CWB

it seems that there is no single product that will totally "protect" a comp .
i use a few products to keep my machine as healthy as possible .

AVG antivirus
AVG antispyware
Ad-Aware (lavasoft) ... beware of the "sound alikes" as pointed out at the addy i posted .
sygate firewall (bought up by another company)
window washer
spybot s&d ... (again there are sound alikes)
CCleaner (crap cleaner)
hijack this !

the last two items on the list are used more as removal aids/tools (among others not mentioned) ... these items can and will remove things that will cause you to stare in disbelief at a DOS bootup screen while the sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach migrates to your toenails .

in reference to getting help with your comp ... there are several groups that are available online to assist you in cleaning up your comp . be sure to do EXACTLY as they instruct you . there may also be a time lag in response to your particular issues during the clean up process .

one of the things that will slow you down or cause re-infection is not having access to a second CLEAN comp . the second machine is used for downloading and copying (to a dongle , for example) some of the programs needed to work on the infected machine . some of the viri/mal/spy/scumware will "call out" when you put your machine online and download a fresh load of crap into your machine . sometimes the software that is involved with the browser and connection chain is hosed ... no choice but to use a second machine .
the trick in using a second machine is to not infect it ... scanning and or wiping a dongle before each use is a must . perhaps the safest way is to use cd's ... burn what you need to it from the clean machine , use the disk to transfer the program and then dispose of it

this may seem like a lot of effort to put in but it pays off .

good luck !