IE6 won't set as Default Browser even after Clean Install

I have posted this in several other places during the past week. So far, no one had been able to solve it… I removed "Spy Sheriff" from my AMD64 system. Everything worked after cleaning but XP SP2 was buggy. Internet Explorer also stopped asking to be the default browser (both Firefox 1.5.01 and IE6 were installed). I tried everything to remedy this but nothing worked. A number of options also appear to be missing from my BIOS setup that used to be there, including the "Built-in Virus protection". XP Home SP2 and both browsers have been reinstalled but the problems described above remain. Could malware have damaged my BIOS?

Could malware have damaged my BIOS

its possible, but probably not the case. boot sector viruses are very rare.

Thanks for responding… Yes, a boot sector infection does seem unlikely, but if the computer is malfunctioning in exactly the same way after a clean XP install and the BIOS settings appear suspect, it seems to me that either the hard drive still has something malevolent on it outside of the main partition and/or the BIOS is messed up.

did you try setting BIOS back to its default settings

Is that the "Load Optimized Defaults" selection in the BIOS (Phoenix/Award) setup Utility?

is there another option like load defaults? if not use the "Load Optimized Defaults" select yes, then f10 to save changes

Problem Solved! The culprit turns out to be Webroot's "Spy Sweeper" program. While running it recently to scan my back-up files on a DVD, the elusive "Internet Explorer is not currently your default browser - Would you like to make it your default browser?" suddenly popped up. I answered yes. Keeping in mind some comments a poster on another forum had made about his anti-spy program, I decided to shut down Spy Sweeper. Now each browser asks in turn to be the default browser. Apparently Spy Sweeper WAS running in resident status in my previous tests and I had somehow overlooked this. I tried tinkering with the program to fix this but no luck so far (I have a trouble ticket submitted with them). For the time being I am going to leave it shut down as it is definitely the culprit. As far as the BIOS goes, a close scrutiny of the motherboard User's Guide shows that the BIOS utility setup appears to be correct after all, so I guess I would have to admit that this was "much ado about nothing" on my part. Shelf Life, thank you for all your help… Sorry about the wild goose chase. - Auxxo