Antiviral. (free)
AVG free. Excellent protection available from: http://www.Grisoft.com
Don't use two antiviral products together as they may be incompatible. If your Antiviral trial has run out, then remove product from your computer and get the AVG installed.
Anti-spyware (all free)
O.K. Some quick links to get you out of trouble
Essential products are: Adaware SE from: http://www.lavasoft.com
Spybot SD http://www.safer-networking.org/en/spybotsd/index.html
Spywareblaster http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html
Windows Defender - http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx
Spycatcher
http://www.tenebril.com/consumer/spyware/spycatcher-express.php
Ewido http://www.ewido.com
PC starter kit at download.com 20 of the best recommended programes for people new or less advanced in computers. Check all three pages, at bottom see Security/Tools/Fun
http://www.download.com/PC-Starter-Kit/2001-12350_4-0.html?tag=dir
Now for some informed reading, courtsey of 2-spyware Research centre.
Anti-Spyware contains the list of all known legitimate anti-spyware programs that can effectively detect and remove spyware, adware threats and other kinds of computer parasites from the system. Listed programs have been carefully tested by the 2-spyware.com research center and successfully passed our strict tests. This means that all of them can quite precisely recognize a particular pest, completely disable it by terminating its processes, deleting its essential files, registry entries and other related objects and eventually clean the infected system ensuring that no unsolicited programs will stay and attempt to violate your privacy and harm your computer.
All the products in Anti-Spyware category really work, do not deceive the user by producing false positives and cannot damage a compromised computer while eliminating found malware. However, it is important to know that not all of them are recommended for daily use. Each spyware remover in the list comes with a review describing its positive sides, drawbacks and impression it left. Such review also includes program screenshots, information about its price, implemented features, performance and general effectiveness. We rate tested programs by giving marks from 1 to 100. The higher mark a spyware remover gets the more effective it is. Please carefully read each review, pay attention to the rating mark a program got and read comments published by other visitors. This will help you to make a wise choice and compare your current anti-spyware program with other modern solutions on the market.
If you cannot find a particular spyware remover in anti-spyware category, take a look on the category of corrupt tools. It contains the list of rogue, fake, illegal, even harmful applications that definitely cannot correctly detect and remove various security and privacy threats and therefore must be avoided.
Additionally we provide the list of recommended anti-spyware software that got the highest marks and therefore is the most effective. From the personal experience we can tell that one spyware remover is not enough, different programs find different parasites. You need to do a wise choice.
Anti-spyware tools:
Total Anti-Spyware products in our DB: 71
Recommended Anti-Spyware products:
Spyware Doctor
(91/100) - real time protection; deep file scan; optimal (low) system requirements; complete system scan; highly configurable
Spy Sweeper
(89/100) - real time protection; trial version available; deep file scan; complete system scan; highly configurable
Spybot Search and Destroy
(84/100) - quick performance; real time protection; free to use; highly configurable
Windows Defender Beta 2
(75/100) - real time protection; free to use; deep file scan; complete system scan
For more information from this site http://www.2-spyware.com/anti-spyware
To check software downloads first for malware or problems:
http://www.freedrweb.com/browser/interne...
C Cleaner.http://www.ccleaner.com/
This will tell you a lot about what is on your computer, such as running programmes,cookies, History, settings etc. and will help you clean up and remove unwanted items. Be careful how you use it as it is a very powerful programme and you should read the help index before you do anything with it.
Hope this information is of help to you and others.