Hi All,
My old laptop has Windows XP. I reinstalled only last month and installed AVG free anti-virus. It's like every month, I get some kind of spyware or virus issue. which anti-virus software you guys using?
Thanks.
Do you apply AVG regular updates? Do you allow the AVG software to do a full system scan periodically?
Since we do not want to endorse or promote commercial products, a few things for you to think about:
How are you getting viruses?
Are you downloading zip or exe files from emails?
Do you click on unfamiliar website links?
Do you have your software set to:
run continuously?
or, at least regularly check for viruses, etc..
auto-update?
If your virus scanner is just deleting Tracking Cookies, don't worry about it.
After a re-install of Windows XP you must get the Microsoft Updates going again and apply all the updates. Make sure that you are on Windows XP Service Pack 3 (check with the winver program).
Make sure that the Windows Firewall is turned on if you don't have another firewall installed.
my wife loves to watch movies on the internet (free). When ever she goes to those website, next thing the PC will get full of spyware and adware. I will have over 100 I.E windows open trying to sell me some thing.
Are you running as administrator all the time? There's only so much an antivirus can do when you leave the door wide open. Run as a limited user and many spyware and viruses will be simply unable to install themselves on your computer. Some might get in, but they will only affect the single account.
Keeping separate accounts is also a good idea for this reason. Something which affects one limited account won't affect the other.
None at all, actually. I use a well-built OS, which doesn't need antivirus-software because its privileges management is planned consistently. I never had a virus in the 15 years i own PCs. I never had Windows on any of them, though.
I suggest you get such an OS instead of patching Windows with an ever-increasing effort into something which works sometimes.
Arguably the one requiring the least amount of understanding of its inner working is Ubuntu. You can get it from here.
I hope this helps.
bakunin
IMHO I'm afraid that it is time for a cold install or the purchase of a new PC. The PC clearly has a viral "root kit" which is by-passing the virus scanners. DO NOT use this PC for Internet Banking or Email under any circumstances. IMHO it is compromised beyond repair (except a cold install).
After you have spent the time and money rebuilding your computer or buying a new one, compare the cost with renting videos or going to a legitimate "free" movie download site (if such a site actually exists?).
I would expect "on demand" movie downloads to be chargeable as distinct from say BBC IPlayer where you can download a recently broadcast movie providing that you have a TV licence.
I use Avast typically, but there is malware out there for pretty much any version of Windows that can get around most scanners. I also use SpyBot and to a lesser degree, other spyware scanners, and they help, but after more than 20 years in studying and dealing with viruses, it's still an ordeal to get rid of some of the bad code.
Usually what I end up having to do is boot into Safe Mode a few times, running SpyBot to clear what it can find (much of this malware will hide and reload itself upon reboots or loading of certain software, especially web browsers) and going through the system, file by file, and line by line in the registry. Needless to say, this method, while rather effective, gets time consuming enough that after a while it's just easier to wipe and reinstall everything. I tend to stick to it partially because I know a lot of tricks to getting after these nasties, and partially because I don't like to admit to failure. 
If you can back up vital stuff and reinstall, maybe with a new OS if you feel up to it, I'd recommend it. It would be time consuming and difficult to get into some of the more complex malware removals, and there's a good chance that even if you have all the newest security patches, some of that software will still find its way back in time. Running Linux or one of the BSDs virtually guarantees that you will have little if any trouble again, and you can download and boot off of live CDs/DVDs so as to try them before actually committing to an installation.