No name signed to this, so know it is not from Tamara at Gardenweb--is it just spam? Luvs

Here is the direct link from AVG on exactly how to upgrade your AVG. As Owbist says do not remove your current version. direct from the FAQ page on AVG "To install AVG 8.0 Free Edition over the current AVG 7.5 Free Edition please proceed as follows: * Download the latest AVG 8.0 Free Edition installation file from our website. * When you are prompted, please do not open this file directly from the Internet, but click the "Save" button and choose a location, where the installation file should be stored (we recommend saving the file to the Desktop). * Reboot your computer. * Close all running applications, locate the downloaded AVG 8.0 Free Edition installation file (it has a four color square icon and its name starts with AVG_...) and launch the installation. * Follow the installation wizard to install the new AVG 8.0 Free Edition(previous version of AVG will be automatically removed during the installation process). * If a restart is required after the initial configuration, please reboot your computer to finish the installation" Here is a link that might be useful: AVG directions on how to upgrade to AVG8

Dennis, thanks for a well laid out list of problems. It does help those who feel they can see some or all of your problems. AVG is by far the most popular free anti virus and I doubt that is your issue. I would not remove that one. Spyware Doctor I know nothing about. If you have the original CD or the download stored on your computer you could remove it entirely using the Add/Remove and see if that helps at all. Superantispyware and or Malwarebytes could be alternatives to trying Spybot Search & Destroy. If you use Spybot S&D be sure it is in fact that program and not a sound alike rogue program. Have you ran any cleaners at all? Not registry cleaners but the Disk cleanup in the Accessories/System Tools folder of XP. Try that and a defrag, it will help modestly. Do you have Google or Yahoo toolbars and are they allowed to run in the background? The Google Toolbar has either 3 or 4 entries in your Startup and using your resources. Click Start click Run type msconfig click OK click the Startup tab Now check each of these items and decide if they do in fact need to run. Google each entry before deciding to stop one because if you stop the wrong ones the computer may not start again. If you stop any you need to reboot. During the reboot you will get a dire warning, do not be alarmed, place a check mark not to see it again and continue the booting.

There's a line between prudence and paranoia and I think some folks tend towards the latter. Everything that goes wrong with a computer, isn't the result of malware and viruses. There's a healthy dose of old fashioned user error in the mix and quite frankly some of these "help" programs cause more problems than they solve. It was a month or so back where we had a user, with one of these "help" programs who got a little overzealous editing the registry with predictably disastrous results. I don't know that Linux is the answer for the average user. It, unfortunately, seems to add a layer of complexity without a good technical support structure. There are also a fair number of users who use their computers for work and their employers require or support only certain applications and even operating systems. If the boss wants your spreadsheet in Excel, Linux isn't much help. Oh sure, you can run a Windows virtual machine inside of Linux but now you need two operating systems. I played with Linux back in my anti-Microsoft days but once I discovered NT, most of my problems went away.