If none of the above works, its time to take the next step.
Adaware and Spybot are scanners. They fix what is broke by researching all the crap on the net (they cover mIRC trojans, keyloggers, backdoor programs etc. as well as the mess you pick up off the web), building a signiture file (sometimes referred to as a reference file, hash etc.) and looking for the obvious signs and fixing them automatically.
The first possibility is that you're not using them properly and having found all the spyware/malware/crapware, you haven't actually removed it. In Adaware (I haven't found the need to use Spybot S&D), make sure you check ALL the boxes after the scan is complete to remove all the files.
If that doesn't work then we start having to do things manually
We start by killing all the spyware thats currently running. Download process explorer:
http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/freeware/procexp.shtml
This free program is an extended version of the task list you get when you press ctrl + alt + delete. I use it because it shows ALL programs (some are designed to hide from the normal task list) and importantly, where they are installed. Make a note of the location of all suspicious processes and kill them. There might not BE any suspicious programs showing up because spyware these days (especially toolbars) tend to piggy back in on Internet Explorer but lets take things one step at a time.
In fact, lets take care of Internet Explorer now. There are 2 tools that make the inexperienced user's life easier. The first is BHODemon. Download it here:
http://www.definitivesolutions.com/
Basically BHOs or "Browser Helper Objects" i.e. toolbars are extentions/plugins for Internet Explorer that can do just about anything, good and bad. BHODemon checks your installed BHOs and lets you disable any suspicious looking ones with a click. No digging around in the registry
The other tool of note is HijackThis! (
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download3155.html) which lists all the registry entries that Might have something suspicious in them and all running processes. Use this to get a list of possible trouble makers and post the log on the forum if you're still having trouble after this post.
Now we're going to check all the programs that run on startup to make sure you aren't just starting up malware programs every time you boot up. Microsoft have provided the tool for this with windows. Click "Start". "Run" and type "msconfig" (without the ") and click "Ok". Now click on the startup tab on the far right and uncheck anything that shouldn't be running on startup. If you don't know what it is, check with google. This applies with any of the steps
Now go reboot and see if you still have problems, then go round deleting all those files that have been giving you grief.
Finally you need to protect your computer against further problems. First you need a firewall other than the one provided by XP. There's a nice site with them all reviewed and guides on usage here:
http://www.firewallguide.com/software.htm
Once you've got that set up, make sure you disable XP's default one because it tends to create conflicts between other firewalls and programs.
The next port of call is of course microsoft for a round of critical updates to fix all the latest holes.
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com/
You need to check this every month or so.
Lastly, you may have noticed that most problems stem from Internet Explorer. Two things you can do. One is to install a code filter like proxomitron
http://www.proxomitron.info. This basically acts as your own personal censor. Don't want any blockups? It'll strip the code out before it reaches your browser. Don't want to see pictures of a certain size (like advert banners) or files from certain servers to download? You can block it. The other thing you can do is use a different browser. The current recommendations are:
http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/
http://www.opera.com/
Hopefully, this horribly long post solves your problems. Otherwise let post a hijackthis! log and let us know what your problem is.
