I use AVG free edition very good

Agreed.

Also, don't overlook Microsoft:

a. Windows Defender (anti-spyware)

b. Windows Live Safety Center (sic) for a goody-bag of online tools including a very useful registry cleaner.

Whatever you think of them they do have the resources

Antivirus - I'd try a couple of these (some or all previously mentioned) - they're all free:

AVG (seems to have a problem when running as the resident scanner alongside zone alarm but otherwise a very good piece of software)

Avast (what I use)

ClamWin Antivirus - open source scanner, does not currently perform real time monitoring but scores highly on scheduled/on demand scans.

Also would be an idea to run one or more of the following (all free):

Microsoft Anti Spyware

Adaware

Hijack This

and make sure you have a good firewall running on the system - you can download zonealarm for free.

However it may be nothing malicious running on your system - next time it's running slow do ctrl-alt-del and go to task manager and then the process tab, you can sort the table by processor or memory load so you might be able to find the culprit there.

Has anyone used "winpatrol" - freeby software that let's you stop any programs you don't need from automatically starting with windows and running in the background.

PC starts quicker and runs faster....

Has anyone used "winpatrol" - freeby software that let's you stop any programs you don't need from automatically starting with windows and running in the background.

You can stop programs from starting without the need for extra software. Start > Run services.msc in W2K, it's slightly different in XP but I can't remember what it is, it might be msconfig?

You can stop programs from starting without the need for extra software. Start > Run services.msc in W2K, it's slightly different in XP but I can't remember what it is, it might be msconfig?

Yeah but this little bit of software just makes it very easy, and also monitors for any new software that wants to start automatically...

It's a difficult thing choosing PC security software. Unless you do a level headed comparison against all the others, how do you know that it's any good?

Here is a review in PCpro, a magazine which I think is quite a good source of information:

But avast! Antivirus 4.6 wasn't sure about the contents of our samples. It was the least-effective virus scanner tested here, narrowly beating Panda Titanium to the bottom spot. It ignored several Trojans, one of which successfully disabled the Windows firewall, allowing potential attackers remote control of the system.

It might be free, but until avast!'s detection abilities improve we'd rather pay for protection rather than compromise with this free package.

For what it's worth, I have read in several places that Kapersky is highly effective.

Must admit, a couple of people have mentioned that Avast! isn't quite so great. I haven't had a problem with it, it detects viruses and scans my email and doesn't slow my PC down like AVG and Panda did.

I would try Kaspersky but I don't particularly want to pay as I have quite a few machines to put it on, although that depends on what the licence on Kaspersky says about that.

I've also heard good things about NOD32, which is another one I'll be looking at in the near future, probably when I reluctantly change one of my beloved W2K PC's to XP Pro.

Lots of good views here. Nothing bad mentioned.

Just my 6d worth on one thing.

RichardS mentions HijackThis ... it's an excellent free program but VERY dangerous for the uninitiated to use. Get it wrong and you could easily end up with a trashed system. Take care and ask before using it if not sure exactly what to do.

OJ

I go for Kapersky Antivirus myself.

Why's that then?

Cheaper than the alternatives,

Avast 4 Home Edition is completely FOC, as are many others.

great virus detection,

A feature that many others have.

better than norton,

As is anything.

and very regular updates.

Avast updates every 6 hours.

I'm not saying that Kaspersky isn't any good, far from it. I'm just saying there isn't a 'one size fits all' solution to everything, hence why there is several different flavours and varieties of everything.