Thank you for your response Asenath. I did manage finally to eradicate the files yesterday… after trying several different things at once. What eventually worked for me was booting up in safe mode… then deleting all the files… going into the regedit and deleting the registry files it created (an action that always makes me nervous)… then to run the virus scan before rebooting… deleting the files out of the quarantine in Norton Antivirus… IN ADDITION, deleting all files from the recycle bin… all before rebooting in normal mode. I ran the full system scan twice more after that and none of the files have reappeared. The spyware file that was infecting my system had this name...
prrtect.exe

I am still uncertain how this threat was delivered to my system. It is a computer I do not use very often and runs on OS Windows 98. It also has Norton Firewall and Antivirus, which thankfully I run regularly.

When I Googled the file name prrtect.exe, I found a few websites that said were helpful. They went as far as saying what this spyware was created to do, what files it creates that must be removed so it cannot reproduce itself as well as step by step instructions as to how to eliminate the file. What I found that was Not helpful… that not a single website gave FULL instructions... meaning that if you did what any one of the websites suggested you do, the spyware was able to duplicate itself. Eventually I combined the information I found on three separate websites before rebooting and that is what ultimately saved me.
Interestingly enough… Symantec’s website…, which I assumed to be thorough before this threat appeared on my system and found subsequently that it is not thorough… will gladly charge a hefty service fee to help you if you are unable to remove a threat by yourself.

I guess the lesson here is to be patient and that even with a limited understanding like my own, solutions can be found. This group has taught me a ton of information and I appreciate the fact that I can come here when stuck and someone, somewhere, will have an idea that I had not thought of before. It really helps to have many good minds working at once.