Run a virus scan too. My friend’s computer has been infested with spyware for months now, and SpyBot and Ad-aware alone can’t do much about it. It comes back whenever Windows starts, and it requires some pretty specific registry editing, virus check and such to remove. Easy solution: Run the anti-virus (to remove the damn trojans he got), Ad-aware and Spybot, then switch to FireFox. Remember to set it as default browser, and delete all shortcuts to IE, as running IE makes all the crap surface again.
Actually, it was this entire process with his PC that recently caused me to switch to FireFox myself. I haven’t had the problems he had, but I liked it, and better safe than sorry. Especially since I’m not the only one using the net on this PC.
It was kinda funny, my friend had decided he needed anti-virus protection, so he downloaded Norton AV plus a crack. After installing Norton, he was about to run the crack when the AV told him it was trojan infected. My friend thought “Pah, they probably just say that to make people not use the crack”, and then… Well, you know you have messed up when you get 4 pop-ups for spyware removal every time you open the Anti-Virus menu, not to mention all those goddamn browser hijackers I spent hours trying to get rid of. I just hope he’s learned, because I’m not helping next time…
Personally, I use Norman AV and Firewall, which came bundled with the PC (with 3 years free updating), and SpyBot + Ad-aware. No problems here. And of course, now that I’ve switched to FireFox, there’s a few worries less in that department as well.