I think the Trend Micro (Avanquest) Antivirus (Fix-it) is one of the better products out there. Any of them will slow things down as the antivirus and malware data files grow. You could turn off some of the automated services and do them manually but IMHO, it kind of defeats the purpose. Although there are some who will disagree, I strongly advise staying away from Norton. I personally think it's a space and resource hog. I have also used SPYBOT and find it a very dynamic AV/AM program. What's even better, it is free. As with the others, if you want speed, you'll have to turn off some of the automatic detectors. Another word of caution....if you use Outlook, you will find some of the email antivirus programs will cause Outlook to fail when opening and you have to turn off email protection in order to allow Outlook to open. Trend Micro has resolved that problem with their product and I just tested it today and it works!!.

That sounds like Virut virus lets hope not though..... Unfortunately, the virus infects every .exe and .scr (actually an executable) file on your system, and when you scan with a virus scanner, it will normally delete it as uncleanable. Eventually you end up loosing more and more files. The only viable alternative is to format the system. You will need to backup your important files before a format and reinstall, but you can not backup any .exe or .scr files, because they are infected. Good luck...

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.

ruthie, your question is not unlike asking "Who makes the best washing machine", or "What's the best vacuum to buy", etc. Meaning, what you'll hear most often is that people will recommend what they've chosen for themself. Because unless their choice turned out to be a mistake, no one ever admits to making a poor choice. So in that vein, I've used Norton for a long time (perhaps not quite 10 years) and I think it's great. The Norton security system is effective, unobtrusive and comprehensive. I've had no problems with it or with any infection of any kind - but another factor is that I try to be a careful and thoughtful internet user. If you're have any performance or running issue with Norton, try their free tech support. I've used them a few times (I remember once was because of a file corruption matter that can happen with any software) and they were great. They do support by remote connection and you just sit back and watch them work. I've included a link to reviews of most AV products done and periodically updated by Neil Rubenking, a very well respected PC Industry expert of long standing. Here is a link that might be useful: Reviews of Antivirus programs