I have gotten that a few times myself and only way i got rid of it was to create a new user and delete the old one

Still having issues with this...cannot get that dumb thing off my screen!!...I checked with a few other techs and they dion't know how to get rid of it either...i did get a new user id but that just made it worse...i lost all my old programs..and its like starting all over. There must be a way to get back to normal without having to loose everything or changing id's? pls helppppp??? windows xp with side bar appearing on desktop, left hand corner. details, and such appearing.

You shouldn't loose any programs ,at worse you'll just have to create some new shortcuts ,you can actuall go into c:\ documents and settings,your user name and backup your desktop and IE favorites ,documents and what ever else and copy them into the new username,and when you feel you have it all the same as now ,but with out the side bar delete the old username .Been there done that ,twice !!