I'm a professional web designer and I run two computers out of my home office, one of them I've been using since 1998 and the other since 2003. I had one of the computers totally crippled by some toolbar crap and the other one was working great until I got a hi-speed cable internet account and within 3 months it had slowed to a crawl and I figured there was a virus on it of some sort.

DO NOT PAY for Norton and the like. They are just bloatware that don't catch everything and they just cost money once you are done with the free trial you have to contstantly get updates, etc.

There's a reason why they make money selling the damn things....just like wrinkle creams. There is not one wrinkle cream out there that has ever really cured wrinkles but for some reason there's like a million of different ones on the market. Go figure.

And hey tOdd...since you hate software that has 3 million bells & whistles but doesn't do what it's suppoosed to, then you will appreciate the stuff I'm going to link to below.

<a href="http://www.grisoft.com">AVG Anti-Virus by Grisoft</a>. It's FREE. It's got FREE updates for FOREVER (no limit) it's not shareware that stops running after 30 days, nor is it crappy nag-ware that is free but reminds you to buy it all the time or has ads all over it. It's just plain good antivirus that does it's job and has a few features like running automatically just like all the things the Fancy Pants programs do but it's a tiny little neat proggie that doesn't bloat up your files and it's easy to use. You hardly need to read the instructions. You install it, it does its job. http://www.grisoft.com. Don't get the Trial Version. Get the free one. I've never had a problem with it and it found shit that AdAware, Spybot Search & Destroy and even Hijack this DIDN'T find so there. It caught like 23 trojan horse files (keyloggers), 274 malicious files and a handful of viruses. And my older pc has been running smooth as a baby's ass ever since it caught all that stuff.

<a href="http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/company/products/znalm/freeDownload.jsp">Zone Alarm Free Personal Firewall</a>
Freeware. Not shareware, not nagware. It does its job and just leaves me alone. It lets my hi-speed connection get through in programs that I want it to, and then blocks every freakin' thing else. Awesome. Not bloatware, just a tiny little firewall that sits there all quiet like and does what it's supposed to. Works just as good as the pro version (if not better) only it's MUCH EASIER to use. Easy peasy. Just install it and it starts up in like idiot-mode, for total noobs who are clueless about computer stuff. After a few hours of the progam figuring out which programs are 'good & safe' to allow a connnection and which ones are the 'bad' ones, it's ready to keep you protected and it's rock solid. I've had it up for over a year on both my computers and it's not let in one single bad apple.

Another few you could try (but I don't think they are better than the two above just about the same)

<a href="http://www.kerio.com/kpf_home.html">Kerio Personal Firewall</a> (free)

<a href="http://www.sygate.com/free/spf_download.htm">Sygate Personal Firewall</a> (free)

Also, for pop-ups and stuff, I recommend <a href="http://www.google.com/pagead/iclk?adurl=http://toolbar.google.com&sa=l&ai=B2Am7LTUSQ7CLJIiWaNy1wMYB6O6NC5i8tasBmqSEiwGQTggAEAEYATgASIg5UPjVxcX______wGYAZxKoAGqqfb-A8gBAQ">Google toolbar</a>, which catches like, every dern pop up window and zaps it right up without you even being aware of it.

PS - I got AVG and Zone Alarm free going AFTER I ran AdAware and Spybot S & D and all that, though these two DID catch way more shit than the stuff everyone else in here is suggesting, combined.

daylee.blogspot.com

Sorry about the links...I didn't know that they didn't allow links in here. Just copy and paste them into the 'address' bar thingie.

I forgot to mention....before I installed the ZoneAlarm free and the AVG I had the kazzaa thingo and the Bonzi Buddy and the Cool Web Search virus and the wtool exe deal and every freakin thing.

Cool Web Shredder should get rid of the cool web search (smiley central) thingo and you can get it here:
http://www.soft32.com/download-CWShredder-19014-5.html

Also there was one other thing I forgot to point out. Yes, Mozilla Firefox is a good alternative for a browser but for those who absolutely need to use IE (some things will only work in IE such as web application programs for website content managing, website client tools, etc.), anyway the point is, Once I ran the AVG antivirus through and through I could use IE again, yay! So for those of us who need to, don't chuck IE to the recycle bin, you can fix it again with the stuff I mentioned. No I don't work for any of these companies but I'm tired of seeing everyone recommend AdAware and Hijack this and SpyBot S&D when, combined, all three didn't get the shit that I was able to get out when I ran AVG. Trust me on this one.

Please install grisoft.com zone alone to my desktop.

AVG Free is not what its cracked upo be...I used to have it til it founda virus and owuldnt delete it cos i needed the pro version to do that, i was like wtf????

so, to tell the truth, you dont really need something like that

1. micro antispy does enough and its free too
2. use common sense when browsing
3. those games in the ads, like punching osama, seems fun, but DONT CLICK ON IT, that could bring you to a page that will give you pop ups...

unless i tell myself i dont care anymore and go on a porn spree, i never have any problems

at last people are waking up, lets face it a large percentage of problems with computers and internet are because people use them both as a wanking aid. get a life, cold shower or even get a woman.