Well if you have the first 4 programs listed up to date with definitions and have ran them you should be clean at least.

What is 'Spyware'? Surely it has a longer name than that to differentiate it from just the generic name. Where did you download it from?

Have you installed any other programs in the last few days that might be an issue?

According to the specs you have 1gig of memory so that should not be the issue unless the memory is defective - but that can come later perhaps.

my guess is that what ever it is you are calling spyware may well indeed be just that a rogue program that says it is a remover but instead is an infection. I am with Owbist what is the full name and where did you get this program?

If you had just installed it then you started having the problems I would say that is a good starting point.

I would go to add remove programs and try to remove that program but my guess is that it will not be that easy.

Update superantispyware run full scan and see if it can help you clean out. IT IS a good program.

Download the Microsoft malicious software removal application, install it and then run it in safe mode.

Why do you feel you need all those applications? When you finally get it going right again, I'd uninstall all those and get one good antivirus suite like Kapersky Internet Security.

Those programs you mentioned will tax your system.

Here is a link that might be useful: Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool

First, thanks for the response.

owbist- the program is SPYWARE GUARD, it's indicated with a red SG on my desktop. I downloaded it from a link posted by ravencajun in responst to Clairdo2's post titled "Computer freezin all the time" [back on page three]. The link is at the bottom of his response. Of course I could have downloaded the wrong thing.

ravencajun - superantispyware will not run, it just stays blank.

Should I go ahead and try your suggestion of trying to remove the download I'm refering to in the add/remove programs? I will wait to hear from you before I try it.

actually all of those except the AVG are on-demand scanners which are run individually so are only affecting the system performance when running a manual scan.
Superantispyware is an excellent program and the free version is strictly on demand manual scan.

the spyware thing I have no clue what that is.

Kaspersky is an excellent product but the full suites do definitely take some system resources as full time programs.
For a pay product it is one I do recommend, just know it will use up some resources.

spywareguard is a good legit program if you got it from javacool which is where I always link to. It could be that it has a conflict with something else you have running. I do not know of any of the programs you listed that conflict with it however.

Yes you can go ahead and try to do an uninstall of it and see if that helps. It could be something in your pc specs that do not play well with it.

I am glad to know that it was a legit program however you had installed.

You should go to javacools forum and let him know about your issue he is great at trying to find out where the conflict lies and fixing things.

SpywareGuard

that is the direct link to the javacool site with all their products listed.
you will see there is a support button link up top which takes you to the forum javacool is on.

Removing spywareguard using add remove normally does a good removal by the way.

Not sure that is what is causing your problem but give it a try and let us know. It could be just a coincidence it started at the same time. Once you take the spyware guard off then try your superantispyware and see if it will run.

as you can see on the spywarewarriors trustworthy programs list spywareguard is listed as a good program to get so it is definitely an ok program.
Trustworthy Anti-Spyware Products

was wondering what version number you had for spywareguard? and which option did you select?
on this download link you will also notice there are 3 options for download, one is minimal and one is full setup with 2 different download locations listed. I suggest getting the full setup one when getting spywareguard, I usually use the Major Geeks download site.
SpywareGuard Download

and to talk to javacool you can go here to his official forum
Official Javacool Software Forum

Woopeee..I think you guys have successfully rescued another computer illiterate!!

I did the remove on spywareguard and that seemed to improve things considerably so I went ahead and tried the superantisypware program to see if it would operate and sure enough it connected just fine, so i went ahead and ran the full system scan and had 36 infected files.

So now all seems right with the computer gods, and I am thankful for nice folks like you.

excellent, sounds like probably some of those infections were likely causing some problems and conflicts which is pretty normal, those nasties can do all kinds of crazy stuff.

keep the superantispyware updated and scan once a week. Since you can not seem to get the spywareguard to work well with your system you should get the spywareblaster which does not use any resources but it does keep your browsers from getting into trouble and saves you some infection issues.
And now that you have the infections clear it may be that spyware guard would work but just to be safe I would not re-install it I would just go with the superantispyware and the spywareblaster.

Raven, I have had a problem with Superantispyware. Each time I try to update it it tells me I must stop the scan before it can update. I'm not scanning.

I have uninstalled it and reinstalled to no avail. Any tricks to getting this thing to update?

Thanks,
Jane

I have not ever seen that. I will look around and see if I find any reports of similar problems. Mine has been working perfectly, I just click the bug icon, select update, then my firewall asks if it is ok to let it update and I say yes, and it will start, it does sometimes take a little bit before it starts once the firewall oks it, but it does start and does it's thing and tells me when it is done, then I do my scan.

I will be on the look out.
You are using the free version?

In cases like this where programs seem to bog everything down, would it be easier to just use the "restore" in XP?
Pat

if it is a specific program that is causing the issue and you know that then it is actually better to go to add remove and choose to remove it, then you can do some searches on the pc for any thing left with the program name and delete those items.

If something goes wacky or suddenly your settings are changed then using system restore is a good thing to try and often will bring things back to normal.

If you had created a restore point right before you installed something, you could also go back in time to that specific restore point if you knew that program was the culprit. I always do create a new restore point prior to any type of install it is just something I have trained my self to do, just in case LOL.
Usually other wise you might have to guess as to when you should go back to.