Bern O - have you tried running 'hijackthis'?
http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=176718. It might be worth running it and having a look.
I found a similar problem in a post elsewhere and the log produced had these entries:
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page =
http://www.tiscali.co.uk/ R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL =
http://www.tiscali.co.uk/ R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page =
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Window Title = Microsoft Internet Explorer provided by Tiscali
This tells you that Tiscali has taken over your start page (I guess you know that!) and then you can remove it.
PS Mrs B-O may 'come round' if you buy her some flowers..................
