Billy, I've got the perfect program for you. I guarantee you won't use another antivirus or security program again.
ESET NOD32 Antivirus, or ESET Smart Security 4. The ESET website (
www.eset.com) has a trial version on there, and you can download the full versions as well right off of the site for around $50 for a one-year subscription (renewed annually). If you MUST have a physical CD, it's sold in many computer stores; Micro Center lists it as their preferred antivirus, and if you have to check a computer in with them for service, they automatically offer you the program for the $50 fee.
It's a well-reviewed program in the trade magazines and online as well, possibly the most consistently highly rated software in the antivirus game. Of course, it's not 100% perfect, but the good thing about it is that it always runs in the background, scanning all of your system files, anything saved to your computer, every file that you view on the internet, it'll catch spyware, adware, you name it. If it catches something, it will flash a message on your screen saying it caught something, with an option to delete and then quarantine the file. It also lets you report it to their techs so they can figure out ways to get rid of the malware in a later update. You can also run a dedicated scan along with the background scans.
For $50 a year, considering it gets rid of a good 99.5% of junk right away, it's a steal. And it constantly updates as long as your subscription is still good, so if something sneaks through and an update comes along that catches it, it'll be wiped out. Once your subscription expires (and it'll warn you a month in advance), it will still run but there won't be automatic updates until you subscribe again.
ESET offers a single user version of both programs for $50, and a three-user program can be installed for another $20 if you have several PCs at home. It's also Windows 7 certified, so no need to fret if you have a brand new machine with Windows 7 and can't find anything compatible.
ESET along with MalwareBytes is the gold standard. The latter is free and THE best program for most online problems; their website is
www.malwarebytes.com.
Throw away your Nortons and McAfees. Get ESET. Trust me. You'll have fewer troubles after you install it.
No, I'm not a bot.