Something's hijacked the wallpaper on my desktop.

Okay, here's the problem. The background of my desktop has been taken over for a while now, and I assume it's something to do with spyware. So I downloaded Spybot, Ad Aware and MS anti-spyware to thoroughly cleanse my system, and I expected it to correct this little problem in the process. It cleaned up a hell of a lot of spyware, and my internet is even working a bit better now as a result; but the background of my desktop is still controlled by spyware and when I try to change it via the control panel, whatever I select is pointless. It just won't go away, and looking at a drab spyware wallpaper is getting depressing.

Question. What action do you think I would need to take in order to regain control of my wallpaper/background?

You could try loading up in safe mode (press f8 when your system is booting up.) and running the spyware programs again. Also have a look in startup (Start > Run > msconfig) and see if you can see any dodgy looking programs loading there. If your running Windows XP you can also check what processes are running. If click the check box which says "Hide all Microsoft Services", it'll make it easier to see whats there.

Right click on your desktop -> properties -> desktop customization (it's near the bottom) -> web and uncheck everything.

Yeah, I bet you have Active Desktop set. Disable it.

Thanks people! The problems solved and the desktop is back in my control now. It was that active desktop thingy.

Case closed. :)