pop up icon in system tray

I am working on a laptop with XP home sp2 and in the sysyem tray is an icon with a baloon popup that tells me there is spyware on the computer. I know there is no spyware and if I click on the icon it directs me to www.virusprotecpro.com. I know this is a known site for viruses but how do I remove this? It even shows up when booting up in safe mode. Can this be removed?