Eventually getting hit by a nasty computer virus, trojan or severe Adware infection is bound to happen. These problems strike both experienced as well as novice computer users, and the only indication that something is wrong might be that a strange ad window keeps automatically popping up whenever you’re browsing the Internet or your computer slows down to an annoying crawl. Many people who are faced with these issues automatically turn to the Internet for either free or paid antivirus software. There have been many MUO articles covering various free antivirus or antispyware tools, such as Mark’s review of AVG or Bill’s review of Spyware Terminator. However, since so many people turn to the Internet when such a tragedy strikes, I wanted to take a moment to list some of the fake antivirus and spyware removals that you should stay away from or you’ll find your computer infected even worse.~~~~~~~~~
more at the site

thanks for link. My vipre subscription expires in week or two and heard some free anti-virus programs are as good as ones ya pay for. so why should i pay $39 for something i can get free...

So far leaning toward avast.....anybody use it ?

I used it with windows XP. It was not very compatible with Vista. I really liked it but it did take up a great deal of memory. I use the free Threat Fire and free Malwarebytes and pay for webroot security essentials.
Also run free Ccleaner.
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Good information, thanks kkcapricorn.