it to escape. I'm biased but with Windows ME I'd
consider Outpost Personal Firewall which comes in a free version or a paid
version. Both fully featured and will provide you a great deal of protection
but, like all things, they need to be properly configured. Too much work you
say? Well, in order to be a "good member of the internet community" it's
your JOB to protect your computer from infestations and, if found, to make
sure that you don't propagate the infestations. A firewall will certainly
help to achieve this goal. There is also ZoneAlarm which is available free
but, as I said, I'm a bit biased. Outpost is at www.agnitum.com but you'll
need to Google ZoneAlarm.

I'd though, for a moment or two, that I'd ask if you had some sort of driver
device helper (like nVidia or Creative) which was trying to register itself.
Given that you've disabled all non-essential goodies from the MSCONFIG
utility (for which I'd prefer the Startup Control Panel located here
http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml as I happen to just have that link
handy though now that I think about it, it has no features for services
which Chris mentioned... Hmm... More on that later on in a new post perhaps
but I'll settle for that for now.) there shouldn't be any reason why they'd
be loading. Unless, of course, they're loaded after the device is loaded or
not at boot but rather when some certain circumstances have been met. I've
never seen anything like that for registration but just because I haven't
seen it doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. For example I've never seen a PC
based on a VIA chipset not cause endless headaches but people buy them so
there must be some out there that do.

Ah well, enough of the asides and digression. I'd consider the first two
things listed. When you find out where it's trying to connect to you will be
better armed to determine what process is telling it to connect perhaps?

Galen