Spent all day running different programs, searching the registry and reading on the net how to get rid of this Google redirect virus.

  I can't find files they tell you to remove, programs that are supposed to remove the thing don't.  I've turned off system restore and cleared the recyle bin.  Cleared the temp files and prefetch.

I've checked with hijack this.

Any suggestions besides wipe drive and reinstall?

It's a windows XP machine.