on my personal windows boxes I run Avast, zone alarm pro firewall, superantispyware and malwarebytes (run scans weekly), spywareblaster at a minimum. avast! antivirus Home Edition you must follow the directions and register it but it is free the 2 pdf files on the left side of the page should be read or printed for full directions on use. SUPERAntiSpyware Free Edition Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware free but has option to purchase (well worth the price) if you purchase it does have an automatic feature. SpywareBlaster this one is a must have, no scans to run, just hit the update button once a week then the enable all protection button, and it sits there and keeps bad things off your pc. also free Firewalls good info, there are a few free firewalls including zonealarm, however anytime you download and install things be very very careful and read each step and if it ask if you want to install extra stuff like toolbars be sure you uncheck those you do not need or want that stuff, zonealarm free has started doing that and including the ask toolbar under a different name you Do NOT want it. on all my computers I also install belarc advisor which will give you a full list of everything on your pc, I usually print out a list so I can refer to it should I need to, very very hand tool. and free Belarc And definitely install and run regularly the PSI to check to see if your program is fully updated or if it needs updating. Secunia Personal Software Inspect and of course keep all windows critical updates done as they come out. If you will be using Vista you can use the built in windows firewall it is fairly adequate rather than a separate one. If you do not have these on your current pc I would suggest getting them. the fact that you have recurring infections means your current products are not fully cleaning them out, malwarebytes will help with that. And being safe in your user habits is key, don't visit sites known to carry infections including social networking sites, don't open email attachments from anyone. when you have an infection that you know is there and you are not able to remove come ask for help I can take you to one of the support help forums that specialize in removing hard to remove infections. Do occasional online scans to double check your AV. housecall is good and so is this one FREE Online Virus Scan I also advise the use of firefox as a browser instead of IE.

Yacheryl, I was having a hard time also to find virus protection for a couple of my older computers. I now have "Avast" on my ME laptop (128 ram) and it works great. I put "Avira AntiVir" on the 98 computer and it works fine.

plant bug I will try to make it easy for you, use this tool to remove the AVG you now have on your pc. How to Use AppRemover to Remove a Complete Security Application If you want to go with MSE by microsoft this is the link Microsoft Security Essentials If you prefer to stick with AVG this is the link for the free version AVG hit the download button at the top right (light bulb) During install it will ask if you want other additional items say NO they are not needed they include a toolbar and some other stuff that is very hard to get rid of.(which is why I don't really recommend it much these days)

AVG 7.5 has been popping up saying it would end on such and such a date but it did not they are trying to get you to switch to the new version. Now todays date of Aug31 was the one they had put on their forum as the end date but the people I had talked to at AVG said they would continue updates to 7.5 till December. I have not talked to anyone recently but I have not been notified that the Dec date was changed. So I guess we will see. If it keeps updating after today it will likely go till December. If you do have to go with AVG 8 please follow their direction here on their FAQ on how to get AVG 8 with out the extras. FAQ that link also provides you the direct link to the free version.